Welcome to Social Work Self-Reflection: Naming Manifestations of White Supremacy. As a White social worker, for most of my career I was ignorant to how white supremacy shaped my thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and affected my practice. My family and community of people dedicated to anti-racism and social justice has, and continues to, educate and challenge me to reflect on the system of white supremacy. I am blessed and forever grateful to the numerous people whom I have met on this journey. This project is crafted from a desire to extend that community and initiate self-reflective practices in others.
Social Work Self-Reflection: Naming Manifestations of White Supremacy strives to help White social workers critically reflect on their internalization of white supremacy, how this impacts their practice, and ways to change. I am not an expert, and manifestations of my own internalization of white supremacy may be present in this project. I am on my own journey not only as a social worker, but as a partner, mother, sister, daughter, and friend. My hope with this project is to help other White social workers reflect on their own experiences.
This project can be conceptualized as part of a life long journey for White social workers. I encourage you to hang on to the mission of social work and engage with your community during this journey. I invite you to enter this site with an open heart and mind. My hope is that we can reconnect to our humanity, becoming better social workers for the communities we serve.
Welcome.
Black and White are capitalized throughout this project to describe social groups, with the exception of direct quotes from other authors, per the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA).