One of my personal concerns or torches that I carry regarding African-American Studies is that one or two carefully selected courses be as mandatory as Basic English or American History for all students on college campuses. My reason for this still stands the same. How can our educational system produce the leaders, gatekeepers of employment, caretakers, civil servants etc., and those persons be produced not having the understanding of the people they lead, serve, protect or care for?
As I have while living in Louisiana and now in South Carolina, I am a certified single African-American male foster parent. Here you have a system with many White or non-African American social workers, who know nothing of the dynamic of the African American family. Often as the case in my home this week, I had a White female case worker who clearly did not understand this 18 year old under developed teen beginning to live in my home. But to make my case stronger, involved in this placement is also an African-American female case worker. They both visited my home on the same day at different times. The African-American case worker and I were in total agreement. However, the Caucasian case worker and I disagreed to the point of augment and me almost throwing her out of my house. The problem was that she did not understand what was going on what was needed in that moment regarding me and the foster teen in my home. In my opinion, her main barrier was ignorance of the African American dynamic. Without making this blog too long, I am purposely leaving out the details of the events that lead to the two case workers visit. But here you have one teen, one foster parent and one occurrence, all African American. But we have two social workers, one African-American female and one Caucasian female. The two professionals both are having two different views of what is needed in this instance. Or in the best case scenario, the Caucasian knew what was needed but didn’t know how to effectively communicate with me, an African American that she understood.
Many, who become Foster Parents for the right reason, often send the child they have back to the system and leave foster parenting forever. (Leaving only those who are in it for the money.)We are often made to believe in the African-American community that the foster teen crisis is because the teens in foster care are “too bad” and no one wants to take them in. However, I say that there is another issue at the root of the problem. That issue is that those who work as professionals in the foster care system too often do not understand the dynamics of the African-American family. The break down is not as we are lead to think with the foster parent and the foster child, but with the foster parent and the often Caucasian professionals within the foster care system. Please understand that I writing in terms of African-American foster children and African-American foster parents or potential foster parents engaged in the social system of foster care. All of those no longer active foster parents that I’ve talked to did not quit because of the children. They quit because of the case workers.
As I stated in the beginning, this is another important and highly visible case of why AAAS is more than an alternative with our educational system. AAAS is a necessity and a prerequisite for all who truly want to be the best of the best leaders, protectors, caretakers, and employment gatekeepers in our society today. This is not to take away from the sincerity or hard work that all social workers are doing every day. This is to say as the bible states, “In all thy getting, get understand.” Our colleges should take a higher responsibility to insure that the professionals that are released into our society are equipped to engage and understand those whom their lives, decisions and perceptions will inevitably affect. A course in African-American Studies should not be an option to a college student; it should be a prerequisite to any course of study that any student chooses, just as important as Basic English, Math, or American History. The population and affect that African Americans have on our society and the world is too great for those that lead our world and society, to not understand who African Americans are.
Regis Reeves
March 15, 2012
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I agree there is no way that she could have understood what was going on in your hpousehold without first understanding how we as black people live. the case could have also been that she did know what was best but did not have the tools to communicate it properly to a black man. if we had classes tha better prepared white people for black people then maybe white people would not see us as they do and would understand where we come from and why we do the things that we do. Now , and i hate to say this, to that white social worker you are just another crazy black man.Why? because she cant understand ppprobaly to this day why she got put out of your house.
ReplyDeleteI have to start by saying that sometimes we make things seem as if it is a black and white issue. In some cases it is evident that it is that kind of issue and in some other cases people are just people and it doesn't matter the color of their skin. Then you have some that you just can't put into any category. I do feel that AAAS courses should be required to take for graduation just as well as any other general requirement for graduation. I feel this way because the idea of dealing with African American people can be better understood in these classes. Not saying that blacks are less intellectual or have so much of a diversity of living, but it is to say that blacks have their ways of dealing with things and it needs to be learned by society. So many times people discriminate against others because of the perceptions that they have grown up to believe about people. Discrimination is not always a race thing, but could be something as simple as were you live. Some African Americans have a hard time communicating clearly with Caucasians, just as well as this article is stating that a Caucasian was having a hard time communicating with the African American foster parent. Is should not be looked at as African Americans as victims, during these times, but that we have to get to a point to disregard ignorance. Some people just don't have great communication skills regardless of the race they are communicating with. I don't want to sound contradictory but as I stated before, people are just people. All races have issues we just deal with them differently.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do feel that if the foster care system is loosing a lot of potential parents because of their lack of communication and understanding, they should be highly investigated. The concerns of those parents should be looked into and changes should be made accordingly. I have been in some instances were racial profiling has been a conflict. However, instead of facing the problem like I was the victim, i turned it around to bring the accused to shame. Sometimes it can be how we deal and handle an issue that will help people be more aware of who or what they are dealing with.
An amazing reconciliation happened today. I wrote the post that we are currently commenting on. Today the Caucasian case worker and the African-American case worker by happenstance were in a meeting together about the same teen that I wrote about in the post. I never told them of their conflicting experiences with me. However, in the meeting today of which I did not attend, the two bumped heads just as I had with the Caucasian case worker. Since they were both professional colleagues, the African-American case worker was able to help the Caucasian case worker see her lack of understanding in her approach to me and the matter with the teen. The reason I know of this account today is because the Caucasian case worker called me and told me the whole thing. She apologized for our previous experience and expressed to me that she clearly see now where I was and how she had been in a box and not able to really relate properly to what was going on.
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing that we have received such an example of turnaround in this time frame. But it further goes to show that AAAS and the call for awareness to AAAS are not to be taken lightly. Whether college students major or minor in AAAS or not, all American college students and future leaders in the community should be and should be required to engage in AAAS. Luckily in this instance, another African-American case worker was able to share some enlightenment with a fellow Caucasian case worker. Of course the case worker still needs more teaching in the dynamics of the African-American family and psychology. I can only hope that the mission, reason and purpose for AAAS begin to shift to this: “AAAS, Closing the gap of human disparity and understanding between Black and White America.” That’s my own little catch phrase, but it captures in a few words what I feel about the need for AAAS.