Past President’s Column

With my term on the presidential trio ending soon, I wanted to take this time to thank everyone for their amazing efforts in support of the division and the people we served over the last three years. What has been done over the course of the pandemic era has been truly remarkable. It makes me greatly appreciative of the resilience of our people but also mindful of the amazing displays of courage carried out daily in service of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. At the same time, it is worth acknowledging the profound stressors and losses that frequently made what we do difficult to nearly impossible. Thank you for being warriors in service of advancing culture, ethnicity, and race in all the arenas of your lives during a most challenging time. It has and is making a difference.

The APA Council of Representatives passed three major antiracism initiatives in October. Many of you were instrumental at different times and in different ways for taking us to this historic moment. Many of you have instructed the next generation on how to enthusiastically and diligently transform and heal psychology and society, building intergenerational alliances and encouraging many more psychologists of color. Many of you have used your collective wisdom to bring psychological healing to our communities, advocating for the vulnerable and disempowered in new and creative ways. Many of you have contributed your research and scholarship in support of these efforts, building an evidence-based vision of what would be possible and how the present might be transformed into a hopeful and equitable future. Many of you have committed yourselves to decolonizing the future to retire social inequities and injustices that harm psychological wellness. It has truly been a collective effort to get us to this point of time. Although many of us likely are reserving judgment as to what will happen next, having been hurt, disappointed, and frustrated before, perhaps we can at least reflect upon the collective efforts that have led us to this new place of speculation with a sense of gratitude and shared accomplishment. Something has been accomplished, but it is not entirely clear through our current lenses precisely what that “something” will turn out to be. I am looking forward to where the generations will take us and how the ancestors will guide us.

My last request as a member of the trio is that you earnestly support the leadership leading us into 2022. You are in excellent hands with the trio of Drs. Kevin Cokley, Evie Garcia, and Helen Hsu, and I am excited to see where we go together as a division under the leadership. Please remain generous in sharing yourselves with Division 45, and we can marvel together at where our collective strengths may take us.

Walk in beauty and peace,

Art