The NASW-NYC Annual Meeting on May 9th addressed the dual themes of “The Transformative Power of the Social Work Voice” and “Securing the Future of the Profession”. Over 350 members attended the meeting at the United Federation of Teachers Building at 52 Broadway.

Members recognized the outstanding achievements of their colleagues, including those of outgoing president Paul Kurzman and Maria Elena Girone, President and CEO of the Puerto Rican Family Institute, who was presented with the Chapter Service Award. Also recognized were two social workers who were presented with Social Work Image Awards, outstanding students, NASW Social Work Pioneers, and new professionals.

One of the highlights of the meeting was the address by the keynote speaker, Alex Kotlowitz, journalist and author, who tells the stories of the disadvantaged people living on the margins of American society. Through his writing, he brings their lives and experiences to the attention of the broader public. It is through this story-telling that he shares a connection with social workers, who also tell the stories of people whose voices are not often heard outside of the communities where they live.

The Luxury of Apathy

As a journalist who is accustomed to being on the front lines, Mr. Kotlowitz said that he feels compelled to tell a story that “hasn’t been told, to give it voice in a narrative that agitates, provokes, pokes, and prods”. He said that the stories of those who are disenfranchised have fallen out of favor among those who have the luxury of apathy. The social compact that holds us together, he said, must be regularly maintained and repaired.

Perceptions Challenged

In his remarks, Mr. Kotlowitz told the story of his experiences as he immersed himself in the lives of Lafeyette and Pharoah, the brothers he wrote about in “There Are No Children Here” (1991, Random House: New York). He found things that surprised and shocked him and challenged his perceptions as he became involved in the lives of the brothers and others who lived in a Chicago housing project.

Expecting to find strong communal ties, he said that he found a community that was unraveling, one in which neighbors did not trust each other. As 12-year old Lafeyette said, “I don’t have friends. I just have associates. Friends, you trust.” Mr. Kotlowitz also said that the public housing projects built in 1950’s and 60’s Chicago with a “not in my back yard” mentality served to divide communities along racial and socio-economic lines.

Mr. Kotlowitz, in sharing the young boys’ lives, which were confined by their dealings with police and other authorities such as gang leaders, said he “was surprised” by changes in his own perceptions. He found fissures in his loyalties to the police, to his young friends, and to his own instincts.

He said that he was shocked by the violence in the community. He observed that children showed symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder similar to symptoms of war veterans. Children suffered from depression and flashbacks after witnessing shootings, beatings, and death that were everyday occurrences.

Two Kinds of Silence

He said that violence isolated the community, covering it in a blanket of fear and silence. Mr. Kotlowitz described this silence as two-fold. He said that “institutional silence” is the inability of schools, police, health care, and other systems to respond to the daily crises of those in the community.

He went on to say that there is another silence that is “a more nuanced and subtle silence”, self-imposed by those whose experiences are so horrific that they keep quiet for fear that they will not be believed.

The Transformative Power of the Social Work Voice

Mr. Kotlowitz told the audience that social workers “must not underestimate the place they hold in society,” bridging the two Americas. He said that stories guide social workers in their work by giving credence to peoples’ experiences. By listening to people tell their stories, he said, we understand what it is like to be in the other person’s shoes, whether the other is an immigrant, a Muslim, or a Latino.

Mr. Kotlowitz said, “Stories help us to make sense of our lives, to help us figure out our place in the world”. “A most basic human need is to tell our story, to chronicle our history and not let it disappear.” He urged that these stories be brought back into public discourse. “The challenge is to let us know their history, to help us understand the context of their lives . . . (as social workers) . . . you have elected to become witnesses and you must help the rest of us bear witness, too.”

Mr. Kotlowitz cautioned that although social workers encounter intolerance and injustice and things that “ain’t pretty”,
they must tell these stories honestly and candidly.