Nabsw office of student affairs

OSA NEwslettER
V olum e 1, Issue 7 Sum m er 2013

In this issue:
T H E P L A C E W H E R E S T U D E N T S C O M E F I R S T
Mission OSA Presidents Message Advisor Comments NABSW Presidents Message Call to Action 44th Annual Conference 44th Annual Conference 44th Annual Conference See you in Indy!!! Sankofa Reintroduced OSA Officer Communication 1 2 3
4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

M I S S I O N

NABSW Executive Officers

12

The National Association of Black Social Workers, Inc., comprised of people of African ancestry, is committed to enhancing the quality of life and empowering people of African ancestry through advocacy, human services delivery, and research. The National Association of Black Social Workers, Inc. will work to create a world in which people of African ancestry will live free from racial domination, economic exploitation and cultural oppression. In collaboration with national, international and other appropriate groups, NABSW will continue to leverage its collective expertise to strategically develop the capacity of people of African ancestry to sustain and flourish. NABSWs vision is guided by the Principles of the Nguzo Saba, which are Unity, Self-determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith, and the Seven Cardinal Virtues of Maat, which are Right, Truth, Justice, Order, Reciprocity, Balance, and Harmony.

To all my fellow students, I truly hope everyone is having a restful and pleasant summer vacation. I am both excited and saddened as I write this address to you for the last time. I am sad to be leaving such a precious role within the organization because it allowed me to serve each of you. Yet, I am excited for the life ahead of me and the continued support that will continue to follow each of us through NABSW. I am also extremely excited to be passing the torch to an amazing group of social work students dedicated to making sure the student voice is not silent. I would like to first say thank you, to everyone who attended the 45th National Conference in Jacksonville, Fl, this past April. We, the students, have left a huge positive impact in the Jacksonville community. We kicked off conference by coming together with the Clara White Mission and NABSW Elders to provide services through a Veterans Stand Down, where we feed the less fortunate and provided Veterans (and others in need) with access to clothing, haircuts, and a myriad of services. We were able to end the day with a donation of two book scholarships awarded to Clara White Mission to assist in the opportunities they provide to the Jacksonville community. During conference, OSA successfully completed the following events: our symposium, luncheon, and student step show style dance. Again thank you all for making the 45th conference one that will go down in history as a success. I hope to see everyone in Indianapolis, IN in April 2014. Now ,with enthusiasm I invite you all to join me and 2012-2013 administration in wishing success to the incoming officers. As we pass the torch to the next leaders of the Office of Student Affairs, we offer you our shoulder to stand on and our hands to hold. We have been delighted to serve you over this past year. We are proud of all the new members, newly established chapters, and everyones great work in your respective communities. Congratulations to all Spring and August graduates! I wish you the best luck in your future endeavors. Lastly, I have enjoyed serving you as President for the 2012-2013 administration. It was a wonderful experience and great opportunity that I am appreciative to have been given. Thank you all for trusting in my leadership capabilities. In the spirit of Harambee,

Zakia Pugh
Zakia Pugh, MSW, MSLP OSA President

Hotep Family! I hope this message finds each of you doing well! I want to personally thank you for your support and dedication to the Office of Student Affairs this year. Your enthusiasm, motivation, and overall support has allowed OSA to continue to soar and to serve your needs as students. We truly appreciated your overwhelming support of OSA events at the national conference. We hope that you will continue the tradition of OSA by getting involved in your student or local chapters, schools and communities. The summer provides a great opportunity to hold community forums, neighborhood meetings (especially in light of the Trayvon Martin case). Forums about how to understanding, dealing with and knowing the law, are especially important during this heightened time of lack of cultural sensitivity. As President Benton has often said, America is a country of laws, not justice.

The organization needs the gifts and talents that only you can offer! Our people are depending on us and our ancestors require this of us! If we can assist you in finding a chapter or staying involved, please do not hesitate to contact us! Please continue to follow OSA through the blog, newsletter and Facebook. Remember, once a part of OSA, always a part of OSA.

Last but certainly not least, congratulations to all Spring 2013 graduates!

Live Well. Be Well. Do Well.

Asante Sana, Tameka L. Brown

First, let our prayers continue for the family of Trayvon Martin and to all of the over 7,000 unnamed children who will be slain by handguns and assault rifles this year and the next.

