In this assignment, students will write a critical examination of race, racism, and
intersectionality as it pertains to a particular BIPOC community and a specific issue that that
community faces that they may be interested in working with or learning more about. These
intersectional forms of oppression may include age, class, color, culture, disability and ability,
ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, marital status, political
ideology, race, religion/spirituality, sex, sexual orientation, and tribal sovereign status that
may impact the population in the experience of this issue/problem. STUDENTS SHOULD
NOT make communities of color writ large as the community of interest. STUDENTS
SHOULD CHOOSE a specific racial/ethnic community where one needs to apply
intersectionality (e.g., IPV among LGBT Indigenous population; Black girls and the
school-to-prison pipeline; end-of-life care for Laotian refugees). Students will discuss a
specific theoretical framework through which to further explore the issue and identify practice
implications for social work practice. Students should consider specific individual action
plans, policy implications, and the application of social work values and ethics. Ultimately the paper needs to show us how the intersectional nature of the communities’ identities produces
unique experiences of racism and ways to disrupt it.
The paper should include the following sections and components:
Background: This section will include a clear statement of the population, which must focus
on intersectional BIPOC community and the topic (i.e., the specific issue the community
being researched is facing), which is the focus of the paper. This section should include an
overview of the population and the area of practice. This section should be no more than one
or two brief paragraphs. The intention is for students to spend more time focusing on the
following sections.
Levels of Oppression: In this section, the student should explore racism and oppression at the
internalized, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels. Additionally, students should use
an intersectional framework to discuss at least one other form of oppression identified above
that is important to consider with the population/practice area. Students should discuss the
experience of racism and another form of oppression and should be specific and outline the
potential issues that the student, as a social worker, should be aware of in practice. *If you
would like to discuss additional theoretical frameworks that illustrates your argument, you
may introduce it here. Some examples may be critical race theory, racial identity development,
post-traumatic slave syndrome, or white racial framework.
Levels of Practice: In this section the student should analyze how they can address the issue
identified in this paper at one of the three levels of social work practice: micro, mezzo, or
macro. Specifically, students should draw on how cultural humility, anti-racist social work
practice, and specific social policies can be used to provide services to the population of
interest while simultaneously seeking to identify ways to dismantle racism and other forms of
oppression.
Critical Self-Reflection: In this section, the students should reflect on their growth and future
opportunities for growth as it relates to racial identity exploration, stereotypes, and/or biases.
The section should clarify why the student chose their particular population and topic to write
about. Students should also discuss a specific concept from class and reading that they believe
will impact their future practice and in what ways. Students should review specific application
of social work values, ethics, and the standards of cultural competence in social work practice
across difference. This is an opportunity for students to reflect on their own individual growth
and change over the semester, specifically as it relates to their area of future practice.
This paper should be 6–8 pages long, double-spaced, using APA formatting and citation
guidelines (7th edition). You should incorporate at least six references that are relevant to
your analysis and should include articles and research from both inside (at least three) and
outside of the course syllabus
Here is a list of aticles that can be used
-Smedley, A., & Smedley, B. D. (2005). Race as biology is fiction, racism as a social problem
is real: Anthropological and historical perspectives on the social construction of race.
American Psychologist, 60(1), 16–26.
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-Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization:
Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 1–40.
https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18630/15554
-Tourse, R. W. C., Hamilton-Mason, J., & Wewiorski, N. J. (2018). Systemic racism in the
United States: Scaffolding as social construction. Springer (pp. 1–15).
-Pounder, C. C. H. (2014). Race: The power of an illusion (Pt. 2). Kanopy Streaming.
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Helms, J. E. (1995). An update of Helms’s white and people of color racial identity models. In
J. G. Ponterotto, J. M. Casas, L. A. Suzuki, & C. M. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of
multicultural counseling (pp. 181–198).
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Tatum, B. D. (2017). Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? Basic Books
(“Critical issues in Latinx, Native, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Middle Eastern/North
African Identity Development”).
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McInroy, L. B., Craig, S. L., & Leung, V. W. Y. (2019). Platforms and patterns for practice:
LGBTQ+ youths’ use of information and communication technologies. Child &
Adolescent Social Work Journal, 36(5), 507–520.
