What is Social Justice?
An Interview with Social Justice Advocate
and Kent BSW Student Barbara Martin
and Kent BSW Student Barbara Martin
Southern California with heavy gang presence; a discussion of the
important skills used in both student group projects and social justice advocacy
Interview conducted and transcribed by KSSA Social Chair and Blog Editor Jon Snyder
Transcript:
Barbara Martin: I think that many people shy away from the term of "social justice." It takes a certain level of knowledge, commitment, courage and time -- time, talent, and treasure, even -- add the "treasure" to it, because it can be costly, you know, to address social justice issues. We have to address the knowledge piece, and as students of the Kent School of Social Work, what a fabulous opportunity for someone to come to the table with a body of knowledge that comes from many different perspectives.
Let me give you an example of that I did once upon a time when I provided a table, a venue to speak. It was called the Crossroads Teen Center in Southern California, where I worked with at-risk kids, who were teens between the ages of 13 and 18 -- no, 19, and they were all on probation and attending an alternative high school setting. They were all gang-involved. In this 5 mile-radius of Southern California combination of white-collar and blue-collar residential setting, there were 350 known and identified gangs. Within a 5-mile radius.
Jon Snyder: Wow.
BM: Not gang members; gangs. And that was... just something that most people take and, you know, put up their hand and say "oh, this doesn't exist here." You're darn straight it does.
So what I did is I created this teen center. I cleared out a big giant space in a Boy's and Girl's Club. Cleared it out -- it was floor-to-ceiling with a bunch of junk in it. And I cleared it out and I made it a council room and I brought people together in that room: people who came from different races and ethnicities, different backgrounds socially, culturally... people from different disability subgroups. Let's say, for example, I brought in surfers and second-generation Vietnamese immigrant students, and folks from the ghetto -- from the black areas of Southern California. And brown kids from the barrios in Southern California. And we all built -- not to mention other kids, there were a large Asian population, a large Russian population. The girl gangs were actually getting to be the worst.
So there was a whole bunch of this going on, and I took 'em out and I took them on a ropes course. And I taught them how to work together. At first, in a survival mode, to begin with -- 50 feet up and somebody's gonna have to catch ya! There's different things we did in this ropes course, but, you know, really what we did is we came together, we talked about how can we resolve this and how can we work together for the greater good -- there's a utilitarian concept! So we actually decided that we were gonna listen to the people we served. And these kids were the ones who came out with the ideas, and they decided that we were gonna apply for grants and build entrepreneurial programs for these kids. We developed a graphic design and promotion department; there was a bunch of kids who did website development and t-shirt design; we did a grant for silk-screening for t-shirts -- and no, there were no gang slogans, that was one of the rules. There were other kids who produced a cd, a battle of the bands, we designed a skate park, I mean *laughs* we did salsa dancing lessons! We did all kinds of different programs, and those kids all came together, and those kids, this was... hooo, 18 years ago, and a bunch of these kids are still in contact with me today.
JS: Well, that is an inspiring vision, and thank you very much for sharing. I'd like to highlight a couple things from what you just said. One of those goes back to your time developing the youth center; the strategy you employed of having them work together on the ropes course -- that's actually an empirically validated approach I learned about in my Intro to Psychology course at U of L. It's called the "jigsaw classroom," and researchers found that in multiethnic, diverse classrooms, when students were required to work together on shared tasks where each of them was designated a part of the task without which the task as a whole would not succeed, that this resulted in greater communication and synergy in the classroom as a whole (Social Psychology Network, 2016). Something else you mentioned was something that Professor Liz Martin mentioned several times in the course of her [Social Policy II] class last semester, which is the importance of listening to the people you are trying to serve.
Everything that you've talked about as far as this ability to create forums -- that is part of a being an effective social justice advocate. But considering the importance of advocacy for the social work profession, I'd like to ask: what do you think are the traits of an effective social justice advocate, and what can social work students do to start learning and practicing those traits now?
