Police Brutality: Role of Social Workers Essay Example

get into a classroom angry showing unruly behavior, he indicates that the teacher should be trained to teach students to appreciate their differences and not just to tolerate them.

Advocacy for passage of legislation that favorably impacts people of color

According to the National Association of Social Workers (2016), it is the role of the social worker to advocate for changes in the existing policies to improve social conditions and promote justice for all. The association takes the leadership role in coming up with policies and programs that aim to eliminate racism in the society including schools as well as places of work. It advocates for the development of a national policy that calls for a comprehensive multilingual and multicultural curriculum.

Social Worker Roles and Skills that are Germane to Cultivating an Empowering Practice with this Population

1) Roles

a) Facilitator of groups for police and teachers

A social worker is expected to have the diverse capability to deal with the various functions. They should be able to gather people together in an aim to raise issues of self-advocacy as well as policy changes (Chadron College, 2016). This is intended to bring people together to a common understanding of that police brutality is wrong, and the police need to be aware and teachers need to teach the same in schools.

b) Advocate for racial groups experiencing oppression and injustice

The social worker is expected to fight for the rights of people which includes those affected by police brutality. This is because they are concerned about those that are vulnerable and cannot speak for themselves. They advocate for justice for the oppressed which is mainly since through racial discrimination (Chadron College, 2016).

2) Skills

Moore et

al. (2016) indicates that a social worker should have the cultural competency and is sensitive to the diversity of people in the society. They should be able to train on culture to the police and the teachers to have a society. Openness to differences means that they do not fight for the rights of the oppressed and forget that they are expected to create a situation of equality. A social worker is a mediator, therefore they should be able to listen to both the police and the oppressed person. Empathy means that one can understand how the people that are oppressed feel about the situation. The feeling of being alone and not protected is seen in victims of police brutality. It is the core that the social worker emphasizes with them in dealing with the issues. This way they will be able to put themselves in the shoes of the citizens as they fight for their rights. The people that face police brutality are unique in nature. This way each case will be handled without forming a stereotype that certain people are good, and others are not.

The core of being a social worker is to hold the dignity and worth of the persons that they are fighting for. It is the value of human life and dignity that will ensure that they fight against the rights of individuals. Client empowerment is the ability of the social worker to make sure that they give the person the ability to fight for their rights in a lawful manner. By training and educating them, people get to understand their rights. Client self-determination through persistence and hard work to

eventually fight against police brutality is key.

Statistics/Timeline

a) Police brutality on African Americans

According to The Guardian a black person and especially a male person is nine times likely to be killed by the police in 2015. In 2015, a total of 1134 were caused by police brutality out of which 306 were African American. Only 2% of the population in the United States is comprised of African Americas, yet 15% of the deaths that were reported as having been caused by the use of excess force related to young African American men. This is five times higher than for white men of the same age of 15 to 34 years (Swaine, Laughland, Lartey, & McCarthy, 2015).

Statistics further show that in the year 2016, 618 people have died in the hands of the police through brutality. Out of this number 152 African America people were killed in police brutality yet they form a minority group in the United States (Swaine, Laughland, Lartey, & McCarthy, 2015).

b) Results of the police brutality

According to the National Medical Association, police brutality penetrates past the physical trauma. People continue to suffer stress, anxiety, insomnia, paranoia and even depression as an aftermath of police brutality. It goes further to reducing the productivity of the affected persons. It goes further to causing concerns to the families and the community in which the victims reside (Mitchell, R. (2000).

Law enforcers that suffer from cases of anxiety and stress could be one of the leading causes of police brutality. The police need to take breaks and undergo counseling as this could go a long way into reducing such cases (Mitchell, R. 2000).

References

1. Alexander Michelle (2013).The New Jim
   

Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. United States. The New Press