Diversity Council

With humility and respect the Indiana University School of Social Work Diversity Council celebrates the significance of the month of June for the LGBTQIA+ community. We have a critical responsibility to dedicate June to highlight and support the community amidst the further marginalization, discrimination, and harassment in the state, nation, and globe. We do this through recognizing the communal achievements of LGBTQIA+ organizations, agencies, and companies; acknowledging the key roles of drag queens, gender-diverse People of Color, and lesbians during the early stages of the Stonewall riots; celebrating the pioneers of the LGBTQIA+ rights movement; and mourning the tolls of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, elevated rates of murder of gender-diverse People of Color, and high rates of suicidality and completed suicides among LGBTQIA+ youth. We are appalled by the erosion of the rights of LGBTQIA+ community members and attempts to erase the community through actions such as bans on gender-affirming care for gender-diverse youth, prohibitions on discussions of gender and sexuality within education, removal of books and materials about the LGBTQIA+ community from public locations, elevations in anti-LGBTQIA+ social and political rhetoric, and increased threats of violence directed toward events celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community. We call upon all members of the Indiana University School of Social Work community to advocate for the increased representation of members of the LGBTQIA+ community, engage in true allyship beyond words and corporate rainbow-washing, and develop and support policies and procedures that uphold the rights of all persons within the LGBTQIA+ community.

The Leadership of the IUSSW Diversity Council

Black History Month and Black Lives Matter  

Solidarity Proclamation 

Indiana University School of Social Work stands among our proud and dignified Black and African American students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members.  The School vehemently proclaims Black Lives Matter and Say Their Names. 

Black History is American History 

Indiana University School of Social Work believes we must celebrate Black History all year round and recognize the profound contributions of Black and African American People to the United States and Global History.  African Americans continue to make positive contributions to every element of American life, from engineering and science to music and food.  The history of the United States is Black history, and the destinies of each are intertwined and interdependent. 

Black and African American People built the United States.  Violent expropriation and enslavement predate the US by hundreds of years.  The first enslaved people arrived to North American in 1619, and the barbarous practice of slavery continued until 1865 (Hannah-Jones, 2021).  Freedom fighters, who include Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass, worked tirelessly and at great peril to end chattel slavery and achieve equality.  Harriet Tubman was a prominent conductor on the Underground Railroad—a mutual aid organization with stations across the US that shuttled enslaved people to freedom—and a civil war veteran who aided the Union army as a spy.  Sojourner Truth was the first person to win their children’s freedom through the courts and worked at the intersection of race and sex for feminist liberation.  Frederick Douglass famously observed, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.  It never did, and it never will.” 

Structural Racism 

The abolition of slavery and brief Reconstruction were followed by nearly 100 years of anti-Black apartheid in the US.  Collections of laws that excluded Black and African Americans from civil society, work, and politics were referred to as Jim Crow, and his effect was felt across the county.  Draconian practices, like the One-Drop Rule, where any Black and African American heritage meant forceful repression, become common place and the basis for Nazi genocides in Europe.  These heredity tests, literacy exams, and poll taxes prevented Black and African Americans from participation in elections and democracy.  Formal laws and social norms of segregation were violently enforced through riotous destruction of property, as in Tulsa at Black Wall Street, and all manner of lynchings.  Ida B. Wells, a journalist and social worker, was first to document these heinous crimes.  W. E. B. Debois produced seminal scholarship on Black history and the Black experience, and his The Souls of Black Folks remains poignant and incisive. 

The Civil Rights Movement put an end to official Jim Crow policies with mass collective action and righteous disobedience.  The Movement won civil rights for everyone by means of litigation and policy change.  Brown v Board of Education overturned the Separate but Equal doctrine that provided for racially segregated public accommodations and schools.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned racial, color, nationality, religious, and sex discrimination in education, housing employment, and public accommodation.  The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed heredity tests and literacy exams.  The Fair Housing Act of 1968 outlawed redlining and discrimination in housing and lending.  These monumental gains were achieved at great peril and loss of life.  Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Medger Evers, and Fred Hampton gave their lives for the cause of Freedom.  Rosa Parks, Bayard Rustin, James Baldwin, and John Lewis endured incredible risk to fight for equity.  We are grateful for the many known and unknown warriors for justice who gave their lives for Freedom. 

