The hope for justice related to the shooting of Jacob Blake that we expressed back in August has not happened. There is no justice without accountability, and repeatedly in our country, our state, and our cities, police accountability amounts to nothing more than a mild reprimand, if anything at all. As leaders of schools of social work, we remain hopeful that police violence, brutality, and extremism can be rooted out and made a thing of the past, but the fight to attain this goal is far from over. Our hope is that the political will to create meaningful change will continue to mount, and our expectation is that the profession of social work–to include our professional associations, educators, students, advocates and practitioners–be strong, vocal, and steadfast in its stance in opposition to police violence, and its demands to end it.
David J. Pate, Jr., PhD
Associate Professor and Chair of the Social Work Department
Helen Bader School of Social Welfare
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Kristen S. Slack, PhD
Professor, Interim Director, and PhD Program Chair
Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work
University of Wisconsin-Madison