As a result of their commitment and dedication to eliminating racism in all its forms, the Presidential Task Force on Strategies to Eradicate Racism, Discrimination and Hate was awarded an APA Presidential Citation.
The task force, approved by the APA Council of Representatives, was created in the wake of incidents such as the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio; broad concerns about the intersection of systemic racism and policing, and the dehumanization of Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, to make a significant contribution to addressing critical societal issues. The ;embers of the task force, co-chairs Germine Awad, PhD; Joseph Gone, PhD; and members Apryl Alexander, PsyD; Riana Anderson, PhD; Lillian Comas Díaz, PhD; Daniel Gaztambide, PsyD; Gordon Hall, PhD; Eboni Winford, PhD; and additional Apology Advisory subcommittee members, Kevin Cokley, PhD; and Derald Wing Sue, PhD have worked tirelessly to contribute to the national effort to eliminate discrimination and racism with the use of psychological science.
The task force was charged with recommending a set of evidence-based resources to disseminate to psychologists and others to use in efforts to prevent and address racism, discrimination, and hate, and develop a conceptual framework to guide the identification of programs and resources both external and internal to APA. Their work identified psychology’s role in helping to expose, understand, and ultimately dismantle racism operating across all levels in education, science, health care, work and economic opportunities, criminal justice, children, youth and families, and government and public policy.
The task force recommended a set of select resources to be disseminated to APA members nationally, as well as, locally to prevent and address racism, discrimination, and hate from occurring in their communities; and recommended strategies to educate key audiences about the persistence and destructiveness of racism, discrimination and hate for the nation, and strategies for elimination. They were responsible for two groundbreaking resolutions that were passed by the 2021 APA Council of Representatives: Apology to People of Color for the American Psychological Association’s Role in Promoting, Perpetuating, and Failing to Challenge Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Human Hierarchy in the United States and the Role of Psychology and APA in Dismantling Systemic Racism Against People of Color in the United States. The apology resolution passed by an unprecedented 100% unanimous vote.
In recognition of the task force’s dedication, perseverance, and vision of a more equitable association, field, and society that values equity, diversity, and inclusion, it is with great pleasure, that I, Jennifer F. Kelly, PhD, 2021 APA president, honor the 2021 Presidential Task Force on Strategies to Eradicate Racism, Discrimination and Hate with this Presidential Citation.