I've talked in my recent NASW-NJ newSWire messages about the rising poverty rate, and the role social workers must play when so many more people are unemployed and eking out an existence on little or no money. The Census Bureau recently reported that another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the United States last year, and the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it.
Now I'd like to talk about the role social workers have in speaking up for social justice. Clearly, from the economic data alone, this country is on a very slippery slope where the needs of the poor and middle class are being eroded every day. But politically we’re trending in just the opposite direction: we are ignoring the needs of the poor and middle class and aiming to shred our social safety net programs such as Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Moreover, we even question the rights of those who lack health insurance.
Here's an example of the latter:
In a recent political debate, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Representative Ron Paul what we should do if a 30-year-old man without health insurance suddenly found himself in need of six months of intensive care. Mr. Paul replied, “That’s what freedom is all about — taking your own risks.” When Mr. Blitzer pressed him again, asking whether “society should just let him die”, the audience erupted with cheers and shouts of “Yeah!”
I say "no" to this kind of cruelty. I say "no" to letting people die from lack of medical care. I say "no" to making enemies of those with low incomes who can’t afford insurance, or can't get insurance because of a chronic condition.
As social workers, we need to make our voices heard. Just as the protesters on Wall Street and in other cities - who are growing in number every day - have spoken out about unemployment and economic inequality, we need to think about our role as social workers in speaking up against the unfeeling, insensitive people who shout "Yeah" to letting a 30-year-old uninsured person die for lack of health insurance.
I welcome your thoughts. What do you think about the social worker's role in society today? What do you think about protecting those most in need?
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2 comments:
This is very well stated. The role of the social worker is found right in the first lines of our code of ethics: “the primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular emphasis to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty” (NASW code of Ethics,p. 1).
As social workers, we need to lose any reluctance to speak out whenever and wherever necessary against the angry and selfish rhetoric that goes so frequently unchallenged.
As social workers, we also witness abuse of entitlements by the poor, yet no one speaks put abpout that!For instance, tose on disability that are very capable of working. If the government was more careful investigating how entitlements were spent, ther would be mpre avalible for those who truly need it.
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