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Despite the contemporary public's discourse regarding the embrace of human diversity within the United States, Black males still are perennially brutalized, killed, and negatively stereotyped. Recent events regarding police killings underscore the reality that even though Black males have the same constitutional and civil rights as all other citizens, in practice their rights are often violated or denied. The negative stereotypes of Black males is problematic because it creates an environment and negative perception of them that causes some police officers to claim that they feared for their life before shooting. In this article the authors discuss the history of police oppression and killing of Black males and offer critical race theory as a theoretical perspective that helps to explain this pervasive social inequity. More important, the authors provide practical classroom narratives, assignments, and strategies that may hold promise in addressing the problem of police brutality and the killing of Black males.

Increasing fathers' involvement with their children has become a priority in recent years. Marriage promotion programs have been offered as the primary vehicles for increasing paternal involvement. Although marriage is likely to provide fathers with increased access and opportunity for paternal involvement, much less is known about the ways in which cohabitation, an increasingly popular coresident family formation, serves to facilitate paternal involvement. Therefore, this study examined Black fathers' involvement with their children among men in coresident family formations. The data for this study were drawn from a sample of 617 Black fathers participating in the 5-year follow-up data collection wave of the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study. The results revealed that although Black married fathers and Black unwed cohabitating fathers report similar levels of involvement, regression analyses indicate that there are distinct predictors for each family formation. Implications for fatherhood research are also included. (Contains 5 tables.)

Social work education is guided by the Council of Social Work Education, which acknowledges the necessity of increased diversity in the curriculum, outlined in the second competency within their Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (Council on Social Work Education, 2015). However, these ideals are not always fostered in the academic professional settings that Black and Latinx women faculty occupy. Critical Race Theory will be explored as a framework to better understand impostor syndrome and challenge the oppressive structures that uphold white supremacist ideals in social work education. This manuscript will offer structural recommendations to US-based social work institutions, including peer mentoring and the creation of brave spaces to mitigate impostor syndrome for Black and Latinx women social work faculty. In addition, the personal narratives of three female faculty of Color--two Black social work faculty and one Latinx faculty--will be presented to exemplify experiences of impostor syndrome through their professional social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dying, death, and grief are universal human experiences that are impacted by cultural values and beliefs. We provide service providers a context from which to consider the importance of spirituality and religiosity in the grief process and the variances in grief practices that exist within the Black community. This knowledge can serve as a catalyst for developing culturally appropriate interventions for Black people aimed at helping them to more effectively cope with grief and further enabling them to thrive rather than merely survive a sociopolitical US climate that is laden with grief producing experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent high-profile killings of unarmed Black males underscore a stark reality in America: though Black men have the same constitutional rights as all other citizens of the United States, in practice their rights are often violated. The negative stereotype that all Black males are criminals has created an environment that perpetuates the killing of unarmed Black males by police officers as justifiable self-defense. In this article, critical race theory (CRT) provides a theoretical lens to examine and understand the persistent racism underlying the social inequities that have been thrust upon Black males in the United States of America. The authors conclude with implications and recommendations for social work education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police killings of unarmed Black males is an all too often occurrence. Just how many have succumbed in this manner is unknown due to a lack of a comprehensive reporting method. However, an undeniable fact and reality is that the Black community, and society as a whole, suffers as a result of the loss of these individuals. The authors of this article suggest that police shootings of unarmed Black males may never cease. The authors propose simple but thoughtful ways in which Black males should be educated by the Black community (family, church, and other institutions) regarding general survival skills and more specifically survival skills in regards to police encounters. Implications for further research are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police shootings of young Black males that ultimately result in their death have become an all-too-common occurrence in this country. The deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Gardner have highlighted police relations with this population. Before viable solutions can be established, a number of areas need to be addressed that relate to the historical context in which police relations with this group exist that impact current relations between the police and young Black males, why their lives are seemingly given less value by society than those of their White counterparts, the role that spirituality and religiosity play that may help to make connections between them and the police, and the benefit of the Black church in fostering amicable police relations with young Black males. This article addresses these issues and concludes with recommendations for how the social work and human services professions, along with the Black church and police, can be responsive and proactive in addressing this social problem. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mothers are often children's primary caregivers. Fathers have historically been viewed as marginally involved, leaving mothers with a disproportionate share of parenting responsibilities and stress. Although more researchers are examining fathers' roles and behavior within the family, relatively little is known about how their involvement impacts mothers' parenting stress. This study investigated the ways in which fathers' contributions and mothers' perception of them affect maternal parenting stress. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study, hierarchical regression analysis revealed that in addition to mothers' and children's characteristics, the level of perceived emotional parenting support that fathers provided to mothers predicted maternal parenting stress. Implications for family practitioners working with low-income and minority populations are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the nexus of faith and the triumvirate of learning, practice, and research. Social work educators have not consistently challenged social work students to consider the importance of the constructs of faith, religiosity, and spirituality in their own learning and lives. The acknowledgment of racism as an unjust social construct is the essential social justice focus of this paper. The authors present an example of a course assignment that may be used to help students explore the signi"cance and meaning of faith, equity, and spirituality in others and in their own lives. The Critical Race Theory (CRT) is used as a theoretical framework to discuss how educators can prepare students to have a generalist perspective that is humane and social justice driven. The ethical duty to acknowledge, explore, and teach students faith in the social work curriculum is a key aspect of the biopsychosocial-spiritual assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]