The problem of institutional racism and formal exclusion remains, even after the victories of the Civil Rights Movement, and as insidious, we work against implicit and covert bias and micro-aggressions.  Micro-aggressions are those everyday interactions that demonstrate a bias against People of Color, women, and LGBTQIA+ people (Pierce, Carew, Peirce-Gonzalez, & Willis, 1978; Sue, Capodilupo, Torino, Bucceri, Holder, Nadal, & Esquilin, 2007).  These could invalidate a person’s biography and reality, anticipate criminality, or impose whiteness on culture.  One prime for an insult or invalidation is color.  Colorism is worsened treatment due to the tone or depth of one’s skin color—the darker skin color is met with discriminatory treatment.  We next demonstrate the effects of implicit bias and racism on health, income and wealth, education, and criminal justice. 

Health Inequities 

 Infant and maternal mortality is one indicator of racism in health and health care.  More than 10 of every 1,000 live births for Black and African American families ends in death before their first birthday (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2021a).  That is double the national average of 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births.  The rate in Indiana is also above the national average at 6.75 deaths per 1,000.  Almost 70 Black and African Americans die in childbirth per 100,000 live births, which is more than double the national average at 33 deaths (CDC, 2021b).  These are preventable deaths due to inaccessibility of health care, barriers to nutrition, and less education on prenatal care caused by systemic racism. 

The life expectancy and health quality of life for Black and African Americans is substantially lower than for other groups.  The life expectancy for Black persons was just 71.8 years compared to 77.6 years for White and 78.8 for Hispanic persons, respectively (Arias, Tejada-Vera, Ahmad, & Kochanek, 2021).  The leading causes of death for Black and African American men are heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s Disease (CDC, 2018a).  The causes of death for Black and African American women are heart disease, cancer, and stroke (CDC, 2018b).  Treatment of these conditions is exacerbated by false beliefs that Black and African Americans experience less pain due to nonexistent biological differences (Hoffman, Trawalter, Axt, & Oliver, 20216). 

Historical and generational trauma hamper health care utilization among Black and African Americans.  The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was conducted by the US government on Black and African American men to determine the effects of that sexual transmitted inflection.  These men, and their families, were denied treatment and cure for decades after a curative had been found.  The Federal government waited more than 30 years to issue an apology and recognize the injustice.  Gynecological medicine is deeply indebted to enslaved Black and African American women who underwent involuntary, invasive, and excruciating procedures.  The family of Henrietta Lacks, the person whose cells were taken without permission and have monumentally contributed to cancer research and treatment, only recently received secrete compensation.  Dr. Moore of Indiana, who had COVID-19, was sent home without the care she knew was necessary and died due to distrust and disbelief.  These tragedies create mistrust of medicine in Black and African Americans. 

Income and Wealth Gap 

Poverty remains a serious problem in the United States.  The overall rate of poverty is 11.5 percent, which represents nearly 38 million people (US Census, 2023).  Black and African Americans experience poverty at a substantially higher rate—17.1 percent.  One-in-five people in poverty are Black and African American.  Children who are Black and African American are at great risk for poverty, with about 22 percent living in poverty.  That is higher than the overall rate for children, at 15 percent, and the second highest rate equal with Hispanic children. 

Audit studies demonstrate that Black and African American job applications are at a significant disadvantage due primarily to the person’s name (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004).  Black and African American applications received 50 percent fewer callbacks from potential employers and even fewer interview requests.  More than 1-in-4 Black and African American households earn less than $25,000 per year (Moslimani, Tamir, Budiman, Noe-Bustamante, & Mora, 2024).  The median household income for Black and African Americans is $50,000 per year, and 70 percent of these households earned less than $75,000 per annum.  Income inequality for Black and African Americans is directly affected by lower wages paid compared White coworkers. 

