Columbia School of Social Work is committed to becoming an anti-racist institution and we have embarked on the pursuit of an anti-racism action plan that involves all members of our community.

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2. Columbia School of Social Work is committed to becoming an anti-racist institution and we have embarked on the pursuit of an anti-racism action plan that involves all members of our community. As a potential future member of our community, please describe your commitment to anti-racism and the ways you hope to engage in anti-racist actions as a social worker.

On a personal and professional level, I understand that the foundation of antiracism is taking decisive actions against racism. It involves eliminating racism on the personal, organizational, and structural stages. The heart of racism is ignorance, and the initial stage in eliminating racism is overcoming this denial through historical education. The historical background provides a better understanding of the marginalization of individuals, which is the basis for racism. It shows the laws and regulations that supported white supremacy and the cultural conventions and practices that fostered racism. Understanding further about spontaneous and automatic manifestations of racism can enable one to identify and combat it. Social work colleges are progressively introducing or updating courses on racism into their curricula. Since 1898, the Columbia School of Social Work has been at the heart of social education programs and scientific studies. Inside and outside the institution setting, each policy and practice should be reconsidered in light of their impacts on disadvantaged minorities. 

As a possible member of this organization, I am thus familiar with its stance on racism. I know that social workers have an ethical obligation to destroy racism and illustrate what it takes to be an antiracist. Racism permeates our culture and communities, including our schools, court system, administration, and healthcare facilities. People are typically oblivious that laws, organizations, and institutions overwhelmingly benefit some and disadvantage everyone around them. I acknowledge that racism comprises concepts and actions that produce and explain the social inequality of rights, resources, and perspectives between racial and ethnic groups. The macro-level network of governmental policy and institutional procedures that function in many, frequently reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial inequality is reflective of structural racism. Institutional racism represents microsocial cultural influences shown in language, attitudes, and actions that sustain racial injustice in varied, frequently reinforcing manner. Systemic racism is the simultaneous operation of institutional and personal racism.

Every social worker is in a better position to discourage racism, and this should start on a personal scale. Social workers should be supportive and understanding to the victims of racism. Becoming an associate of people of color entails giving influence and expertise to the pursuit of social justice on behalf of underprivileged people. White social workers may raise the voices and demands of minorities and women by decentering their respective perspectives and leaving room for someone else to have authority, resources, and validation, rather than attempting to lead the march for inclusivity alone. To become an antiracist, social workers must first acknowledge that we have all been reared in a racist culture. Individual efforts should be made to combat subconscious prejudices, and everyone should collaborate to advance real antiracist attitudes in social work training and practice. Social workers enable people and groups to impact social policies and structures and advance social justice. As a social worker, I will champion change to make sure that everyone has equitable access to the resources and opportunities necessary to satisfy their fundamental requirements and grow to their full potential.