It Takes a Village: Engaging With Solidarity in Practice, Anti-Black Racism Work, Advocacy, and Education

This 2021 presidential address focuses on Mary O'Leary Wiley's theme for 2020-2021, It Takes a Village: Engaging with Solidarity in Practice, Anti-Black Racism Work, Advocacy, and Education. She traces the threads that led to her presidential vision in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and heightened awareness of systemic racism, and details the contributions of many Society of Counseling Psychology members who contributed to our progress throughout the year. She discusses ways that counseling psychologists practice in ways that are different from many other psychologists in that they emphasize the environmental and prevention contexts, which lay the intellectual groundwork for psychologists engaging in social justice initiatives.

Introduction: Building for Eternity

This article provides an introduction to the special issue in the Journal of Black Psychology, commemorating the 50th anniversary of The Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi). A highlight is provided of the five articles that makeup this issue. Jamison takes a developmental approach in examining keys concepts, theories, and issues that have been or need to be addressed in African/Black psychology. In contrast, Cokley and Garba examine how Black psychology has had an impact on the field of psychology. Grills, Nobles, and Hill scrutinize the models and strategies of Black psychology, African psychology, African-centered, and Pan-African psychology that have been developed through ABPsi. Myers, Anderson, Lodge, Speight, and Queener present optimal conceptual theory, an alternative cultural paradigm based in the African worldview, and discuss its application therapeutically and pragmatically as a solution to global human challenges. Finally, as emerging scholars, Woodyard and Gadson provide a critical reflection of the impact on ABPsi on their personal and professional development.