I Will No Longer Tolerate AntiBlackness in the American Psychiatric Association
“Yet another paper about racism, this paper is useless and potentially harmful, fails to recognize what’s already being done. The language used in the paper is divisive and derogatory.”
-Signed, Anonymous Colleague from the APA Assembly, November 2021
A generous clarification: Anti-Black racism is the name of the specific kind of racism directed towards Black people. Anti-Black racism includes prejudice, beliefs, stereotyping and discrimination that is directed at people of African descent and is rooted in their unique history and experience.
A boundary setting disclaimer: I will not explain any other basic terminology in this piece. Search engines are your friend. Consider it a step towards racial equity every time you use them to locate a definition.
Summary: I have decided to leave the American Psychiatric Association after nearly six years of membership first as a resident-fellow member and now as an early career psychiatrist.
Despite this short period of engagement, it has felt like I’ve served as a leader in the organization for a few decades. I’m quite sure my telomeres have stories…
