Why Is Bacnegra Important In Social Work

Life of Bocanegra “Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing” (Keller). The social worker that I interviewed, Juan Jose Bocanegra lives by this quote, he firmly believes that without adventure and putting yourself out there, life is pointless. Juan Jose Bocanegra is a very interesting and astonishing man, he was born in Mexico and raised in Texas. Bocanegra moved to Seattle, Washington in the year of 1971 to major in social work, he received his MSW and he also double majored in psychology and sociology. Bocanegra was never the type of man to stay put and quiet, he believed in taking a daring adventure so immediately as he arrived on campus at the University of Washington he joined the Chicanx movement, and has helped establish
So now that Bocanegra is into Social work he is into three tracks which are case management, community organizing/development and community activist. Bocanegra said that case management was the hardest to work with because of the racism that he had to overcome. The reason why is because back when he first started he stated that people were very disrespectful and expressed hatred towards him because of the color of his skin. To overcome the racism Bocanegra organized the 3rd world coalition with his social work class. The school hired professors from third world communities to help the students. What sparked most interest in Bocanegra was the fact that back in his time people of color weren’t getting service which was around 1944-1964. Bocanegra felt motivated and appealed by the lack of knowledge, he felt motivated to fight the system himself. In an academic peer review journal I have found a statement that goes perfectly with what Bocanegra said during his interview, the statement is “Community development strategies are the interventions used to empower parents to help improve schools from the outside in as well as the inside out. This connective work between school, family, and community processes requires that educators and other agents of the school actively seek ways to support the strengths and meet the needs
The interview just helped me realize what kinds of social work there are and how not every social worker identifies themselves as a “regular” social worker. Bocanegra says that social work back then is different than how it is today which is why he claims to not be a regular. Bocanegra said that “Social work was helping anyone that you could” he didn’t mention anything about needing a professional degree so it seemed like he has a different perspective on how he views social work as oppose to someone that just received their MSW recently. Social workers now must be certified and have a degree in social work. We can’t just have anyone say they’re a social worker just because they helped you. It would be like me helping someone stop bleeding, just because I helped it doesn’t mean I am an actual doctor. The same thing goes for social workers, not anyone can call themselves a social worker now, you have to go to school for that. Bocanegra says that he has more freedom in regards to what he can and can’t do, he doesn’t have anyone set restrictions for him because he has gotten himself into a lot of trouble because of his activist side. Bocanegra has said that he has gone to jail several times for “disobeying” during protests and marches, he sacrifices himself for his people. Bocanegra knows that a lot of people of color cannot