Readings and resources for social work educators on police brutality and structural racism
Readings on police brutality in the United States:
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) (2020). Fighting police abuse: Community action manual. https://www.aclu.org/other/fighting-police-abuse-community-action-manual
Adedoyin, A.C., Moore, S.E., Robinson, M.A., Clayton, D.A., Boamah, D.A. & Harmon, D.K. (2019). The Dehumanization of Black Males by Police: Teaching Social Justice—Black Life Really Does Matter!. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 39:2, 111-131, DOI: 10.1080/08841233.2019.1586807
Butze, O. (2020). We can’t just go back to normal: Research-based Resources to Help You Teach, Talk, and Learn About Structural Racism. Sage Publications. https://group.sagepub.com/structural-racism-police-violence?fbclid=IwAR1xYH6Zdt05pueSmsf7nFPLxJ1Ha8nM0PUWzIGLr6xCrGh9L0qpdtwjons
Cheslaw, L. (2020). 15 best books on police brutality according to the experts. New York Magazine. July 1, 2020. https://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-books-police-brutality.html
Chicago Public Library. (2020). Topic guide: Police brutality. https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/list/share/901860537/1415865957
Edwards, F., Lee, H. and Esposito, M. (2019). Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race-ethnicity, and sex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). https://www.pnas.org/content/116/34/16793
Grady, C. (2020). George Floyd protests: A reading list to understand police brutality in America. Vox. June 6, 2020. https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/6/6/21281018/anti-racist-reading-list-police-brutality-syllabus
Kendi, I. (2020). The American nightmare: To be Black and conscious of anti-Black racism is to stare into the mirror of your own extinction. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/american-nightmare/612457/
Khatib, J. (2020). 5 books to read about race and the police. The New York Times. June 10, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/10/burst/books-policing-race.html
Mapping Police Violence (2020). https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/ October 20, 2020.
Moore, S.E., Robinson, M., Clayton, D., Adedoyin, A., Boamah, D., Kyere, E., & Harmon, D. (2018). A Critical Race Perspective of Police Shooting of Unarmed Black Males in the USA: Implications for Social Work. Journal of Urban Social Work, 2(1), 33-47.
Sacks, T.K. & Chow, J. (2018). A Social Work Perspective on Police Violence: Evidence and Interventions, Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 27(3),215-218, DOI: 10.1080/15313204.2018.1476197
Taylor, K. (2020). How do we change America? The quest to transform this country cannot be limited to challenging its brutal police. The New Yorker. June 8, 2020
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-do-we-change-america?fbclid=IwAR3P-nCELcROALn0bj8SSCzMBIs-54trrPKzDxddJNFl5TWoQHNk112-5iw
Readings on police, social work and abolition
8toAbolition (2020). 8 to Abolition: Abolitionist policy changes to demand from your city officials. https://elspethslayter.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/df868-8toabolition_v2.pdf
Critical Resistance (No date). Reformist reforms vs. abolitionist steps in policing. https://elspethslayter.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/af73a-cr_nocops_reform_vs_abolition_crside.pdf
Critical Resistance (2003). The CR Abolition Organizing Toolkit. http://criticalresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/CR-Abolitionist-Toolkit-online.pdf
Movement for Black Lives (2020). The Breathe Act. https://breatheact.org
Movement for Black Lives. (2020). #DefundPolice Concrete steps toward divestment from policing and investment in community safety. Filter Magazine. https://filtermag.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Defund-Toolkit.pdf
MPD150, (2020). Police Abolition: Frequently Asked Questions. https://www.mpd150.com/faq/ (Note: In Somali, Spanish and English)
National Association of Social Workers. (2020, July 28). Black Lives Matters: The role of social work in dismantling structural racism in the USA. [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/News/Social-Work-Talks-Podcast/EP57-Black-Lives-Matter-The-Role-of-Social-Work-in-Dismantling-Structural-Racism-in-the-USA/Transcript-for-Episode-57-Black-Lives-Matter (Interview with Mel Wilson, LCSW, MBA, Senior Policy Consultant, NASW)