BM: You know, I think that we have been given quite a number of opportunities through our presentations, even in the upper division of the BSW, with regard to providing / conducting research and study and team presentations that we've had to do for and on behalf of oppressed groups -- we've touched on all of this topics in the BSW. The Kent School of Social Work is a fine platform by which to springboard into this. It's not just studying for the sake of getting a project done for a grade. This is life, folks! Jon, you and I were in a [group presenting on] non-English speakers in the health care system. I've been part of transgender studies on several different levels -- my research project, ethnographic studies and oppressed group presentation. We all have our areas that we have focused on. The dating violence issue [is another example]. All of these things that have come out, not to mention gun violence and police brutality and income inequality, mass incarceration, gender inequality, LGBT rights... Things of that nature are all on the level -- oh, let's just toss in the deaf and deaf-blind *laughs* because that's a low-incidence group. That's one that, oh well, you know, that's only 1 in a 1000 babies that are born deaf, right? No, well, it's more like 5 in a 1,000 babies that are born deaf -- [but that's] neither here nor there. These are people! And, in knowing what we know and applying our knowledge and our energy to advocate for these people, we need to engage ourselves and not be afraid -- we're so afraid of change, but we're also afraid to be criticized, I think. And in that venue, I have learned to stand in my power and just do my work.
To continue to do your work, you're gonna be criticized. Take a look at what Lincoln had to go through -- take a look at what anybody who stood up for social justice and civil rights have had to do. People have died for it! You know, Dr. Martin Luther King. I'm not [necessarily] condoning that we stand up and put ourselves in that forefront and sacrifice our very lives -- but some may. And that's a harsh reality, and I hope I don't ever have to bury one of my colleagues or my friends or my constituents because of an act of social injustice. We have to get out of comfort zones, and speak out, and make this world a better place. That happens one person at a time. And when one person joins with another person, and that grows into a group that becomes a group to create social change and policy reform... that's the foundations on which our country was built.
JS: Now, I do have to acknowledge that I know many students express frustration with group projects that they're tasked in the Kent School just because the logistical difficulties of coordinating everyone's scheduling, waiting for everyone to get their work in -- or maybe people just have different ideas about the best way to proceed. And... I really feel disappointed when some students seem to be utterly against the whole idea of these group projects and they don't see the benefit. Because, if we want to be these advocates for our clients, then we need to at least be able to advocate amongst ourselves and accept criticism. There's an art to accepting criticism: you need to be objective and be able to be open to learning, and I would just posit that that is really one of the most valuable tools we can learn in Kent School, is the art of working together. It's not easy to learn, but it's one of the most important things we can do.
BM: Well, that's something that comes out of Life 101, Jon *chuckles*. In working within human services fields, social justice fields -- name a field! Any kind of administrative body is a collaborative effort. And collaborative efforts when people refuse to get out of their own way, in working with the group, and trying to mow down the entire group in the name of "I know best." And there is no "I" in teamwork. Now, if you think that you have the most knowledge in the group about a certain topic -- fine! By all means, educate to that degree, if it's necessary and it's going to create progress. There are gonna be people on that committee or in that group or in that association, whether it be a professional association or a study group at Kent School, people are coming to the table with that veil of ignorance...
JS: And their own paradigms and worldviews...
BM: Right, [and] social and cultural norms by which they were raised.
JS: Part of effective communication is understanding how you can appeal to different people's perspectives to get the message you need to get across, across.
BM: Absolutely. And then there's also people who just have that paradigm; they want to be the crossing guard, and say "Stop! I'm the boss."
JS: Sometimes you need those people!
BM: Yeah, sometimes you do need them to create order.
JS: Sometimes you need them to *chuckles* step back and let the group work.
BM: It just depends on the dynamics of the group that comes together. You know, setting aside your ego or checking your ego at the door is often something that can be done. And acknowledgment of... "Hm. Let's examine this. Let's reflect on myself." I love those self-reflective pieces we do in our social work studies. And I'm a fond pursuer of self-reflection and journalling as to... "what just happened?" You know? "What just happened?" And is there something that I need to do to shift, to make that, uh...
JS: Perhaps you could shift into blogging as a form of personal reflection, or some of our other fellow students...
BM: *laughing* Point taken, Jon.
JS: Sorry, not to be the salesman...
BM: Alright... no, no, you've got me. I definitely will be a guest blogger for you.
JS: I look forward to it. Well, thank you for your time, Barbara, and good luck in your advocacy and your studies this semester.
Are you a Kent student? Do you have someone in mind you'd like to interview, or would you be interested in writing a blog post? Contact the blog editor at jwsnyd03@cardmail.louisville.edu!
References
Social Psychology Network. (2016). The Jigsaw Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.jigsaw.org/
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