Last month, I joined my peers to work collectively on a statement on behalf of the Council for Social Work Education in Aotearoa New Zealand (CSWEANZ), that summed up our thoughts on the incident and dismantling Islamophobia.
In the statement, the group pledged to support the families of those killed and injured in last month's incident, their Muslim colleagues and students as well as the wider Muslim community:
"We also commit to using our role as social work educators to help dismantle Islamophobia and drive white supremacist ideology from our country and the world.
"New Zealand has a reputation for being a relatively safe and tolerant place for immigrants and refugees of different faiths.
"However, we are also a settler colonial state and are not immune to racist discourse, anti-indigenous sentiments, anti-immigrant politics, anti-Muslim bigotry or groups who openly display adherence to fascist ideologies.
"In the age of the internet, this country at the edge of the world cannot distance itself from a global Islamophobic narrative that has been normalised by opportunist politicians, mainstream media, talk show hosts, academics, comedians and people using social media - a narrative that has demonised and dehumanised Muslim people in New Zealand and abroad."
The statement continued that social educators enable prospective social workers to learn about human rights, social justice, quality, diversity and cultural sensitivity.
"It would, of course, be wrong to assume that there is a hierarchy of oppression; that one form of violence against a particular ethnic or religious group is more important to the social work community than another.
"However in the wake of the Christchurch attacks, social work education needs to make renewed commitment to graduating social workers with knowledge, skills and values to fight deeply institutionalised Islamophobia in our communities, mainstream media, among our politicians, on social media and in our own social networks.
"In particular, we must take practical steps to review, produce and share educational and campaign materials and actions aimed at dismantling Islamophobia. These practical steps and actions should be guided and approved by Muslim colleagues and organisations.
"Today we grieve, tomorrow we must educate and organise."
With this in mind, I'm committing to ensuring Toi Ohomai forms stronger relationships with the Muslim community to ensure we have the understanding and resources we will need to deal with this trauma and to offer continued support in to the future.
As social workers we have every skill we need to help out and while we receive a general understanding of people's faith and beliefs during our training, we lack the context and real understanding to successfully navigate this on our own.
It's crucial the Muslim community is allowed to lead this. Therefore, it's crucial that we've strong relationships.
An added benefit to these stronger relationships is hopefully we will encourage more Muslims to be social workers. We do not have enough Muslim social workers, in fact I cannot think of any that I know.
As an educator in this field, I want to change that by providing the right opportunities for those in the Muslim community, who have a heart for humanity and are driven by addressing injustices, to become social workers. Together we can change the world.
• Jan Hastie is programme manager of social services at Toi Ohomai.
