Aloha Everyone:

The results of the presidential election means many things to different people. Some people (including members of our own

profession) are pleased with the results. Other people (including some counselors and psychologists) are likely to fall into a negative and helpless state of pessimism and despair over our nation's short term future. Still others (myself included) are motivated to find ways to do the work that is necessary to redirect the course of our universities, schools, communities, and the nation at-large so that "justice and peace may one day rain down as a mighty river in this world" in ways that stimulate a greater level of mental health in our country.

The National Institute for Multicultural Competence (NIMC) remains firm on its commitment to promote the principles and spirit of multiculturalism in ways that foster justice and peace in our society. We will avoid the privileged disposition of remaining cynical as armstair critics of the Bush Administration. We will continue to held build what bell hooks calls a "culture of resistance"

that strives to realize justice, peace, and a greater level of mental health and spiritual well-being in our society.

Four years ago as one of the key note speakers at the National Multicultural Summit, I outlined the many ways in which George Bush's administration was working against the interests of women, gays and lesbians, the environment, poor persons, and peace in our nation and the world. I urged the organizers of that meeting along with leaders in APA to work with me and other members of the NIMC to help build a mass movement among mental health professionals who are committed to women's rights, gay and lesbian rights, multicultural, social justice, and peace.

Support from these leaders to build an alternative social justice multicultural entity outside of the parameters of APA fell very short of what I had hoped. Now, 4 years later the need to build such a movement among multicultural, women, gay/lesbian, peace and social justice advocates in APA and ACA is more apparent than ever.

In July, more than 50 leaders and activitists in APA and ACA met in Hawaii to discuss ways to expand the role and mission of NIMC in the mental health professions. Several committees have since been implementing action strategies to achieve this end. We are planning to meet again at the National Multicultural Summit in California in January to report on our progress and announce a series of national initiatives that will help build a cultural of resistance - a culture that is committed to a broad definition of multiculturalism - a culture that will recommit itself to the principles upon which bell hooks, Dr.

Martin Luther King, Malcohm X, Caesar Chavez and other social justice advocates dedicate their lives.

You will be getting series of e-mail in the near future that describe the progress we have been making and announcements for future actions.

In closing, let me call upon those of you who will not succumb to cynicism and idol complaining about the direction our nation is heading and resist falling prey to the shallow analysis that the political pundits are articulating from the media. Most of you recognize that the injustices and various forms of violence that are promoted by the Bush administration have serious and negative psychological implications for all of the people in our nation. With this in mind professional counselors and psychologists are called upon to play an important role in developing and implementing interventions that will ameliorate the suffering that is and will continue to emerge from this administration.

Much work needs to be done to build a stronger, more active society of mental health professionals who are committed to work for social justice. While we need to remain supportive of initiatives in ACA and APA that aide in this process, it is clear to me that too many persons who rise to leadership roles in these professional organizations are bought off by the lure of professional status and power and, in the process, capitulate to the various forms of oppression and violence that are clearly manifested in the Bush Administrations policies and political practices.

With this in mind, I believe we need to look for new, more vibrant leaders who will operate from the sort of social justice principles that bond us together as a multicultural family. I do see many new, young faces in our movement... persons who articulately express the intimate linkages that exist between justice and mental health...

between peace and optimal health... between multiculturalism and human respectability....

Now is the time to resist simply complaining and whining...

Now is the time to come together to plan and implement new action strategies that promote a greater level of mental health and understanding in our nation...

Now is the time to act...

I look forward to your reactions to these comments and am committed to working with those of you who share similar values and beliefs as those expressed in this e-mail.

In the continuing struggle for justice and peace,

Michael D'Andrea