My dear SSW community,
The faculty, staff and administrators of Smith College SSW join Smith College President Kathleen McCartney in condemning the murder of Black people by police officers, self-appointed vigilantes and others. We are outraged and deeply saddened by the violence, bigotry and hatred that stem from the nation’s history of slavery, racism, xenophobia, political, economic, and social systems of oppression. The murders of Ahmaud Aubrey in Brunswick, Georgia, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky; George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Tony McDade in Tallahassee, FL are inextricably tied to the deep entrenchment of racism and white supremacy within our nation.
For many of us, we come to social work to address exactly these grave issues that hold back our society and country from its true potential. We come in hopes of changing these systems, of addressing the toll of racism and oppression. We come to work with individuals, families and communities who shoulder this legacy and current reality of racism and oppression. We come to activate change in policy structures that maintain these systems of oppression, particularly those impacting Black communities.
We issue a call to action - to all social workers - to deepen our resolve and work against systems of oppression and racism. We particularly urge our white-identified and non-Black people of color in our community to commit to action, to engage, or to engage more deeply, in work to address anti-Black racism. Others have compiled lists of ways that you may do so here.
We make this call in the context of the harm and hurt felt by many – particularly Black members of our community – for whom this is a profoundly difficult moment. We are amplifying the work of the National Association of Social Work, and calling our social work communities to organize to bring greater justice to our world, our communities, our workplaces, our social work practice and our lives.
President McCartney has invited students, faculty and staff to join a gathering on Tuesday, June 2. I encourage any of our students and faculty who are able to attend the President’s event, Generating Justice, that will be led by SSW alum, Matilda Cantwell, M.S.W. '96, the director of the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life and college’s chaplain. Details of the event may be found here.
Knowing that some of our students and faculty will be in classes, and that the President’s event is intended for current students and faculty, we will create a gathering for our SSW community on Wednesday, June 10 at 5 p.m., open to SSW students, faculty and alumni. We will send a secure zoom invitation closer to the date of the event.
Marianne R.M. Yoshioka, M.S.W., MBA, Ph.D.
Dean | Elizabeth Marting Treuhaft Professor
Co-Editor-in-Chief, Smith College Studies in Social Work
Smith College School for Social Work
