Just Practice: A Social Justice Approach to Social Work

Book looks great. Thanks!

Very informative on social justice.

Very interactive and engaging so far. only 3 chapters in.

The book was good all except the front cover was half torn when I recieced it. Everytime I opened the book it tore more and more. Other than that it was great, no writing inside and all the pages were there.

THis company made my day when I saw the book in mail...came in great shape and now I'm pleased...will definitely get books from you guys next year

Instead of drafting a full review, I will copy and paste the letter that I sent to the publisher of this book. This outlines only one example of many that I have found challenging about this book.Dear Editor:My advanced graduate practice class at Portland State University School of Social Work is using your book Just Practice: A Social Justice Approach to Social Work (Second Edition) by Janet Finn & Maxine Jacobson. I am writing because I am concerned about a historical misrepresentation in your book that defeats the advancement of social justice and begs the question of accuracy in the remainder of the textbook.On page 65 of your book, the authors briefly recount the story of Rosa Parks. I would like to bring to your attention that the details as laid out in your book are largely recounting a dominant culture “myth” that is commonly taught schools and which does an injustice to the teaching of Black history. It is the myth with which I grew up, but I had hoped a social work textbook that includes “Social Justice” in the title would get this one right.First, the book states that Mrs. Parks took “a seat at the front of the bus, a place reserved at the time only for whites.” This detail is inaccurate and one that I would expect to be properly recounted in a textbook that is used in graduate-level education:Parks did not sit in the front of the bus. She sat in the front row of the “colored” section. When the bus got crowded she refused to give up her seat in the “colored” section to a European American. It is important to point this out as it indicates quite clearly that it was not her intent, initially, to break the segregation laws. (Kohl p. 42)Your book ignores the monumental coordinated efforts of the Montgomery African-American community and continues the depiction of an individual hero of the story. While Rosa Parks played an important role, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was not sparked by individual effort, nor was her refusal the first. The NAACP leadership picked her case for very specific reasons, reasons that made a lasting impact in the way history has been taught:The NAACP leadership in Montgomery decided that the best plaintiff to challenge the segregated bus laws would be a woman, “because a woman would get more sympathy than a man.” But this woman would have to be “above reproach, have a good reputation, and have done nothing wrong but refuse to give up her seat.” A few pages later, Parks said of herself, “I had no police record, I’d worked all my life, I wasn’t pregnant with an illegitimate child. The white people couldn’t point to me and say that there was anything I had done to deserve such treatment except to be born black. “ Although it might have made strategic sense for the NAACP leadership to look for a symbol of the normal to test the segregation laws in Montgomery, the result has been to affirm a normal/abnormal binary that historically has been used to separate “deserving” minorities from “undeserving” ones, “good” Blacks from “bad” Blacks. The implication, as I said, may be that African American and other marginalized youth need only to act “normal” and be “good” to succeed […] Although she has become a symbol and advocate of good manners and self-discipline for African American youth, of never “losing your cool,” she also decries the fact that Black people have to assume such a heavy burden of politeness, of smiling when they are treated rudely, to keep out of trouble (Carlson p. 51, emphasis added).I expect this to be corrected in the next edition of the book to accurately reflect history, social justice, and the power of community organization. As the authors continue in the very next section on page 65, “Marginalization of History in Social Work, “we need to be careful when retelling the history of oppressed populations that the retelling does not further oppression. I have included a couple citations to encourage exploration into the Rosa Parks story and why it is important to consider how we choose to teach Black history. My social work education has constantly corrected the “history” that I learned in elementary school and I hope that the authors of this book express the “compassion and conviction” to “mobilize the possibilities of freedom” that they discuss in the book.Thank you for your consideration and efforts to advance social justice.Carlson, D. (February 01, 2003). Troubling Heroes: Of Rosa Parks, Multicultural Education, and Critical Pedagogy. Cultural Studies Critical Methodologies, 3, 1, 44-61.Kohl, H. (1991). The politics of children’s literature: The story of Rosa Parks and the MontgomeryBus Boycott. Journal of Education, 173(1), 35-50.