A year later: Moving from words to action on APA’s apology

A year after APA’s apology to people of color, the association is working on an organization-wide process to follow through on more than 50 actions designed to dismantle systemic racism.

The goal is to create a more accessible, equitable, and inclusive field of psychology that promotes human rights, fairness, and dignity for all.

In August, the association released a new plan to promote racial equity outlining steps the association and psychology should take to act on the commitments made in the apology. The plan was seeded by a $1.1 million grant from APA, which will support research and other work related to the plan’s priorities and principles.

The dozens of commitments within the apology now underway are the first step on a long journey to redress the field and association’s harms toward communities of color.

“The apology and the adoption of the racism resolutions were just the start of a long reconciliation process,” said Germine Awad, PhD, co-chair of APA’s Presidential Task Force for Strategies to Eradicate Racism, Discrimination, and Hate. “I am encouraged by the recent actions and dedication of the APA to follow through on their promise of true change.”

APA began the year by assessing its latest work to address systemic racism. The goal of the association-wide audit was to establish a critical baseline from which the association could move forward in its racial equity planning. In February 2022, APA released the comprehensive audit report (PDF, 1.9 MB)opens in new window aimed at better understanding APA’s ongoing racial equity-focused initiatives. The audit also examined the racial and ethnic representation of APA’s elected and appointed leaders as well as staff. The results showed that despite a wide array of racial equity-focused activities across the association, the work lacked coordination and impact. The findings also present an opportunity to grow racial and ethnic diversity among APA staff, elected and appointed leaders, and members of governance.

Following the audit, the association began to set the strategic priorities for its racial equity work. In late May and early June 2022, APA hosted a racial equity think tank and a virtual summit to spur creative thinking, discussion, and reflection from thought leaders and experts on the priorities that would form the basis of the racial equity action plan.

To ensure the process was grounded in cultural humility and due deference to those who historically led racial equity work in the discipline, APA sought participation from racial equity advocates and committed psychologists and students from the communities to whom the apology was addressed. APA also invited representatives of the Ethnic Psychological Associations; APA’s Council of Representatives; governance groups; divisions; the state, provincial, and territorial psychological associations; and the broader membership.

In mid-June, APA continued to gather input from 150 elected and appointed leaders through a series of focus groups and a town hall led by APA’s chief executive officer and executive vice president, Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, and the presidential trio, including past-president Jennifer F. Kelly, PhD, ABPP; 2022 president Frank C. Worrell, PhD; and president-elect Thema S. Bryant, PhD.

“Maintaining an ongoing dialogue with important stakeholders has been critical over the past year,” Worrell said. “As a member of APA’s first all-Black presidential trio, I was honored to engage with my colleagues on the strengths of the proposed priorities and potential obstacles to the transformation ahead. Their contributions have been—and will continue to be—crucial to APA living up to the promises made in those historic resolutions.”

In August 2022, APA’s Council of Representatives adopted the Racial Equity Action Plan (PDF, 1.3MB)opens in new window by a vote of 149–8 with 2 abstentions. The plan included input from more than 500 hours of meetings with more than 200 experts and advocates, with multiple opportunities for input from association members and leaders. These opportunities included surveys, working groups, listening sessions, and town hall meetings.

“It was a sobering charge to facilitate APA’s apology to communities of color for its complicity in racism. The question that lingered was whether APA would follow through with reparative actions,” said Joseph P. Gone, PhD, co-chair of APA’s Presidential Task Force for Strategies to Eradicate Racism, Discrimination, and Hate. “Adoption of appropriate remedies will take time, but I am heartened by the identification of so many priority actions across five content domains set forth in the Racial Equity Action Plan.”

Based on the consultation of the previous months, the plan lays out five domains of potential next steps that APA’s CEO and the Board of Directors may authorize APA to follow: Knowledge Production, Health, APA/Workforce, Training of Psychologists, and Education.

• Knowledge Production will integrate equitable and inclusive approaches into research and scholarship and center the experiences of people of color.
• Health will use the full breadth of psychology to advance health equity in communities of color.
• APA/Workforce will promote EDI principles within APA, and the broader psychology workforce that model to other organizations how to foster psychologically healthy workplaces.
• Training of Psychologists will promote racially conscious and equitable training that opens pathways to students of color to pursue successful careers in psychology.
• Education will address racial inequities in educational settings, namely early childhood, K–12, undergraduate, and graduate programs.

“I am incredibly pleased with APA’s momentum and the speed at which we developed the Racial Equity Action Plan,” said Maysa Akbar, PhD, ABPP, APA’s chief diversity officer and interim chief of psychology in the public interest. “I am confident and hopeful about the direction we are moving in and believe we have completed the necessary steps to operationalize our priorities in the coming year to create longstanding change within the organization and field.”

While the release of APA’s Racial Equity Action Plan is a major milestone for the association, significant work lies ahead. The success of APA’s racial equity work will require remaining adaptable to real world conditions and building organizational infrastructure for transformational change.

“When Council adopted the resolutions, we noted that this was more than a moment in time—it was the first step in a long-term commitment to address racial equity within APA, the field of psychology, and the broader society,” said Evans. “We are acting with urgency, even while being systematic and intentional, in order to fulfill our promises to rid the association, field, and society of the scourge of racism and human hierarchy that’s deeply rooted in our nation's systems and institutions.”