Aloha Everyone:

Three weeks ago we awoke to learn that President Bush was re-elected president. There are many psychological implications of the results of the election. From a human ecological perspective, this event produces a great sense of hope and power among persons who supported Bush; with much hope that a conservative social-political agenda can be further advanced in our country.

Among many progressives it stimulated genuine depression (a young man in his 20s even committed suicide in New York, in part, in reaction to the election results)... as many other of our allies said they felt demoralized, stunned, and even talked about moving to Canada.

Then there are those progressives who said.. no... no... no... we must regain a commitment for mental health and social justice and work more purposefully in promoting a greater level of sanity in an increasingly violent, unjust, and insane world.

The National Institute for Multicultural Competence (NIMC) joins with the Counselors for Social Justice Association in ACA, the Division of Peace Psychology in APA, and any other professional association/division that is interested in working with members of a group that is not encumbered by 501-c3 parameters in what members of the group can say and do from a social-political perspective to foster nonviolent revolutionary changes in our society and profession - with the conscious intent to promote peace, justice, and a greater level of mental health in our world.

The importance of developing more synergistic organization among the most progressive thinking mental health professionals in the field is critical at this time in our nation's history. Just this week, the Bush Administration announced its support for a clause to be added into a major piece of legislation that allows medical professionals from various religious backgrounds to refuse to provide abortion services to pregnant women who may choose this medical alternative.

Regardless of where one might stand on the issue of reproductive rights, I believe few would argue that this is not an attack on women's right for self determination and privacy.

I predict this legislative action will not stop there.. I suspect that mental health professionals whose religious beliefs conflict with the inclusion of abortion as a reasonable alternative to pregnancy will join with their medical colleagues and say they also have a right to refuse to provide women with such information and to explore this option in counseling sessions with pregnant females.

I can also see where Bush's support for such legislation will lead other health-care providers who do not agree with gay/lesbian/bi- sexual lifestyles to argue that they do not have to provide gay/lesbian/bi-sexual counseling and therapy services if such services go against their religious/spiritual beliefs.

And taken to an even more conservative level of political-social consciousness, I believe it is possible that those mental health professionals (and while there aren't many there are some) who do not think interracial marriages are a good idea can also join the bandwagon pleading that their religious beliefs override their professional ethical responsibility to counsel interracial couples who are thinking about getting married.

I do not think any of these scenarios are farfetched given the increased level of stereotyping, conservatism, racism, hetereosexism, anti-feminism, and mean-spiritness towards poor people that is and has been on the rise in our nation.

What can and must we do?

The sort of mass insanity that Otto Rank wrote about that that is currently being nurtured in the Bush Administration's past and present actions is a psychological that needs our individual and collective attention. Take the notion of "preemptive attack on Iraq" as an example of how this sort of mass insanity works. While our nation has violated every international law of relevance to this situation - and given there were no weapons of mass destruction or ties with Al Qaeda - and given the intense level of destruction, pain and suffering we continue to incur on the people of Iraq... and given the limited voice of opposition in the fields of counseling and psychology in general and within APA and ACA in particular, we indeed need an organization that encourages its members to speak up openly and with courage against such injustices and insanity... or be found guilty of supporting such violence and insanity through what Dr. King referred to as "our silent complicity."

What we can and must do:

1. Recommit ourselves individually to the principles of peace, justice, and freedom.

2. Find new ways to work individually and collectively to promote the paradigmatic changes that are occurring in the fields of psychology and counseling including new efforts to infuse the APA multicultural guidelines and ACA multicultural/advocacy competencies into our daily work.

3. Commit ourselves to the democratization of our local, state, regional and national professional organizations by advocating for the inclusion of bottom-up/grassroots involvement in all policy-making processes and resisting those persons (including multicultural

advocates) who primarily advocate for top-down organizational change efforts as a main strategy in forging major changes in APA and ACA in particular.

4. Avoid criticizing loyal members of our movement. Too often we allow ourselves to spend too much time and energy criticizing our allies for their personality traits rather than embracing our common values and shared commitment for social change. How often have you heard people say, "I like what she/he says but not how she/he says it." I have come to the conclusion that such a statement not only represents an unproductive form of gossiping (especially if the person who is being criticized is not present to respond to such crass comments) but that it is fundamentally dishonest in that many of the persons who make such statement do not in actuality like WHAT the person has to say as well as not liking HOW it is being said.

Let's us move beyond our own constructions of negative personality traits and refrain from focusing on what we perceive to be an expression of arrogance or self-righteousness in others as it may be the other person's intentional effort to assert confidently and courageously their personal political professional beliefs, values, and principles. Let us be mindful of those persons who referred to Hillary Clinton as a "complaining bitch" and compare such comments to those persons who referred to her as "an assertive, confident, and courageous woman who speaks her mind.... even if you don't agree with her"

Let us be mindful that our critiques of others are not absolute truths both relative personal-social-cultural constructions that are embedded in our own personal-cultural biases, beliefs, and preferences.

If we agree with 90% of what one of our allies has to say but may not like 50% of how she or he says it... and if we do not agree with 99% of what Bush and his supporters say and how they say it.... we would be better served as a professional group to embrace the former person... to avoid personal attacks on their personality traits and to move forward in a collective efforts to achieve shared goals for peace, justice and sanity.

5. We can and will meet in California at the National Multicultural Summit to discuss the accomplishments the NIMC has achieved since our July meeting in Hawaii, and announce future action strategies.

6. We can strive to build the sort of beloved community that MLKing and bell hooks talk about and move boldly and collectively to complement the work of other professional groups and organizations to build a better and more sane society.

Three weeks ago we woke up to the nightmare of a guarantee of another four years of political injustice, violence, and the rolling back of the rights of women, gay/lesbian/bisexual persons, poor people, and persons for diverse cultural-racial groups that have been and continue to be marginalized in our society. This nightmare has broad psychological implications... and we the people ... we the members of the mental health profession who embrace the principles of peace, justice, multiculturalism, feminism, and gay/lesbian/bisexual rights can and must make a difference individually and collectively.

If we can agree on 75% of these things... why not embrace one another... agree to agree... agree to disagree.. and move forward together in working to resist the policies and practices of those who we disagree with 99% of the time.

Like many of you I believe that in working together.. in courage and love... we shall overcome....

In the continuing struggle for peace and justice,

Michael D'Andrea