By GREGORY ZELLER //
With high-profile murder trials, the devastating COVID pandemic and other critical socioeconomic issues shining fresh spotlights on racial disparities across the United States, the Adelphi University School of Social Work is making a stand for social justice.
This spring semester, more than 180 Adelphi social work students banded together to pioneer new efforts addressing racial imbalances, with graduate students and undergrads uniting on numerous multimedia projects – including videos, pamphlets, social media campaigns and more – focused on outing, and ending, systemic racism.
The three-month, largely online effort focused primarily on the effects race and racism have on criminal justice, healthcare, education and housing.
Daniel Kaplan: Speaking for the oppressed.
While taking a mostly national view of the issues, the project did highlight certain Island-specific disparities. One of the 2021 Social Action Initiatives involved a study of “Racial Justice & Housing For Long Island,” with input from the Long Island Housing Partnership, the Queens-based Fair Housing Justice Center and other regional agencies.
Other initiatives dug deep into the portrayal of race in mainstream media, disparities in COVID-related healthcare outcomes, Asian-American racism – a continuing concern in the Age of Coronavirus – and discrimination in the American education system.
Assistant Professor of Social Work Daniel Kaplan, co-chairman of Adelphi’s Social Action Committee, noted the wide-ranging multimedia effort goes beyond simply pointing fingers.
“Our students’ work highlights social work’s core values of social justice and equity, and calls for greater efforts to challenge social injustice and strive for social change on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed people,” Kaplan said in a statement.
Manoj Pardasani: Creating leaders.
The work actually extends beyond the annual Social Action Initiatives. Nearly 300 Adelphi social work students participated this spring in virtual racial-justice events hosted by the New York State Legislature, showing their support for the New York State Racial Equity Bill.
Proposed by Buffalo Democrat Timothy Kennedy and co-sponsored by Long Island-based State Sens. James Gaughran (D-Syosset), Anna Kaplan (D-Carle Place), Todd Kaminsky (D-Rockville Centre) and James Brooks (D-Massapequa), the long-simmering bill – officially introduced by Kennedy in April 2020, with a New York State Assembly version arriving in January of this year – aims to create a statewide Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice.
Adelphi School of Social Work Dean Manoj Pardasani called the wide-ranging social-justice efforts “a remarkable achievement for our students and the faculty who made it possible.”
“We strive to ensure that our graduates become leaders, change-makers and social-justice warriors in the communities they serve,” Pardasani added. “This initiative has shown students how they can continue to remain engaged in the world.”
