RISE Round-up: The Chino Riot (and the Pipeline that Got Us There), Popular Education, Obesity a Social Work Issue? August 12, 2009

Every week, we post a round-up of RISE-relevant articles from around the internet.  Have something to add? Leave a comment. For a more up to the minute look at what we’re reading, follow us on Twitter.

Riot in a California Prison Over the weekend, 200 inmates were injured in an 11-hour riot in an overcrowded California prison.   The riot was tragically predictable — a  New York Times editorial reports that in 2007, a California prison expert warned that the cramming of 5900 men into a facility designed for 3000 was a “serious disturbance waiting to happen.”  The editorial calls on the state government to find ways to reduce prison populations, and quickly.  For one idea, check out Aliyah Vinikoor’s session on restorative justice as a model for thwarting the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline at RISE.

Speaking of the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline Michelle Chen of Race Wire (one of our favorite bloggers, by the way) writes about a recent Human Rights Watch study that found that students with disabilities are disproportionately likely to be subject to corporal punishment.  Of course, she continues, that’s not the full story — again and again, the data has shown that students of color (especially Black students) are disproportionately labeled as developmentally delayed or emotionally disturbed, and disproportionately punished with violence.

Popularizing Popular Education Melinda K. Lewis (another one of our favorite bloggers) asks why popular education isn’t more, well, popular with social workers.  It’s popular with us, Melinda! Check out the links to popular education resources on her post, and Kayhan Irani and Ellen Baxt’s Theater of the Oppressed workshop at RISE if this is something you’re interested in.

Is Obesity a Social Work Issue? The NASW says yes, posting a list of suggestions for social workers on how to be sensitive when dealing with overweight or obese clients, particularly children and adolescents.  We say yes too, but for different reasons.  As this article on disproportionate overweight and obesity among food stamp recipients shows, it’s also a social justice issue — marginalized communities often lack access to fresh, healthy food, and are therefore more likely to suffer from obesity and related health problems.  It’s also impossible to comprehensively advocate for a just health care system without considering obesity — the disease, along with related conditions, accounts for nearly 10% of health care spending in the US.