I am certain many social workers, like me, have been consumed by the trauma faced daily by residents of Minneapolis, especially those who have taken it upon themselves to exercise what they believe is their civic responsibility to protest the brutal overreach of the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Their courageous actions have resulted in numerous travesties, including the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Many are on the streets, videotaping these events, providing undeniable accounts that, as we view them, vicariously inflict trauma on social workers and non-social workers alike.
We ask ourselves: what should we do? How should we respond? Leading social work organizations—NASW, SSWR, CSWE—have responded with strong messages condemning the violence being perpetrated on undocumented immigrants and anyone who may look suspicious, regardless of whether they are legally in the United States or even American citizens. The Supreme Court has incredibly declared racial profiling constitutionally permissible.
Many of my social work colleagues are angry and ready to take to the streets in solidarity with those in Minnesota, and they should if they believe their show of defiance will put pressure on the Trump administration to change course. Others know, particularly those in academia and nonprofits, that certain actions on their part could be counterproductive and jeopardize the critical work they do, which many vulnerable people depend on.
More than any profession, social work is committed to society’s well-being. From its beginnings, social work responded to the plight of society’s poorest and most vulnerable. Social workers have applied our knowledge and skills where trauma was concentrated—among immigrants in tenements, in sweatshops, orphanages, psychiatric wards, almshouses, and penitentiaries. You can always find social workers on the front lines of struggles for human dignity. We know social workers are on the frontlines in Minneapolis.
During the early 20th century, Mary Richmond, Jane Addams, and the settlement house movement did more than provide services. They helped prepare the groundwork for labor protections, public health systems, and juvenile courts. Social workers Harry Hopkins and Frances Perkins played key roles in developing and implementing New Deal legislation during the Great Depression.
Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis during the Civil Rights struggles to support desegregation, voting rights, and community empowerment, espousing nonviolence while often risking injury to life and limb, translating protest into lasting policy which social workers are helping to defend to this day. In every generation, when the nation has been tested, social workers have helped keep it governable, humane, and accountable. Ours is a noble legacy.
My message to social workers who may feel helpless and despairing is to continue our work with renewed commitment. We should do what we can to support people in Minneapolis and elsewhere by sending donations and providing encouragement, and taking to the streets. Use what self-care we rely on to get through these difficult times. Meditate. Pray. Listen to inspiring messages or music to soothe your psyche. While hope is not a strategy, it is a necessity to keep us going. I wish I could guarantee that change will come. I believe it will; it will require our best selves doing what we do best.
CRISP is preparing for Social Work Month in March with the theme, “Our Voices Matter: Your Vote is Your Voice.” Our amazing Student Advocacy Day Leadership Team members, under the leadership of the University of Washington’s Lexi West, are working their butts off to put on an event that will inspire, motivate, and energize social workers to be ready for November’s midterm elections. We must go to the polls in record numbers. The work we often take for granted, from paycheck to paycheck, helps build and sustain the infrastructure of our democracy. In the throes of unprecedented autocratic threats, we are not walking on eggshells, but we know we are walking through a minefield and must exercise every degree of caution. Democracy is sustained not only by elections and institutions, but by everyday acts of empathy and advocacy in good times and bad. While our work does not often make the headlines, it changes lives. Feel good about what you do and keep on doing it.