A Brief History

October 29, 2021, the APA Council of Representatives passed a trio of resolutions focused on the dismantling of racism, including: 

• Apology for the Role of the American Psychological Association in Promoting, Perpetuating, and Failing to Challenge Racism, Discrimination, and Human Hierarchy in the United States focuses on acknowledging and apologizing for the roles of psychology and APA in promoting, perpetuating, and failing to challenge racism, and for the harms that have been inflicted on communities of color as a result. 

• Psychology’s Role in Dismantling Systemic Racism in the United States delves more deeply into methods by which psychological science can be used to remedy harms in practice, education, criminal justice, training, and other domains. 

• Advancing Health Equity in Psychology begins the targeted work in centering race/ethnicity and racism as the key drivers of health inequities and making recommendations for psychological science, education and training, practice, public policy, and legislative advocacy. 

Together, these resolutions commit APA to continuing to work on dismantling racism and set forth long-term actions that the association will take to create real and sustainable structural change. This imminent work requires a collaborative approach to chart an equitable path forward.