Income affects homeownership and retirement for Black and African Americans.  Fewer than half of Black and African Americans own their own home, only 45.9 percent as of Q4 2023 (St. Louis Fed, n. d.).  Racial segregation in housing for Black and African Americans is on the decline after decades of overt and covert apartheid through redlining but remains a material problem (US Census, 2002).  The average Black and African American family has $24,100 of wealth compared to White families with $188,200 (Department of Labor [DOL], 2021).  Intergenerational wealth, through inheritance and bequeathment, is lower for Black and African American children as a result of racist barriers to wealth acquisition.  Black and African American war heroes of World War II were systematically denied access to GI Bill and health benefits earned through military service.  That results in a shortfall for retirement, with 54 percent of Black and African Americans unable to comfortably retire (DOL, 2021).  Black and African American workers are significantly less likely to have employer-sponsored retirement plans (DOL, 2021). 

Educational Inequities 

The structural racism that produces inequities in health, income and housing, and wealth and retirement also affect educational conditions and outcomes for Black and African Americans.  Just over 80 percent of Black and African Americans graduate high school (US Department of Education, 2020), and 11 percent have less than a high school education (Moslimani, Tamir, Budiman, Noe-Bustamante, & Mora, 2024).  Sixteen percent of Black and African Americans earn a bachelor’s degree, and ten percent have advanced degrees.  Black and African Americans have the second lowest enrollment in higher education, preceded by American Indian/Alaska Natives (Treasury, n. d.).  Black and African American college debt, on average $52,726 per student, is nearly double the amount held by White graduates (White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, n. d.).  Black and African Americans with a college degree earn an income equivalent to someone with a high school education, which represents an additional Black Tax on their lived experience. 

Black and African Americans have a history of self-reliance for cultural preservation and educational achievement.  Freedom Schools opened across the state of Mississippi to serve Black and African American students who were victimized by White supremacy and racism (Atkinson & Mattaini, 2013).  These intergenerational centers provided political and civil education, voter registration, and basic needs. 

New Jim Crow 

The history of wrongs and injustices perpetrated against Black and African American persons that culminate in effects on health, income and wealth, and education represent a New Jim Crow of racial apartheid and caste (Alexander, 2012).  Police enforce contemporary segregation through state violence, and courts re-enforce that segregation through disproportionate sentences.  George Floyd, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner are the recent victims of a police brutality that spans the history of the United States (Meadow, 2024).  Police began as a direct extension of Runaway Slave Patrols, and racial discrimination and profiling in law enforcement continues today.  Black and African American young adults were nearly a third of the 6,577 people killed by police in 2020 (Schindler & Kittredge, 2020).  These young people have a five-hold risk of execution compared to White peers and a three-fold risk compared to Latina/x/o young people.  Should someone Black and African American survive an interaction with police and be taken into custody, they join the roughly 1.46 million persons already incarcerated in the United States—the largest per capita prison population on the globe (Cullen, 2018).  Black and African American men have a one-in-three chance of incarceration across the lifespan (Keyes, 2024).  The rate of incarceration among women is the highest ever, with 219,000 women in US jails and prisons (American Civil Liberties Union, 2024).  Freedom after incarceration means additional surveillance with monitors and denial of social welfare that could result in re-incarceration and more punitive sentences.  No one is free in a society that polices and imprisons to these extents. 

