Significant racial health disparities persist between Black and White individuals in the United States. Psychological science has contributed much to understanding how the interpersonal consequences of racism shape the short-and long-term health of Black Americans across the lifespan. The field has understood experiences of racism as individual-level psychosocial risk and examined stress and coping processes used to alleviate resulting distress. However, the authors argue that the traditionally ahistorical, acontextual, risk-based, and individual approach of psychological science may hamper its ability to reduce racial health disparities. They discuss ways in which a Critical Race Theory framework may further strengthen psychological science's ability to orient toward equitable practices in the reduction and prevention of racial health disparities. As currently available psychological science approaches are compatible with a Critical Race Theory framework, they discuss the merits and implications of employing this framework. What is the significance of this article for the general public?If psychological science aims to reduce racial health disparities, it must seek to intervene upon racism as a system impacting Black Americans' health rather than merely intervening upon the ways in which individual Black Americans perceive racism. Centering the strengths of the Black community through counter storytelling and capacity building while employing a Critical Race Theory approach in practice, policy, and research provides concrete ways to intervene upon racism and restore power to oppressed communities. Such restorative justice is necessary to eliminate racial health disparities.

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