The American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on Strategies to Eradicate Racism, Discrimination, and Hate was developed under 2021 APA President Jennifer F. Kelly, PhD, ABPP. The task force was approved by the APA Council of Representatives as an effort to harness psychological science to contribute to the national effort to eliminate all forms of racism and discrimination, and to support communities affected by the emotional, social, physical, and spiritual violence that ensues as a result of volatile environments of discrimination and hate.
Incidents like the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio; broad concerns about the intersection of systemic racism and policing as evidenced through the Black Lives Matter Movement; and the dehumanization of Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic are yet a few of the many instances of structural, institutional and interpersonal racism evidenced in today’s society. Moreover, the convergence of the current COVID-19 pandemic with the ongoing protests regarding police violence towards people of color has elevated issues of racism, discrimination, and stigma as it reveals how marginalized and vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected, as well as the harms of racism and discrimination broadly for society.
In this unprecedented time, and through this task force's work, APA aims to make a significant contribution to addressing these critical societal issues.
About
The task force's purpose is to recommend to APA a set of evidence-based resources to disseminate to psychologists and others to use in efforts to prevent and address racism, discrimination, and hate. Specifically, the task force is charged to do the following:
- Develop a conceptual framework to guide the identification of programs and resources both externally and internally to APA;
- Use the conceptual framework to conduct a search for anti-racism resources;
- Recommend a set of identified resources to be disseminated to APA members nationally, as well as locally via our SPTAs, to prevent and address racism, discrimination, and hate in their communities; and,
- Recommend strategies to educate key audiences about the persistence and destructiveness of racism, discrimination and hate for the entire nation, and strategies for their elimination.
Timeline
At least one 2-day meeting between Oct. 15-Oct. 31, 2020, held virtually via Zoom conference call, with additional monthly conference calls through Dec. 31, 2020.
Qualifications
APA recruited task force members that included both psychologists and non-psychologists representing a wide array of disciplines and expertise. Those representing a range of intersectional perspectives, a variety of institutions, as well as community members with relevant experience will be considered. Members possessed demonstrated expertise and experience in at least one of the following areas.
- Structural & institutional racism
- Including, but not limited to, the fields of education, medicine, or law enforcement.
- Interpersonal & Internalized Racism
- Including, but not limited to, the research areas of implicit bias, stereotyping, and stigma.
- Historical or sociological analysis of racism
- Anti-racism training, program evaluation, curriculum design and delivery, or train-the-trainer models using a variety of communications media.