Actions 

Indiana University School of Social Work affirms the biographies, traditions, and cultures of Black and African American students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members.  The School commits to anti-racist action that positively affects lives and the world.  These actions include (a) the power to make decisions by Black, Latina/x/o, Indigenous, Asian and Pacific Islander, and People of Color; (b) provision of funds to redress inequities and advance inclusion; (c) implementation of best practices to end poverty and wage discrimination; (d) recognition of the existence and effect that racism has in and on social work; and (e) increase empathy among White social workers toward BIPOC (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2022).  The School encourages practices that heal, like Truth and Reconciliation, to build community and seek justice.  Staff and faculty commit to full participation in and support of ADEI efforts and initiatives.  We honor and respect all expressions of Black and African American culture be that through hair, clothes, vernacular, or creativity.  The School stands in solidarity with all who advocate for inclusivity, Black and African American representation, and social justice and recruits for diversity.  We demand proactive care and additional supports and representation in decision of the school by students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members who are Black and African American. 

References 

Alexander, M. (2012). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. The New Press. 

American Civil Liberties Union. (2024). Mass incarceration: An animated series. https://www.aclu.org/issues/smart-justice/mass-incarceration/mass-incarceration-animated-series 

Arias, E., Tejada-Vera, B., Ahmad, F., & Kochanek, K. D. (2021). Provisional life expectancy estimates for 2020. US Department of Health and Human Services. 

Atkinson, K. N., & Mattaini, M. A. (2013). Constructive noncooperation as political resistance. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 24, 99-116. 

Bertrand, M., & Mullainathan, S. (2004). Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination. The American Economic Review, 94(4), 991-1013. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018a). Leading causes of death—males—non-Hispanic Black—United States, 2018. Author. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018b). Leading causes of death—females—non-Hispanic Black—United States, 2018. Author. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021a). Infant mortality. Author. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021b). Maternal mortality rates in the United States, 2021. Author. 

Cullen, J. (2018). The history of mass incarceration. Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/history-mass-incarceration?page=all#:~:text=You%27ve%20heard%20the%20phrase,in%20the%20world%2C%20including%20China. 

Hannah-Jone, N. (2021). The 1619 Project. One World. 

Hoffman, K. M., Trawalter, S., Axt, J. R., & Oliver, M. N. (2016). Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between Blacks and Whites. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(16), 4296-4301. 

Keyes, O. (2024). Mass incarceration & People of Color. Southern Coalition for Social Justice. https://southerncoalition.org/mass-incarceration-people-color/ 

Meadow, R. (2024). What is police brutality? Police Brutality Center. https://policebrutalitycenter.org/police-brutality/ 

Moslimani, M., Tamir, C., Budiman, A., Noe-Bustamante, L., & Mora, L. (2024). Facts about the U.S. Black Population. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/fact-sheet/facts-about-the-us-black-population/#household-income 

National Association of Social Workers. (2022). NASW anti-racism statement. Author. 

Pierce, C., Carew, J., Pierce-Gonzalez, D., & Willis, D. (1978). An experiment in racism: TV commercials. In C. Pierce (Ed.), Television and education (pp. 62-88). Sage. 

Schindler, M., & Kittredge, J. (2020). A crisis within a crisis: Police killings of Black emerging adults. Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/a-crisis-within-a-crisis-police-killings-of-black-emerging-adults/ 

St. Louis Fed. (n. d.). Homeownership rates by race and ethnicity: Black alone in the United States. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BOAAAHORUSQ156N#0 

Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. M. B., Nadal, K. L., Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271-286. 

US Census. (2002). Racial and ethnic residential segregation in the United States: 1980-2000. Author. 

US Census. (2023). Poverty in the United States: 2022. Author. 

