Abstract
The outside agitator narrative has been used to discredit and harm people of color for decades. Currently, it is being used as a forceful tactic to separate the movement for Black lives from the broader narrative that racism is deeply rooted in American social structures, institutions, and everyday life. This article examines the implications of how the profession of social work has similarly and simultaneously maintained a culture of white supremacy and racist ideologies in our work. As outsiders in a predominantly white profession, social workers of color act as outside agitators when dispelling myths and practices used in and for communities of color. By centering the lived experiences and knowledge of social workers of color, all social workers can increase their awareness of racism within our profession and work together to dismantle the culture of racism and white supremacy that persists within social work.
Highlights
The outside agitator narrative has been used to discredit and harm people of color for decades
Our insurgent histories and imaginaries conscript our capacity to imagine what is possible in the profession. What does it mean to search within the outside of our profession? How can we as social workers of color, who code switch on command and navigate predominantly white spaces, use this skill and this tool to do the work both within a system that does not recognize us; and at the margins where we are from? What does this say about social work if the inside is uninhabitable to us? Is it meant for us to live inside at all?
In our homes, or in an institutional setting, there needs to be a deeper investigation into how and why social workers of color are not being incorporated into the education and practical training of social workers and why when we do, there is a hesitation and reluctance to our inwardness
Summary
In the summer of 2020, the uprising for Black lives perpetuated a reaction and narrative that undermines the impact “justice” and social work has had on our democracy. For Balfour and colleagues (2020) in Unmasking Administrative Evil, they point to the ways in which there is a private versus public phenomenon that occurs when naming who is for and or against the institution In this case, people of color have historically been pitted as inherently “bad” to counter the actual oppression that whiteness produces and sustains. Perhaps the resurgence of the “outside” narrative is necessary to government officials at a time like this where justice for Black people is an injustice to the legacy of white supremacy that is critical towards the legacy of the United States of America. It seems fitting that these stories and experiences occur together, in intimate and closed settings In this particular time in history against white supremacy and racism, it is imperative more narratives from social workers of color are told, written, and taught. Social workers of color are accustomed to acting and performing within the margins--this narrative is not new, but it is contingent on the ethics and profession of social work to acknowledge and change that
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