“When the drummers change the beat of the drum, the dancers change the style of their dance.”  I believe ABPsi can hear the beat of our ancestral drum; the drum of our nature and our essence connecting us ever more deeply with the core of our humanity – the knowledge that it is our ever present connectedness to one another that gives life meaning, purpose, and profundity.  One might argue that at times, as an organization the beat of the drum becomes faint, we lose our way, we get turned upside down and inside out losing sight of: Whose drum beat we are dancing to; What is inspiring the drummer; or What the drum beat is doing to us.  Always, there to help us stay the course is the Association’s history, mission, guiding principles and code of ethics.  They are our call to consciousness, an invitation to be fully alive and to fulfill our collective and personal destiny.

As African-centered psychologists we must be concerned with the practical (resolution of contemporary problems - psychological, social, economic, political, historical and cultural - that confront our communities) and the esoteric (the spiritual, metaphysical essence and driving force of our humanity).  We must straddle both as we serve our membership and our communities and maintain a commitment to social transformation, social justice, spiritual liberation, and a never-ending search for knowledge, understanding and wisdom.  Translating this commitment into “practical applications” is both our imperative and our challenge. 

In matters of mental health and mental illness, as it relates to African descended communities, the ABPsi should be the first point of reference and contact in the discipline of psychology, in the public policy arena, in the media, and in the community at large.  As a professional body, we are not a visible force or resource, but we can be.  While it is true the Association exists to support the needs of its members, we have a clear and urgent responsibility to support and protect our communities.  ABPsi must therefore be at the forefront of discourse on matters concerning the health and well being of our communities.  Discourse and policy at the local, state, federal and global level should clearly and boldly reflect the perspective and voice of the Association.  To do anything less is a dereliction of duty to our own code of ethics.

“To be human is to belong to the community”.  The Association can and must seize the moment and use our knowledge, tools, networks, and will to support our communities to do the “work of community”.  We must find ways to partner with community organizers and community based organizations and sister professional bodies.  These partnerships can be used as a base to collectively promote a change agenda that serves the pressing needs and interests of our communities (e.g., health care, education, housing, the prison industrial complex etc).

In the present climate of US politics with its recommitment to science and innovation, ABPsi has an opportunity to seize the moment.  We can become more intimately involved in the provision of technical assistance and support related to community development, social justice, African centered research and action, public policy, and the promotion of holistic approaches to mental health including community-based models of prevention and early intervention.  In our communities the need for services far outstrips the capacity to meet increasing demand, particularly in these times of economic crisis. We are at the whims of mental health systems organized to deliver services to treat individuals diagnosed with mental illness.

The Association with its understanding of African centered psychology is poised to contribute, for our communities, a different paradigm with capacities, strategies, and an array of community partnerships to promote wellness and recovery beyond service to a handful receiving tertiary direct service.  The Association can define a national agenda that brings with it a national and local presence, theories and models and rigorous research.  Regions and chapters, in partnership with their communities, can develop and test models designed to achieve a stronger community safety net — the extent to which individuals have access to naturally existing and supported systems of community care, connection, and opportunities to be “in” community.  The potential value of mental health promotion of everyday activities to develop and assess mental health promotion and intervention has yet to be substantively adopted as part of an integrated county, community, or neighborhood mental health strategy or initiative.   The Association can take the lead.  Further, locating such strategies in the natural spaces and places where members of the community can best utilize them and integrate them into their daily routine should be part of the process.  We can think, design and implement outside of the proverbial box.  As an Association we were formed to do just that.  Our time is now.

To meet these objectives the organization must generate more resources (both categorical funds and organizational capacity-building funds) to support the necessary work of research, teaching, professional development, and expansion of our member base and network of allies.   We can do that through commandeering resources that our tax dollars fund to conduct research, pilot projects, and innovations spearheaded and sponsored by the Association. This process could begin with a development plan spearheaded by the Board in collaboration with the Chapters and the General Assembly, in which we think globally (the national and international landscape) and act locally (regions implementing a broader agenda within the local chapters). 

“There are no more prizes for predicting the rain, only for building arks”.  Institution building, problem solving, community building and development, these are the challenges before the Association.  ABPsi cannot and should not do this work in isolation.  We can and should reach out to members of our professional community who have drifted from the Association helping them to see there is a place and space and much work to be done to the benefit of all.  This includes a special call to our researchers, theoreticians, and practitioners.  Our annual conventions can incorporate think tanks and workgroups that gather at the convening to launch, refine, or conclude works in progress that would support the national agenda of the organization and the careers of individual members (e.g., completion of joint grant proposals, position papers, policy agendas, etc).

“The salt content in soup cannot be determined by the eye.”  (You can’t use sight to assess something that requires the sense of taste. - Kasena proverb)  We rely, still, too much on the eye of western empiricism to tell us about things African.  We must open the other eye, the eye of African epistemology to have whole sight.  In the service of knowledge production, we must invite, engage, support and challenge our scholars, our students and our allies to work together to create and refine African centered epistemological methods as well as to become more critical and adept users of the western positivist paradigm.  In its very nature, outlook, theories, and practices, African psychology challenges western psychological orthodoxy, research and scholarship.  But now we must challenge ourselves to articulate the parameters and praxis of our methods.   

“Any African structure that does not include a cultural transmission and protection mission betrays its people.  Intergenerational cultural transmission is as vital as the basics of food, clothing and shelter.  Without intergenerational cultural transmission, all else has little meaning.” (Baba Asa Hilliard)  In service delivery, we must delve more deeply into the development and analysis of methods of primary prevention, early intervention, and treatment.  These models should be grounded in our ever emerging articulation of mental health; an articulation that reflects a deep understanding of the role of culture in our existence.  The time for methods validated by the Association that break outside of the narrow box of what constitutes the structure, function, and praxis of intervention is here. 

Concluding Thoughts on Vision, Opportunities and Challenges

Fanon once said: “Every generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.”  In many respects the Association is at a crossroads in its identity, power, and relevance.  We have an incredible opportunity for reflection, learning and growth as we decide whether we are to become more of who we are.  I believe we will not betray the memory of our ancestors but rather we will think through all things put before us profoundly, honestly and with integrity always mindful that, at the end of the day, we are accountable to the Association’s legacy, our ancestors and the Creator.

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