Social Workers in Solidarity Against Safe Policing for Safe Communities Executive Order

Systemic racism ends in 2020

We deserve better from the NASW. Do better.

There is no place for policing in social work!

The NASW should know more than anyone why this is problematic. We should be on the frontline of dismantling oppressive systems - not supporting them. It’s honestly disappointing that we are having to hold you accountable for this. Sometimes this profession seems not to align with its own ethics.

NASW’s support of the “safe policing” executive order goes against our ethics by not actively standing against police brutality against black people and systemic racism. We must stand against this order to be in alignment with our values and NOT repeat the violent history social work has.

As social workers we must dismantle the structures that reinforce and perpetuate state violence, including social work as we know it. This Executive Order is dangerous and just shifts power to other state agents. We must reimagine policing and invest in community based strategies instead of recreating the same structures.

Social work as a field NEEDS to listen to what Black and Brown activists are saying: we need police to be DEFUNDED. We DO NOT need social workers further embedded into a carceral system that perpetuates harm to Black families.

End white supremacy! Shift the policing paradigm!

We will not be used as a bandaid fix to a broken, unethical, racist, and inhumane system!!!

I am extremely disappointed in this executive order on policing and the support there of. The professional organization which 'represents' social workers should be ashsamed.

This is so important!

We need to get to the root of the issue. In my opinion, this executive order is just a bandaid.

MSW Student at the University of Houston

Social workers do not belong in police departments!!!!! DEFUND THE POLICE AND INVEST IN COMMUNITIES!!

As a social worker I am ashamed that NASW is backing this executive order. We must stand up against it

As a previous member of the NASW Oregon/Idaho board, I do not endorse the support of this executive order on policing. Abolish the police and prisons. And can we please make NASW a real union already.

I am writing to you to share my disappointment in the NASW’s support of the Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities. The social work profession is anchored in the values of service, social justice, dignity and worth, human relationships, competence, and integrity. All of which call on us to aid in the fight to dismantle systems of oppression and racism. Our Code of Ethic demands us to act, not to join forces with systems that uphold structural racism. “Social workers should act to prevent and eliminate domination of, exploitation of, and discrimination against any person, group, or class on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status, or mental or physical ability.” Social Work Code of Ethics, Section 6..04(d) We have an obligation to end white supremacy, supporting this Executive Order counters the core of who we are as social workers. I demand that the NASW rescind support of the Executive Order, acknowledge the role social work plays in upholding systems of oppression and publicly commit to deconstructing racist systems

Disappointment does not begin to describe my reaction to the NASW’s decision to sign onto this. It is racist, short-sighted, and sabotaging the BLM movement. We must do better.

Policing in poor communities isn’t helpful. Our clients need more services and support instead of being killed or hurt for a system that has forced them to commit crimes in order to survive.

It is time to dismantle these structures of white supremacy!