It should be noted that this apology is accompanied by a second proposed resolution, “Psychology’s Role in Dismantling Systemic Racism,” which delves more deeply into methods by which psychological science can be used to remedy harms in practice, education, criminal justice, training, and other domains. The structure of this apology focuses on acknowledging the roles of psychology and APA in promoting, perpetuating, and failing to challenge racism, and the harms that have been inflicted on communities of color as a result. This Warrior’s Path report reflects upon how APA and psychology can shed racist and colonial roots to embody the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion to become an actively antiracist discipline. In constructing this apology, APA benefited greatly from a report generated by APA Division 45, the Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race, titled Protecting and Defending Our People: Nakni tushka anowa (The Warrior’s Path APA Division 45, 2020). We stand committed to purposeful intervention, and to ensuring that APA, the field of psychology, and individual psychologists are leaders in both benefiting society and improving lives. In offering an apology for these harms, APA acknowledges that recognition and apology only ring true when accompanied by action by not only bringing awareness of the past into the present but in acting to ensure reconciliation, repair, and renewal. We know too well that history can repeat itself, that the past informs the present, and that many harms will continue to be perpetuated absent purposeful intervention. It leaves us, as APA leaders, with profound regret and deep remorse for the long-term impact of our failures as an association, a discipline, and as individual psychologists. The narrative that emerged from the listening sessions, surveys, and historical findings put into stark amplification the impact of well-known and lesser-known actions.
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In addition, recognizing that many existing historical records and narratives have been centered in Whiteness, APA also concluded that it was imperative to capture oral history and the lived experiences of communities of color, so commissioned a series of listening sessions and surveys, which also inform this resolution, by Jernigan & Associates Consulting. It is informed by listening with intention to the voices of the past-as outlined in a stunning chronology of psychology’s history-and especially informed by the voices of today, the lived experience of psychologists of color, Ethnic Psychological Associations, and those who serve people of color.Ĭonsistent with its February 2021 commitment to catalogue the long history of harms to people of color and to inform an apology and a path forward toward healing and reconciliation, APA commissioned historical research by the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology at the University of Akron (Cummings Center, 2021). The work done to make this apology to people of color a reality was led by the people and voices of a broad cross-section of today’s APA-members, APA’s elected and appointed leaders, and staff-in a shared commitment to not only truly assess the harms and the harmed, but also to take responsibility and commit to taking those collective learnings and direct them into an apology that will affect true change. APA previously engaged in unsuccessful efforts to issue apologies in the past, including an apology to Indigenous peoples. APA, and many in psychology, have long considered such an apology, but failed to accept responsibility. The governing body within APA should have apologized to people of color before today. APA is profoundly sorry, accepts responsibility for, and owns the actions and inactions of APA itself, the discipline of psychology, and individual psychologists who stood as leaders for the organization and field. The American Psychological Association failed in its role leading the discipline of psychology, was complicit in contributing to systemic inequities, and hurt many through racism, racial discrimination, and denigration of people of color, thereby falling short on its mission to benefit society and improve lives.
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