Racial Minorities then and Now: The Continuing Significance of Race (Guest Editorial) (Editorial‪)‬

It has been 27 years since the last special issue on racial minorities appeared in Social Work. When the issue appeared in 1982, Jerome Schiele was pursuing an undergraduate degree in sociology at Hampton University. June Gary Hopps was editor of the 1982 special issue and had by then distinguished herself as a social work educator, scholar, and administrator. This generational difference provides an opportunity to reflect on the evolution and status of the social problems that racial minorities disproportionately experience and the response from the social work profession. Whether in the past or present, these minorities experienced and continue to experience social problems that in large part emanate from racial oppression. The social work profession's response to this form of injustice has varied over time and speaks to the specific social circumstances and challenges of a particular historical epoch. EARLIER ISSUES AND PROBLEMS