By:   Darrell P. Wheeler, Ph.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor, Hunter College School of Social Work (December 2006/ January 2007)

At a recent meeting of social workers, one of the African American women asked her colleagues, “Why is it that year after year when it comes to diversity or cultural training, I’m inevitably asked to spear-head the effort?” After some hesitation one of her White colleagues responded, “It’s because you know so much about the issue and have so many valuable experiences.” To this the first social worker quickly recanted, “My professional training is in social work, not in diversity or cultural competency training.”

This scenario is not uncommon in social work settings throughout New York City and across the country. Far too often social workers of color, in this instance African American, are asked to be experts not on the content of their academic preparedness or their practice experience, but rather on something phenotypically determined. Not that being African American, or Latino, or Asian or Pacific Islander, or Russian does not lend something unique to the experience; but rather, how is it that race and ethnic identities so easily and repeatedly trip up otherwise unflappable professionals? The question quickly surfaces for the astute observer: “What’s wrong with this picture?”

What’s wrong has as much to do with what is not being said and done as it does with what is being said and done. In the hypothetical case used to open this piece, one of the many unspoken elephants in the room is the absence of the word “White.” American culture, American norms, American values as we know them today are predicated on assumptions of what is normal, right and “good.” Underlying, or more precisely, intertwined with these ideals are the unspoken assumptions of whiteness. The words I write here are not just words reflecting my perspective. These views represent a substantial and growing body of literature on the meaning of whiteness and the ways in which it is understood and manifests in personal and professional domains (Fine, Weis, Powell & Wong, 1997; Miller, 2000; Basham, 2004; Gordon, 2005; Leuwerke, 2005). This literature and experiences that are reflected in these works are important contributions to a profession vying to stake its claim on issues of social justice and social inclusion. To ignore the saliency of what being White means in a racially conflicted society is tantamount to ignoring gender in gynecological observations. It cannot be done successfully.

Creating space for ourselves and our colleagues to explore these very sensitive matters must occur frequently, and from my perspective, more meaningfully. The work cannot be done in one or two sessions a year, but rather has to be part of on-going dialogues between and within racially and ethnically diverse groups of professionals.

This work has to be punctuated with critical examinations of the assumptions we hold about ourselves, as well as those we hold about our clients and colleagues. The critical self reflection, as we know from our own cultural competence guidance, is a necessary step in the pathway to becoming a culturally competent social worker. The work will not always be easy. We tell our clients and students frequently to continue searching to identify deeper sources of the conflicts and barriers to success and then to work toward overcoming them.

The social worker in our opening example typifies a mistake we frequently make in our profession. We take the easy way to reach a very complex goal. This is not an indictment, but a critique meant to challenge and stimulate professionals who believe in the professional code and seek to produce positive and permanent changes for our clients, our profession and ourselves.