The article on Critical Race Theory cleared a lot up for me. While I understand the concept of cultural competence as a practice of the social work profession, I readily agreed with the authors of the article, Abrams and Moio, that the model is largely ineffective and that it unintentionally promotes a color-blind mentality. The idea of cultural competence suggests that if we familiarize ourselves with the customs, practices, and attitudes of a culture we can better assist the individual. While this seems like a good idea, it requires too much generalization of individuals and ignores the idea of institutionalized racism. Besides, people are different even in the same culture so to put everyone under the same "cap" is ridiculous. Abrams and Moio suggests that using the CRT model would help the social work profession to address racism without appearing color-blind. This will not be as easy as it sounds because of the resistance that some people have to the idea that in order to conquer racism we must acknowledge its existence. There has been such a negative vibe attached to the idea of racism that we have decided to act as if it has been conquered. This can be detrimental to the social work profession because we are charged with attacking oppression through social justice. If we fail to acknowledge race as a central force of oppression, we lack the ability to affect change.
So, on a more positive note. Dr. Aguilar was very interesting and was really impactful on helping me to see the importance of theory. If I can understand the essence or meaning of the theory through concepts, I can understand the theory. Stastically, he was supposed to have ended up on drugs, in prison or dead but by establishing concepts for himself and then building on those concepts he is theoretically a successful man. Using his personal story helped me to see how to use theory in a practical way.
We chose our groups for our social justice project and I am really excited about our ideas. As we continue the semester, I hope I am able to really make a difference in my life and in the lives of those around me. Till next week.....
Hey Gwen, you already make a great difference in the lives of those around you!
ReplyDeleteHey Gwen,
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the points the CRT article made. I think that this idea of "not seeing color" is a superficial attempt at eradicating racism. Our colors and cultures make us unique people, and I don't think they should be ignored, rather they should be embraced. I agree that each person should be judged by their character, and not by the color of their skin.
It was interesting to me that in the CRT article they brought up teachers' competence at facilitating this kind of learning. That was a powerful subject for me, because we start interacting with teachers at a young age. It seems this topic shouldn't be mandatory for only social science fields, but for every person, and probably throughout their schooling (not just in higher education). Through a lot of our reading this week I have been learning that our public education system may be pushing an underlying agenda of institutionalized racism and oppression.
See you tomorrow!
Great post. "If we fail to acknowledge race as a central force of oppression, we lack the ability to affect change." <-I agree with this statement 100%. Ignoring aspects of a problem does not solve the problem, it simply prevents us from addressing it honestly and attacking it successfully.
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