US Department of Education. (2020). Table 1. Public high school 4-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR), by race/ethnicity and selected demographic characteristics for the United States, the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: School year 2019–20. National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/tables/ ACGR_RE_and_characteristics_2019-20.asp 

US Department of Labor. (2021). Achieving financial equity in retirement: Unpacking the retirement savings crisis in the Black community. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ EBSA/about-ebsa/about-us/erisa-advisory-council/2021-gaps-in-retirement-savings-based-on-race-ethnicity-and-gender-watkins-written-statement-06-25.pdf 

US Department of the Treasury. (n. d.). Post 5: Racial differences in educational experiences and attainment. https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/post-5-racial-differences-in-educational-experiences-and-attainment 

Whtie House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. (n. d.). Fact sheet: Black college graduates and the student debt gap. https://sites.ed.gov/whblackinitiative/ files/2016/11/Black-College-Graduates-and-the-Student-Debt-Gap.pdf 

Faculty Senate Statement of Solidarity with Transgender Rights

Statement passed by the Indiana University School of Social Work Faculty Senate
Friday, February 2, 2024

The faculty of the Indiana University School of Social Work stand in solidarity with the transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse community. Embodying the core principles of social work, including

social justice and respect for the dignity and worth of every person, we recognize the humanity of our transgender family members, friends, and neighbors. Guided by the discipline’s defining values and ethics, social workers collectively champion the rights, autonomy, and advance the freedoms of the

gender-diverse community (National Association of Social Workers, 2021). Any violation of their human and civil rights is a violation of all human and civil rights. Research indicates that violence against transgender people starts early in life and many experience repeated poly-victimization that impacts them throughout their lifetime (Felix et al., 2023; Lombardi et al., 2001; Stotzer, 2009). A national study of transgender adults found that transphobic laws and policies were associated with increased psychological distress. suicidal ideation. and suicide attempts Price et al.. ZUZ3.

Comprehensive research, including contributions from our own faculty, demonstrates the harmful personal. ramilial. and social consequences of transphobic public policies and the need to support. protect. and celebrate transgender. nonbinary. and gender-diverse persons of all ages (Brandon-Friedman et al., 2024; Truszezynski et al., 2022). We call on all people to consider policies and procedures that enshrine the gender-diverse community’s rights. liberty, and choice. We stand with Indiana University in its nondiscrimination policies and the mission of its Office of Institutional Equity to protect the rights of gender-diverse persons and ensure their equal access in all aspects of employment, education, and participation within the University. We celebrate all transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse persons and will continue to advance initiatives consistent with our professional ethics, obligations, and support for all minoritized people.

Note: This statement is distributed on behalf of the Indiana University School of Social Work’s Faculty Senate and does not represent an official statement of the Indiana University School of Social Work

References

Brandon-Friedman, R. A., Tabb, A., Imburgia, T. M., Swafford, T. R.. Fortenberry. J. D.. Canada., M., &

Donahue, K. L. (2024). Perspectives of gender-diverse youth and caregivers grappling with legislation banning gender-affirming medical interventions. Journal of Adolescent Health, 74(3), 38-9.

httos://dol.org/10.1016/1.1adohealth.2023.11.033

Felix, S.. Azimi. A. M.. & Radatz. D. L. (2023). The consequences of polyvictimization among transgender and gender nonconforming people. In S. Clevenger, S. Kelley, & K. Ratajczak (Eds.), Queer victimology:

Understanding the victim experience. (pp. 50-59). Routledge.

Lombardi, B. L., Wilchins, R. A., Priesing, D., & Malout, D. (2001). Gender violence: Transgender experiences with violence discrimination. Journal of Homosexualitv. 421). 89-101.

National Association of Social Workers. (2021) Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers.

Price, M. A., Hollinsaid, N. L., McKetta, S., Mellen, E. J., & Rakhilin, M. (2023). Structural transphobia is associated with psychological distress and suicidality in a large national sample of transgender adults.

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/00127-023-02482-4

Stotzer. R. L. (2009). Violence against transgender people: A review of United States data.

Violent Behavior. 14(3). 170-179.

Truszczynski, M., Truszczynski, N., Estevez, R. I., & Elliott, A. E. (2022). Does policy matter? The impact of state and city anti-discrimination policy on the discrimination experiences of trans and nonbinary people.

Sexuality Research and Social Policy. 19 4\. 1786-1794. httos://dol.org/10.1007/s13178-022-00762-3