By Dr. Rosa Perez Koenig, Professor at Fordham Graduate School of Social Service, Co-Founder and Former Co-Chair of the Latino Affairs Committee
(October 2000)

This article focuses on an issue that affects Latino social workers as well as all other bilingual social workers.

The question raised is as follows: are Latino social workers (as well as other bilingual, bicultural social workers) overworked and unrecognized for providing services beyond their role descriptions such as that of interpreters, translators, and consultants to their English speaking-only coworkers and staff in general? Could this situation constitute exploitation, oppression, of Latinos and other bilingual social workers in their workplace?

New Yorkers have long been familiarized with diverse cultures and languages. New York City has been for many years the home of immigrants where languages from all over the world have been spoken and continue to be so today. However, it was not until the mid 60's and early 70's that most major institutions including the service delivery system were criticized for maintaining and ethnocentric, cultural bound thinking approach to service provision and demands for change began to emerge.

Professional misunderstanding of individuals, families, groups and communities was partly caused by the imposition of agencies and professionals of the world views of the dominant discourse while clients' subjugated voices were drowned in so called "universal truths" which were truly local truths of the dominant group.

Since then the social work profession has advocated for an ethnic relevant, cultural and linguistic competent practice. This commitment has culminated in standards of cultural competence and of acceptance and respect for diversity (NASW Code of Ethics and CSWE Standards). The operationalization of these standards is an on going challenge to the profession in its commitment and struggle to social justice, and to a just practice.

In addition to the concern for clients belonging to subordinate groups, it is becoming more evident that the profession has similarly often drowned the voices of minority social workers. Dr. Eunice Matthews has addressed the poor representation of people of color contributions to the profession. She conducted a literature search on articles related to the history of social work. Dr. Matthews found that out of 64 articles, only five made reference to people of color, specifically African Americans.

In a rather historical move, the NYC Chapter has taken a leading role in looking at the work place as a context of privilege and discrimination. A central question raised by the Chapter has been: How do non-minority social workers interact with minority- people of color colleagues of diverse background? How does privilege and discrimination/prejudice play out in the work place?

The New York City Chapter conducted a Roundtable in June 15th, 1999, which provided social workers an opportunity to address issues of prejudice and discrimination experienced in the work place. The Roundtable afforded the Chapter's Committee on Latino Affairs (COLA) to present on a survey they conducted on Latino social workers. This survey suggests that Latino social workers can experience a form of oppression and exploitation in the work place, when they frequently perform tasks as interpreters, translators, and consultants on cultural and linguistic issues that are not part of their job description and for which they do not receive any form of compensation. These tasks are extremely time consuming and can add considerable stress to an already stressful situation. The Research subcommittee of COLA has continued working on this important issue.

Presently we have conducted short informal interviews with colleagues from diverse background, i.e. Latinas(os), Haitians, Africans, and Asians. Some participants have shared their experiences of having been discriminated and stereotyped in their work place. Most of the interviewees reported that they felt their colleagues were for the most part not intending to do so and probably these manifestations of prejudice and or discrimination were taking place at an unconscious level. Some interviewees described that when they used confrontation to address discrimination, the responses were mostly denial.

We are very aware that it is not easy to confront one's own prejudice and stereotypes and yet it is imperative to do so since they often guide our behaviors whether at a conscious or unconscious level.

We call for a joint effort among our members to continue the dialogue initiated by the NASW NYC Chapter on privilege and stereotype. Perhaps awareness of our own prejudice and discrimination will be more tolerable if each one of us is mindful of the variety of subgroups that we each belong to. In doing so we can each identify our own experience of privilege and stereotype. These reflections can help us in the on going commitment as professional social workers to "self awareness" and to promoting understanding and true camaraderie in the work place.