The Columbia University School of Social Work is hosting a critical race theory education series that focuses on systemic racism, racial privilege, and “black power.”
The series is titled Racial Justice and Liberatory Practice Series and provides social workers with credits they need to maintain their licenses, qualifying in some cases as part of “continuing education” required of such professionals.
The series, hosted by the Columbia University School of Social Work, is split into four different sections and costs anywhere from $240 to $270 to attend.
The description explains that “All coursework is meant to allow participants to enhance their capacities to take action that challenges oppressive systems such as racism, sexism, classism, ageism, ableism, heterosexism, in the context of social work.”
“Participants will have the opportunity to examine their experiences of privilege and oppression,” it continues, saying that the course will use a “systematic and interpersonal perspective.”
The courses will be led by two social workers. Charla Yearwood runs diversity, equity, and inclusion training courses, and is “focused on challenging white supremacy in mental health services.” Yearwood is joined by Shimon Cohen, an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University who wants to help “his students become culturally responsive, anti-racist/anti-oppressive social workers” and focuses on “racial justice and liberatory social work.”
The final of the four sessions led by the duo is titled “Social Movements, Black Liberation, Black Power & Social Work,” and will “look at major social movements against racism and oppression and connect them to social work, specifically highlighting the community-based work of the Black Panther Party.”
“We situate Black power and Black liberation within social work to these larger movements,” it continues.
“We take an intersectional approach and look at Black LGBTQ+ activism and Black disability. We discuss what social work today and in the future would look like if the emphasis was on Black liberation,” the description reads.
Another session, called “Racism has Always Existed in the United States,” looks at “the history of racism in the U.S., beginning with settler colonialism, genocide of Indigenous Peoples, and slavery of Africans, with an emphasis on how laws and policies have been used to institutionalize racism.” It will also “explore historical trauma and recognize it as an ongoing sociopolitical process.”
“White Supremacy, White Privilege, Racism & Oppression in Social Work” is the title of yet another one of the four sessions, which will “look at the systems of whiteness, white supremacy, and white privilege/advantage, with an emphasis on why and how they were created and are maintained.”
The session will also “examine how white supremacy and racism show up within social work and are perpetuated by social work, both historically and present-day.”
The key tenets of critical race theory are deeply embedded within the field of social work. Breitbart News previously reported that an event held in part by the University of Minnesota focused on “recovery from white conditioning.”
Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at slindquist@breitbart.com
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