Many events associated with social justice occurred in 2020 that may have posed ethical dilemmas in organizations. There were at least three well-known events connected with racism, including the death of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, which were all racial minorities. The death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old woman who was shot inside her house by a police officer during the search, is the most impactful among the three cases (Robbins, 2020). The court did find the officers guilty in the situation, which created a new wave of the Black Lives Matter movement (Robbins, 2020). The event may have influenced public opinion making the minority communities believe that the government entities such as police, courts, and even social services may be biased towards minorities. In practice, the event may have increased the number of complaints from minority service users that they receive lower levels of services just because of their racial or ethnic identity.
If such events occur, human services administrators need to become as clear as possible about the standards for service provision and the criteria for qualifying for such services. These criteria and standards should be clearly explained to all potential service users before receiving the benefits of human services. Additionally, posters and brochures, along with methods of disseminating information, should be used to help the potential service users contact the administrators in case they believe that human service practitioners demonstrate racial biases. However, human service administrators should be very careful when receiving complaints, as media may lure them into favoring the racial minorities even if such actions are against the ethical principles to avoid conflict. Thus, human service administrators need to stay rational even when pressured by the opinion of the public and the media.
References
Robbins, L. (2020). A look at powerful social justice moments this year. 4WWL. Web.