York University Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
J Hist Behav Sci. 2022 Oct;58(4):365-382. doi: 10.1002/jhbs.22216. Epub 2022 Jul 28.
This article examines the duality of the Black psychology movement in the United States as both a distinctly American and a postcolonial approach to mental health. The Westside Community Mental Health Center in San Francisco served as the organizational hub for the Association for Black Psychologists (ABPsi) in the 1970s. The Westside clinicians understood forensic psychology as a kind of preventative care as California, more so than any other state, was seduced by the eugenic dream of human improvement through therapeutic interventions in schools and prisons intended to correct the wayward deviant. Their community's mental wellbeing required dismantling the interlinked disciplinary apparatus which disproportionately surveyed, tracked, and confined young Black men. These psychologists mounted a legal challenge to the use of intelligence testing to sort Black children in schools, seeking to replace standardized tests with "dynamic assessments" inspired by Israeli psychologist Reuven Feuerstein's work with refugee children. They consulted on the voir dire process in the highly politicized Angela Davis trial to minimize the presence of racially prejudiced jurors. They offered expert testimony on the psychological damage of solitary confinement on behalf of prison activists. The Westside team artfully developed and deployed the psychological concept of "bias" in their confrontations with local manifestations of the American carceral state. In their theoretical writings, these psychologists reflected upon their historical positionality, understanding themselves as products of the decolonial moment. Bay Area encounters with Third World internationalism, the Black Panther Party (BPP), the Nation of Islam, and community-led substance abuse programs shaped clinical care at Westside and inspired the Afrocentric consciousness many came to espouse. ABPsi initially had a significant impact on the historically white American Psychological Association's training practices. However, the two organizations split over the IQ controversy at a moment when psychologists became increasingly enmeshed in the criminal justice system.
本文考察了美国黑人心理学运动的双重性，它既是一种独特的美国和后殖民主义的心理健康方法。20 世纪 70 年代，旧金山的 Westside 社区心理健康中心是美国黑人心理学家协会（ABPsi）的组织中心。Westside 的临床医生将法医心理学理解为一种预防保健，因为加利福尼亚州比其他任何州都更被通过在学校和监狱中进行治疗干预来改善人类的优生梦想所诱惑，这种干预旨在纠正误入歧途的越轨行为。他们社区的精神健康需要拆除相互关联的纪律机构，这些机构不成比例地调查、跟踪和限制年轻的黑人男性。这些心理学家对在学校使用智力测试来对黑人儿童进行分类提出了法律挑战，他们试图用“动态评估”取代标准化测试，这种评估受到以色列心理学家鲁文·费尔斯坦（Reuven Feuerstein）对难民儿童工作的启发。他们在极具政治色彩的安吉拉·戴维斯审判中的陪审团遴选过程中提供咨询，以尽量减少存在种族偏见的陪审员。他们代表监狱活动家就单独监禁对心理造成的伤害提供专家证言。Westside 团队巧妙地在与美国监禁国家的地方表现形式的对抗中发展和部署了“偏见”的心理学概念。在他们的理论著作中，这些心理学家反思了他们的历史定位，将自己理解为去殖民化时刻的产物。海湾地区与第三世界国际主义、黑豹党（BPP）、伊斯兰民族和社区主导的药物滥用项目的相遇，塑造了 Westside 的临床护理，并激发了许多人所拥护的非裔中心意识。ABPsi 最初对历史上以白人为主体的美国心理协会的培训实践产生了重大影响。然而，这两个组织在心理学家越来越卷入刑事司法系统的 IQ 争议中分裂了。
