“They’re Not Closing This School, We Won’t Let Them”

Abstract

This autoethnography details the story of my personal experience in the field as a social work MSW and Ph.D. student, working as the facilitator of a human rights-based after-school and summer program at an urban high school set for permanent closure in a structurally oppressed community, and my journey to the realization that I was witnessing genocide in the form of structural violence. One purpose in writing this narrative is to provide a social and cultural context to the ubiquity of structurally violent policies, such as closing public schools. This story also testifies to the wealth of strengths that youth possess to resist even the most severe human rights abuses. I also write to show the inextricable political link between individuals and societal structures and systems and to challenge social workers to actively oppose structural violence and its genocidal effects. As I reflect on the genocidal conditions I witnessed, I will at the same time critically consider the profession of social work’s role in responding to structural violence, as well as the great potential that our profession has to meaningfully address crises like these.