When Politics Turn Deadly: Navigating Division, Healing Grief and Driving Change

Course Synopsis:

When Politics Turn Deadly is a live, 3-hour training that equips social workers, educators, community leaders, and advocates to respond to grief, fear, and polarization with anti-racist, culturally humble practice, anchored in the current landscape surrounding the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the surge in threats, rumor storms, and racialized narratives; the session blends grief-informed micro-interventions, bias-interruption scripts, and de-escalation tools for schools, campuses (including HBCUs), faith groups, and civic spaces. Participants leave with a 30-day action plan connecting individual care to systems-level change through partnerships, media literacy, and policy engagement.

At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to:

1. Examine how political rhetoric, racial division, and media narratives surrounding deaths like Charlie Kirk’s intensify grief and community polarization.

2. Identify structural racism in polarized contexts

3. Apply anti-oppressive, anti-racist social work practices to support grieving and divided communities.

4. Develop concrete coping strategies for professionals and communities navigating grief and political hostility.

5. Create actionable plans to transform grief into advocacy for racial justice and systemic change.

Instructor:  Dr. Dwayne Buckingham

Date: Monday, January 19, 2026
Time: 9:00 AM – 12:15 PM EST
 Location: Live on Zoom
CE Credit: 3 Category I hours available (with upgrade)

This webinar fulfills the 3-hour requirement by the Maryland BSWE in Anti Oppressive Social Work Practice Content for license renewal (Anti-Racism Practices).

Buckingham Consulting Group., #1981, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 03/31/2025 – 03/31/ 2026. Social workers completing this course receive 3.0 Clinical continuing education credits.

**Minimum 15 participants – if there are less than 15 participants the workshop will be rescheduled. Refunds are available.