Writing the Stories of White Racism

Multicultural social work in the United States: a review and critique

“…Despite these mandates, the profession has given limited attention to interventions with members of the dominant population with respect to multicultural issues. For example, a literature search of major US social work journals back to 1974 yielded only five articles specifically focusing on interventions to combat individual racism in the United States (Garcia and Swenson, 1992;McGary, 1987;Morrison et al, 1988;Prunty et al, 1977 ;Weiss and Ephross, 1986). Even towards the end of the heightened racial awareness period of the 1960s it was noted that social workers 'have concentrated a great deal of attention on the black victims of racism.…”

Towards an Anti-Racist Social Service Organization

“…Garcia and Swenson (1992) note that out of practical necessity, "All social workers should commit themselves to anti-racist work at the clinical, agency and societal levels. "…”

“…According to Batts (1989) and Garcia and Swenson (1992), organizations have sustained thee prescribed social practices through the "fiction of equality." Tactically, this approach denies the awareness of difference, privilege and power, mystifies oppression and justifies blaming the victim.…”

Human development across the lifespan as identity model for biracial males

“…A cursory review of the literature affirms a critical bias in the analysis of racism (Longres & Seltzer, 1994;Garcia & Swenson, 1992;Christodoulou, 1991). Not only are Euro-Americans consistently portrayed as perpetrators but people of color in toto are portrayed as victims.…”

“…Dark skin may have an effect upon every phase of life including mate selection, stereotype, treatment by the judicial system and most importantly identity (Ben-David & Ben-Ari, 1997). It is a "master status" which differentiates people of color from the mainstream as an inferior element of the population (Garcia & Swenson, 1992;Herrnstein & Murray, 1994). So potent is this "master status" that it has recently served as grounds for litigation between persons of light and dark skin color but belonging to the same ethnic group (Morrow v. IRS, 1990;Hiskey, 1990).…”