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Racial Injustice and Racial Equity

We're committed to dismantling the system of racism and oppression

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Racial Injustice and Racial Equity and the Department of Social Work

The Department of Social Work at the University of Mississippi is commited to dismantling the system of racism and oppression that perpetuates violence, as well as social, economic, political, and environmental injustice.

In pursuit of this commitment, the staff and faculty of the Department of Social Work at the University of Mississippi will continue to:

  1. Engage in self-assessment and reflection, both as members of the department and the department itself, to identify ways in which we consciously and unconsciously maintain systemic racism;
  2. Seek input from students, staff, and faculty regarding ways to dismantle racism within our department and communities;
  3. Revitalize and re-focus the efforts of its departmental “Empowerment” Committee to plan action steps and post those steps on the departmental website;
  4. Examine the program to identify and eradicate the ways in which systemic racism is upheld by departmental policy;
  5. Examine the social work curriculum to ensure inclusion of anti-racist curriculum and pedagogy;
  6. Partner with local, regional and national social work programs and social work organizations in advocacy and policy action to dismantle racism and structural oppression in practice, licensure and professional policies, and throughout society.

We are committed to these actions as the core of our work to educate future social workers and create an equal, just, and better society.

Additional Resources

In addition to the commitments listed above, the Department has compiled a list of resources from faculty and the wider-world of racial justice, including books and podcasts.

Our faculty is actively created well-researched and thought-provoking essays, books, and book chapters to enrich the public's understanding about these complicated and multifaceted issues. 

Below you'll find, a growing depository of their work:

Na Youn Lee

  • Hong, J.S., Merrin, G.J., Peguero, A.A., Gonzalez-Prendes, A.A., & Lee, N.Y. (2016). Exploring the social-ecological determinants of physical fighting in U.S. schools: What about youth in immigrant families? Child & Youth Care Forum, 45 (2), 279-299. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-015-9330-1 
  • Hong, J. S., Peguero, A. A., Choi, S., Lanesskog, D., Espelage, D. L., & Lee, N.Y. (2014). Social ecology of bullying and peer victimization of Latino and Asian youth in the United States: A review of the literature. Journal of School Violence, 13 (3), 315-338. https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2013.856013 

Misa Kayama

  • Kayama, M. & Haight, W. (in press). Anti-Asian hatred and Japanese parents’ support of their children’s acculturation to the U.S. Social Work.
  • Kayama, M., Haight, W., Ku, M., Cho, M.H., & Lee, H.Y. (2020). Disability, stigmatization, and children’s developing selves: Insights from educators in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Kayama, M., Johnstone, C., & Limaye, S. (2019). The Experiences of Disability in Sociocultural Contexts of India: Stigmatization and Resilience. International Social Work. Published online first; Available at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020872819828781
  • Kayama, M., Johnstone, C., & Limaye, S. (2019). Adjusting the “self” in social interaction: Disability and stigmatization in India, Children and Youth Services Review, 96, 463-474.
  • Haight, W., Kayama, M., Gibson, P.A. (2016). Out-of-school suspensions of Black youth: Culture, ability/disability, gender, and perspective, Social Work, 61(3), 234-243.

Amy Fisher

  • Fisher, A., Moore, D., Simmons, C.  & Allen, S. (2017). Teaching social workers about microaggressions to enhance understanding of subtle racism. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 27(4), 346-355. doi: 10.1080/10911359.2017.1289877
  • Crutchfield, J., Fisher, A., and Webb, S. (2017). Colorism in police killings of unarmed African Americans.  The Western Journal of Black Studies., 41(3 & 4), 3-13.
  • Fisher, A., Mackey, T., Langendoen, C., & Barnard, M. (2016). Effect of child and interviewer race on disclosure of child sexual abuse. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 25(7), 777-792. doi: 10.1080/10538712.2016.1208705

Desiree Stepteau-Watson

  • Plummer, S., Crutchfield, J., & Stepteau-Watson, D. (2021). The Obligation of White Women: Dismantling White Supremacy Culture in Social Work Education, Advances in Social Work, 21(2/3), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.18060/24467
  • Stepteau-Watson, D. & Tolliver, D. E. (2018). An African-Centered Approach to Intervening with African American Adolescents Involved in Substance Abusing Behavior. Western Journal of Black Studies, 42 (3/4), 147-157.
  • Skinner-Osei, P. & Stepteau-Watson, D. (2017). A qualitative analysis of African
  • American fathers’ struggle with reentry, recidivism, and reunification after participation in re-entry programs. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment 28(2), 240-255.
  • Watson, J. & Stepteau-Watson, D. (2015). Troubled waters: The black church in
  • Mississippi, a single subject case study. Journal of Social Work and Christianity, 42(3), 369-384.
  • Watson, J., Washington, G., & Stepteau-Watson, D., (2015). Umoja: A culturally specific approach to mentoring young African American males. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. 32(1), 81-90.
  • Stepteau-Watson, D., Watson, J., & Lawrence, S. K. (2014). Young African American Males in Reentry: An Afrocentric Cultural Approach. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 24(6), 658-665.
  • Stepteau-Watson, D. (2014). Dating Violence, Young African American Males, and Risk and Protective Factors: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 24(6), 694-701.
  • Lawrence, S. K., Watson, J., & Stepteau-Watson, D. (2013). President Obama and the fatherhood initiative. Race, Gender & Class, 20(3/4), 98-113.
  • Stepteau-Watson, D. (2012). Infusing service learning in the college curriculum: a report of a service-learning project to bring awareness to sexual violence. The College Student Journal, 46(4), 788-794.
  • Lawrence, S. K., Stepteau-Watson, D. & Honre′-Collins, C. (2007). An Exploratory Study: Incarcerated Mothers with Daughters Involved in Child Welfare. Race Class & Gender, 14(1-2), 227-235.


  • The Breakdown with Dr. Earl: A Mental Health Podcast

  • The Homecoming Podcast with Dr. Thema

  • My podcast episode with Jamie Foxx, Michael B. Jordan, and Bryan Stevenson about Just Mercy

  • Still Processing, a New York Times culture podcast with Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morrison

  • Seeing White, a Scene on the Radio podcast

  • Code Switch, an NPR podcast tackling race from all angles

  • Jemele Hill is Unbothered, a podcast with award-winning journalist Jemele Hill

  • Hear To Slay, “the black feminist podcast of your dreams,” with Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom

  • Pod Save The People, organizer and activist DeRay Mckesson explores news, culture, social justice, and politics with analysis from fellow activists Brittany Packnett, Sam Sinyangwe, and writer Dr. Clint Smith III

  • The Appeal, a podcast on criminal justice reform hosted by Adam Johnson

  • Justice In America, a podcast by Josie Duffy Rice and Clint Smith on criminal justice reform

  • Brené Brown with Ibram X. Kendi, a podcast episode on antiracism

  • Come Through, a WNYC podcast with Rebecca Carroll

  • The Kinswomen, conversations on race, racism, and allyship between women, hosted by Hannah Pechter and Yseult Polfliet