Psychologists apologize for the profession's role on enabling systemic racism

As part of the nation’s historic reckoning on racism, the American Psychological Association is apologizing to communities of color for its role — and the role of the discipline of psychology—in contributing to systemic racism.

The association’s governing Council of Representatives adopted an apology at its October meeting, acknowledging that APA “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 communities of color, thereby falling short on its mission to benefit society and improve lives.”

“For the first time, APA and American psychology are systematically and intentionally examining, acknowledging and charting a path forward to address their roles in perpetuating racism,” said APA President Jennifer F. Kelly, PhD. 

The apology sought to comprehensively denounce the eminent institution’s history of promoting white supremacy within the United States and position the association to effectively remedy these harms through commitments to anti-racist psychological practices.

“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 apology states.

The resolution, which passed unanimously, acknowledges that “the governing body within APA should have apologized to people of color before today. APA, and many in psychology, have long considered such an apology, but failed to accept responsibility.”

The apology credits a broad cross-section of APA’s members, including elected and appointed leaders, for bringing the apology to communities of color to fruition. The effort included soliciting public comments and conducting listening sessions and surveys.

The work was spearheaded by the APA Task Force on Strategies to Eradicate Racism, Discrimination, and Hate and its five-member Apology Advisory Subcommittee, composed of eminent psychologists who were chosen for their knowledge and expertise.

At the same meeting, the Council of Representatives adopted two additional resolutions, one delineating APA’s and psychology’s role going forward in dismantling systemic racism in the United States and the other pledging to work to advance health equity in psychology. The former directs APA’s CEO to develop a long-term plan to prioritize, operationalize and ensure accountability for achieving the goals identified in the resolution. This is to be presented to the Council by August 2022.

“These resolutions are just the first steps in a long process of reconciliation and healing. This important work will set the path for us to make real change and guide the association and psychology moving forward,” said Kelly.

"I think it's important to acknowledge the systemic role of racism in our society, because we can't just rely on the survivors of violence or the survivors of discrimination to to develop strategies," said Filipino American psychologist Kevin Nadal, distinguished a professor at the City University of New York, according to  Newsy.

In offering the apology for the harms committed, “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,” the resolution states. “We stand committed to purposeful intervention, and to ensuring that APA, the field of psychology, and individual psychologists are leaders in benefiting society and improving lives.”

The three resolutions just adopted all build on Harnessing Psychology to Combat Racism: 

Adopting a Uniform Definition and Understanding, a resolution the Council passed in February. That was a definitional resolution on racism that provided guidance to psychologists and APA to consider four levels of racism—internalized, interpersonal, institutional, and structural—in their efforts to counter racism within individuals and across societal systems. 

It also instructed APA to “undertake an analysis of psychology’s history, with the goal of understanding the harms that marginalized racial groups have experienced and the actions necessary to create a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive association, discipline, and society going forward.”

In sum, the APA's historical review of psychology’s harms to people of color indicates that psychologists have, in both the past and present:

• Established and participated in scientific models and approaches rooted in scientific racism;
• Created, sustained, and promulgated ideas of human hierarchy through the construction, study, and interpretation of racial difference;
• Promoted the idea that racial difference is biologically based and fixed;
• Used psychological science and practice to support segregated and subpar education for people of color;
• Created and promoted widespread use of psychological tests and instruments that discriminated against people of color;
• Failed to take concerted action in response to calls for an end to testing and psychometric racism;
• Supported the widespread use of educational assessments and interventions that were lucrative for the field of psychology, but harmed people of color;
• Provided ideological support for and failed to speak out against the colonial framework of the boarding and day school systems for First Peoples of the Americas;
• Created, sustained, and promoted a view of people of color as deficient or damaged;
• Applied psychological science and practice to oppose “race-mixing” and to support segregation, sterilization, and antimarriage laws, using the ideas of early 20th century eugenics;
• Failed to represent the approaches, practices, voices, and concerns of people of color within the field of psychology and within society
• Failed to respond or responded too slowly in the face of clear social harms to people of color

In this era of hate against Asian Americans, over 10,000 hate incidents have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate, raising stress and fear among AAPIs with a corresponding surge in the need for mental health services in the community. However, according to a recent study, only 8.6% of Asian Americans sought any type of mental health services or resource compared to nearly 18% of the general population nationwide.

"Psychological science has shown that discrimination exists and hurts," said Priscilla Lui, PhD, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Southern Methodist University.

"Having family support, bystanders who are active and white allies can certainly help reduce the negative impact and confront racism. And I hope that we can use this knowledge base, expand it and also continue to inform ways to address racism and discrimination, resolve health disparities and then also change social norms."