Young people gather around the Michael Brown memorial in Ferguson, MO

Close to Home: A Psychologist Reflects on Providing Crisis Counseling in Ferguson

This is part of our ongoing series of blog posts about race, racism and law enforcement in communities of color. By Jameca Falconer, PhD (Counseling Psychologist, Logan University) After watching the horrors in Ferguson, Missouri, unfold only a few miles away from where I live, I began looking closely at social justice strategies as a way to heal […]

Hands of different colors behind bars

Racial Perceptions of Crime and Support for Punitive Policies

This is part of our ongoing series of blog posts about race, racism and law enforcement in communities of color. By Nazgol Ghandnoosh, PhD (Research Analyst, The Sentencing Project) “When you think about people who break into homes and businesses, approximately what percent would you say are black?” White Americans who responded to this survey question in 2010 […]

Diverse kids holding hands

Redefining Race Relations: It Begins at Home

This is part of our ongoing series of blog posts about race, racism and law enforcement in communities of color. By Erlanger “Earl” Turner, PhD, (Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Houston-Downtown) and students from his Multicultural Psychology course (Damaurriah Butler, Jonathan Otero, & Caroline Smith) In the United States, race relations has had its challenges […]

Raster collage illustration of an opened head with cog gears

Toxic Exposure: The Impact of Racial Inequality on the Brain

This is part of our ongoing series of blog posts about race, racism and law enforcement in communities of color. By April D. Thames, PhD (Assistant Professor, University of California Los Angeles) National media coverage of various troubling incidents have sparked outrage and forced the conversation of race relations and biases within the justice system against individuals of […]

Handcuffs on top of the American flag

Race, Racism and Law Enforcement in Communities of Color: A Call to Action

By Gwendolyn P. Keita, PhD (Executive Director, APA Public Interest Directorate)  The shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed African American teenager, at the hands of a police officer has led to outrage and continuing civil unrest in Ferguson, MO. These events are emblematic of the fraught and often problematic interactions that communities of color have […]