Patton, D.U.,Brunton, D., Dixon, A., Hackman, R.J., & Miller R. (2017). Stop and frisk online: Theorizing everyday racism in digital policing in the use of social media for the identification of criminal conduct and associations. Social Media + Society. DOI: 10.1177/2056305117733344
Patton, D.U., Pyooz, D., Decker, S., Leonard, P., & Frey, W (In Press) When Twitter fingers turn to trigger fingers: A sociolinguistic study of internet-mediated gang violence. International Journal of Bullying Prevention
Singer, J. (2020). Both/And or Either/Or: Social Work and Policing. The Social Work Podcast. July 14, 2020. https://socialworkpodcast.blogspot.com/2020/07/socialworkpolicing.html?fbclid=IwAR2-7D0amRNPrbQ67Xm2TFH0pjThNr7_w9abxDkvFylm7Q9wi6VtHZkbe3Y
Resources for discussing race in the classroom:
Anti-racism resources for White people (list prepared by Sarah Sophie Flicker, Alyssa Klein – May 2020)
Jones, M. (2017, June 13). Invitation to Brave Space. Helping Out. [Blog post]. Retrieved from
https://helpingout.net/2018/12/02/invitation-to-brave-space-poem-by-micky-scottbey-jones/
Summary of the stages of identity development — this document includes white identity development models, as well as models for people of color (document prepared by Interaction Institute for Social Change)
Starkman, R. (2020). Dropping the N-Word in College Classrooms. Institutions should consider developing guidelines to address the main objections to doing so. Inside Higher Ed. July 24, 2020 https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/07/24/colleges-should-develop-guidelines-using-n-word-classes-opinion?fbclid=IwAR0oj7JRw9VuFytivWPadczLYcu536hrmrxqVpv_lSjrETrqX-NSiFCJsOg
Thyer B.A. (2010) Social justice: a conservative perspective, Journal of Comparative Social Welfare, 26:2-3, 261-274, DOI: 10.1080/17486831003687634
Related resources from our keynote speakers:
Adedoyin, A.C., Moore, S.E., Robinson, M.A., Clayton, D.A., Boamah, D.A. & Harmon, D.K. (2019). The Dehumanization of Black Males by Police: Teaching Social Justice—Black Life Really Does Matter!. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 39:2, 111-131, DOI: 10.1080/08841233.2019.1586807
Henry, B. and Wilson, M. (2019) Abolishing cash bail to promote social justice. Social Justice Brief. National Association of Social Workers. Washington https://www.socialworkers.org/Portals/0/PDF/Advocacy/Public/Social-Justice/Abolishing-Cash-Bail-SJB-June-2019.pdf
Moore, S.E., Robinson, M., Clayton, D., Adedoyin, A., Boamah, D., Kyere, E., & Harmon, D. (2018). A Critical Race Perspective of Police Shooting of Unarmed Black Males in the USA: Implications for Social Work. Journal of Urban Social Work, 2(1), 33-47.
National Association of Social Workers. (2020, July 28). Black Lives Matters: The role of social work in dismantling structural racism in the USA. [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/News/Social-Work-Talks-Podcast/EP57-Black-Lives-Matter-The-Role-of-Social-Work-in-Dismantling-Structural-Racism-in-the-USA/Transcript-for-Episode-57-Black-Lives-Matter (Interview with Mel Wilson, LCSW, MBA, Senior Policy Consultant, NASW)
National Association of Social Workers (2013). A social work perspective on drug policy reform: Public health approach. Social Justice Brief. https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=j1V29ptPQxM%3d&portalid=0
Patton, D.U.,Brunton, D., Dixon, A., Hackman, R.J., & Miller R. (2017). Stop and frisk online: Theorizing everyday racism in digital policing in the use of social media for the identification of criminal conduct and associations. Social Media + Society. DOI: 10.1177/2056305117733344
Patton, D.U., Pyooz, D., Decker, S., Leonard, P., & Frey, W (In Press) When Twitter fingers turn to trigger fingers: A sociolinguistic study of internet-mediated gang violence. International Journal of Bullying Prevention.
Sacks, T.K. & Chow, J. (2018). A Social Work Perspective on Police Violence: Evidence and Interventions, Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 27(3),215-218, DOI: 10.1080/15313204.2018.1476197
Wilson, M. (2014). Ferguson, Missouri aftermath: National implications for disparities in the criminal justice continuum. Social Justice Brief. National Association of Social Workers. Washington, DC.