As an activist organization, I urge each of you to find it in your hearts to sign petitions supporting federal action, participate in rallies and marches in your communities, send money, regardless of amounts, to families of child victims and let your voice be heard in public forums. But once all that is done, be prepared to roll up your sleeves to do work and began the battle to prevent the neo-Jim Crow activists and their ideals from becoming a full-fledged legacy of the 21st Century in America. We, as a people, have been complacent and apathetic too long and we members of this vital organization have to enlist our neighbors, friends and families to join the struggle. In recent weeks, we have seen the beginning of the erosion of our voting rights, the continued genocide of black boys and men, the exclusion of black women from justice, as in the case of a Florida woman, who received 20 years and was not afforded the protection of the stand your ground laws. This

country has been unrepentant for the lack of justice afforded Black people and I, personally, do not accept the verdict of a racist jury, a defunct judicial system and a warped sense of equity that prevails in this country. A bad and evil system cannot be expected to render justice. In that light, I seldom expect correct or just decisions to be rendered upon merit or good sense. We will continue to take stands on vital and basic issues and strategize on long-term solutions. I look forward to our discussions in Ohio. We will prevail, but be prepared for the struggle ahead, as we overcome the shockwave in our communities, the apathy of our people and the fear of the unknown. That unknown is freedom. We have been awakened.

Stand Your Ground

Stand-Your-Ground Law is a type of self-defense law that gives individuals the right to use reasonable force to defend themselves without any requirement to evade or retreat from a dangerous situation. It is law in certain jurisdictions within the United States. The basis may lie in either statutory law and or common law precedents. One key distinction is whether the concept only applies to defending a home or vehicle, or whether it applies to all lawfully occupied locations. Under these legal concepts, a person is justified in using deadly force in certain situations and the "stand your ground" law would be a defense or immunity to criminal charges and civil suit.

Nearly half of the United States has Stand-Your-Ground-Laws in some form or fashion implemented within their states legislation. Are these laws being used as intended? Are African-Americans being afforded the same opportunity to use this statute in order to justify self-defense? Are African-Americans being equally prosecuted or defended within the United States? There are countless tragedies within this Country which affects the African-American Communitythose that have made the news recently are just a few.

What Can You Do???

Organize-work hard to bring this subject to light and get others to see the importance of the issue. Advocate Speak up! Attend Peace Rallys and Town Hall meetings Educate Yourself and Others Research these laws that are in your state. Look into the prejudicial reality of these laws and how they affect African-Americans. Educate your community and your chidren about what is going on. Dont be swayed by the media! Know that many things we hear and see on Television and the internet is skewed for ratings, don't just take their word for it, DO THE RESEARCH YOURSELF!

Day of Service 2013 Clara White Mission Jacksonville, FL

NABSW Members served breakfast and lunch to over 144 community members at Clara White Mission, and hosted a Veterans Stand Down which provided numerous services to the communitys Veterans including; haircuts, Veterans Benefits and Red Cross hygiene kits.

A VERY special Thank You to Clara White Mission and the volunteers for their hospitality and their assistance with making this Day of Service a great SUCCESS!!!!!

" A New Generation of Black Social Workers: Reclaiming Our Culture, Our Purpose and Our Communities"

See you in Indy!!!!!!!!!

"An African Tapestry: The Blackprint for Physical, Psychosocial and Spiritual Wellness"

REVIVING SANKOFA!
Sankofa Mentoring Project

SANKOFA DEFINED: Originated in Ghana from the Akan language, Sankofa means to go back and take or taking past lessons from our history to guide the present and future.

OSA has successfully reintroduced Sankofa to the NABSW family. The committee will be diligently reviewing all applications for Jenga (mentors) over the next few weeks in order to successfully match with mentees. We are quite pleased by the response rate of members in support of our student social workers-we are grateful for your continued service! If interested in serving as a Jenga (mentor) or being supported as a mentee, please feel free to contact our new Sankofa Chairperson, Parliamentarian Brittany Brown at osa.parlmt@gmail.com. Looking forward to seeing you all in Indianapolis for NABSW 2014 Annual Conference.

Harambee!!!

PRESIDENT Zakia Pugh osa-president@nabsw.org VICE PRESIDENT Shane Satterfield osa-vp1@nabsw.org SECRETARY Lia Andrews osa-secretary@nabsw.org TREASURER Michelle Bair osa-treasurer@nabsw.org PARLIAMENTARIAN Shawn Johnson osa-parli@nabsw.org ADVISOR Tameka Brown osa-advisor@nabsw.org

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National Association of Black Social

PRESIDENT Joe E. Benton NABSW-President@nabsw.org VICE PRESIDENT J. Toni Oliver NABSW-VP@nabsw.org TREASURER Connie Watson NABSW-Treasurer@nabsw.org RECORDING SECRETARY Tracy Golliday-Champagne Recording-Secretary@nabsw.org CORRESPONDING SECRETARY Sondera Malry Corresponding-Secretary@nabsw.org MEMBER-AT-LARGE Dayvid Brown Member-at-Large1@nabsw.org MEMBER-AT-LARGE Dr. O. Yvonette Powell Member-at-Large2@nabsw.org
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

2305 Martin Luther King Ave. S.E. Washington, DC 20020 Phone (202) 678-4570 Fax (202) 678-4572 Email: nabsw.harambee@verizon.net

Website: nabsw.org

Dr. Gloria Batiste-Roberts

OFFICE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS Zakia Pugh

OSA President OSA-President@nabsw.org

OSA IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Glenda Duru

Website: nabsw.org