State-Sanctioned Violence

Abstract

The role and function of the state is not to harm its residents but rather to help them develop their potential and meet their basic human needs. The importance of violence is well attested to by Oxford University Press devoting a book series on interpersonal violence. However, state-sanctioned violence in the United States is not, for example. The saying “The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable” comes to mind in writing this book because it holds personal meaning that goes beyond being a social worker and a person of color (Latinx). The basic premise and interconnectedness of the themes in this book were reinforced and expanded in the course of writing. Bonilla-Silva (2019, p. 14) states, “We are living, once again, in strange racial times,” which, indeed, is true. The hope is that readers appreciate the numerous threads between themes, some of which have not gotten close attention by the general public and scholars. Harris and Hodge (2017), for example, adeptly interconnect environmental, food, and school-to-pipeline social injustice issues among urban youth of color, illustrating how oppressions converge. Future scholarship will connect even more dots to create the mosaic that constitutes state-sanctioned violence. It was a relief to see the extent of scholarship on the topics addressed in this book. Bringing together this literature, public reports, and the experiences from those currently dealing with state-sponsored violence allowed for a consistent narrative to unfold. Writing a book is always a process of discovery. There is a body of scholarship to buttress the central arguments of this book, but no such literature addressing the structural interconnectedness of the types of state-sanctioned violence for social work. The sociopolitical, interactional consequences of place, time, people, and events set a social-political context that is understood by social workers and makes this mission distinctive because of this grounding. Viewing state-sanctioned violence, including its laws and policies, within this prism allows the development of a vision or charge that can unite people, as well as a deeper commitment to working with oppressed groups in seeking social justice. Social work is not exempt from having a role in state-sanctioned violence. This book only delves into the profession’s history and evolution to appreciate how it has reinforced a state-sanctioned violence agenda, wittingly or unwittingly. Practice is never apolitical; it either supports a state-sanctioned violence narrative or resists it with counternarratives. Social work must be vigilant of how it supports state violence.