FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2022
The Association of Black Psychologists, Inc. (ABPsi) Board endorses the work of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans and its interim report.
FT. WASHINGTON, MD – During its October 2022 meeting, the Board of Directors of the Association of Black Psychologists, Inc. (ABPsi) endorsed the work of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, and the Task Force’s interim report.
On September 30, 2020, California Assembly Bill 3121 established (8031.1a) and charged the Reparations Task Force with “studying the institution of slavery and its lingering negative effects on living African Americans, including descendants of persons enslaved in the United States and on society (8031.1b).” In addition, the Reparations Task Force issued an interim report recommending “remedies of compensation, rehabilitation, and restitution for African Americans, with a special consideration for descendants of persons enslaved in the United States (8031.1c).”
“From a psychological standpoint, we contend with the legacy of the enslavement era every day. There is a throughline from that period to the social determinants of health and social disparities currently. The work of the California task force is important to connecting all the historical and contemporary dots as we move forward.” said Donell Barnett, President of the Association of Black Psychologists.
On June 1, 2022, the Reparations Task Force presented their interim report. The nearly 500-page interim report is a general survey of enslavement, continuous racial terror, and its historical and lingering harm on the lives of African-descended people in America. The report also includes a set of preliminary recommendations for policies that the California Legislature could adopt to remedy those harms.
The report affirms that the institution of slavery has had incalculable and continuing adverse effects on African Americans’ economic, health, educational, social, physical, and psychological well-being. Those actions have led to an intergenerational legacy of trauma further perpetuated by present-day oppression and institutionalized racism.
The Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) was founded in 1968 and is the first national ethnic psychological association in the United States. ABPsi has a legacy of addressing significant social problems affecting the Black community.
“Honoring Henrietta Wood (who won reparations compensation as an African-descended woman from federal court in 1870) and Callie House (famous for her efforts to gain reparations from the US for African-descended people in 1897), ABPsi commends and stands in solidarity with the crucial work of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans,” said Sharon Bethea President-elect ABPsi.
ABPsi’s mission and destiny are the liberation of the African mind, empowerment of the African character, and enlivenment and illumination of the African spirit.