Guide for Sustaining Conversations on Racism, Identity, and Our Mutual Humanity

Steve Burghardt, M.S.W., Ph.D., is a professor of social work at Hunter College-CUNY. He is a noted author and an eight-time teaching award winner.Kalima DeSuze, L.M.S.W., is an adjunct professor at Hunter College-CUNY, Smith College, and Columbia Schools of Social Work. She serves as an assistant director of the Hunter College-CUNY Field Education Department.Mohan Vinjamuri, L.M.S.W., Ph.D., is an assistant professor of social work at Lehman College-CUNY where he teaches courses on practice, research, and social work with LGBTQ communities.Linda Lausell Bryant, M.S.W., Ph.D., has worked as the executive director of a nonprofit youth agency and is now the executive-in-residence and clinical assistant professor of social work at New York University.

When I was looking for resources to help our faculty begin the work of addressing issues of race and racism, a colleague recommended Sustaining Conversations on Racism. Our committee was drawn to this work because we did not just want a one-and-done training, but rather to sustain these conversations over time in hopes that they would facilitate long-term change. As a faculty, we are using this book as a guide to have difficult conversations. This book and the authors of this book helped us begin this process of looking internally at how we can begin dismantling systems of oppression. We have a long way to go, but we are grateful for this book and the authors who started us on this journey." —Joan Blakely, MSW, Ph.D., LMSW, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor, Faculty Affiliate - Africana Studies, Tulane University"Now more than ever, A Guide for Sustaining Conversations on Race, Identity and Our Mutual Humanity is an essential text for all faculty who wish to push past the boundaries of polite and surface discussions about race and oppression in their classrooms. The authors' authentic conversations about their own identities and classroom experiences are both instructive and inspiring. The book has become my go-to resource for my own teaching, for examination of my own identity, and for the creation of brave learning spaces for deep connection and shared humanity. Whether a new or seasoned instructor, you will keep it close at hand and return to it often." —Susan Gerbino, PhD, LCSW, Clinical Professor, NYU Silver School of Social Work"A Guide for Sustaining Conversations on Racism, Identity, and our Mutual Humanity is a resource that every social work department needs. There is no greater time than now to have a guide to help social work educators lean into our own vulnerability as a first step in change work. These conversations are necessary among faculty colleagues and in the classroom with our students, with the ultimate goal of training future social workers who not only feel comfortable engaging in challenging conversations, but also with initiating them." —Kyle H. O'Brien, PhD, DHSc, MSW, MSOT, LCSW, OTR/L, Health Science (BHSc) Program Co-Director | Department of Health and Movement Sciences Associate Professor | Department of Social Work, Southern Connecticut State University"A timely contribution, this book should be on the shelves of student affairs practitioners. It challenges us to re-envision how we model constructive dialogue on college campuses. A must read for anyone interested in fostering critical understanding across difference in educational settings." —Valerie De Cruz, Director of the Greenfield Intercultural Center, University of Pennsylvania