At the end of January, The Wall Street Journal reported on a directive issued to State Department employees to heed the “spirit” of President Donald Trump’s push to eliminate diversity programs, a communication that the newspaper said had been interpreted inside the department as “likely prohibiting the agency from openly observing Black History.” The State Department not acknowledging Black History Month is a stark break away from tradition — not only from previous presidents, but also from Trump’s first term in office.
The State Department not acknowledging Black History Month is a break from tradition — not only from previous presidents, but also from Trump’s first term.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats sent a letter Jan. 27 to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging him to continue the department’s diversity initiatives, arguing that such policies are a component of the United States achieving its global objectives. Meanwhile, the executive board of the Thursday Luncheon Group, which seeks “to increase the participation of African Americans” in foreign policy, remained hopeful in an email to its membership.
“As TLG has done since 1973,” the email reads, “we will seek to engage agency leadership to better understand objectives — particularly those related to recruitment, assignments, employment practices, advancement, and retention — and to advocate for our membership…We will continue to do our jobs with excellence and integrity.”
One might wonder what effect not acknowledging Black History Month will have on the culture of the building and the department, but an equally important concern is that the broader attack on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, as a concept makes it more difficult for the State Department to achieve its objectives across the globe. Regardless of who has been commander-in-chief, the State Department has long had a documented problem with the inclusion, retention and upward mobility of its Black employees.
And it’s only likely to get worse. Not just because of Trump’s attacks on DEI, but also because Rubio last week hired Darren Beattie as acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs. Beattie has a history of making racist comments, including one he made on X in October that “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.”
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who served between 1997 and 2001, dubbed the agency as “pale, male, and Yale,” a description repeated by then-Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., in a 2020 op-ed in Foreign Policy magazine about the need for diversity at Foggy Bottom. The problem with a “pale, male, and Yale” State Department is that it is a direct affront to the American values of democracy, opportunity and, yes, diversity.
When there’s little to no diversity at our leading foreign policy agency, the United States loses the opportunity to lead with effectiveness and legitimacy on the world stage. World leaders, allies and adversaries alike, take us less seriously when we do not lead by example when it comes to justice and inclusion of all our citizens.
Allies and adversaries alike take us less seriously when we do not lead by example when it comes to justice and inclusion of all our citizens.
Despite the previous existence of DEI initiatives at the State Department, social media posts and press statements about Black pioneers in U.S. foreign policy and previous acknowledgments of Black History Month, none of that mitigates the fact that the State Department has actually never been very diverse. When I began as principal deputy spokesperson for the State Department in 2021, I was shocked to learn that no Black woman, or any woman of color, had ever stood at the State Department podium as spokesperson or deputy spokesperson. That felt very backward for the leading global melting pot that is the United States.
My shock was soon followed by a less-than-lukewarm welcome from both inside the building and from right-wingers on traditional and social media, who were quick to label me a “DEI hire.” The racism was rampant and potent.
Despite my education at Howard, Georgetown and Oxford, my years serving as spokesperson and communications director for several members of Congress and my lifelong dedication as a foreign policy practitioner, the politically appointed leader in my own front office asked with a sinister smirk how I felt being there “with no foreign policy experience.” A well-known conservative commentator described me as being “best known as a former cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders.” I’m proud of having been an Oakland Raiderette, and I found it interesting that the commentator was silent about his network colleague who was an alum of my exact same team.
But, of course, she isn’t Black.
As Trump pushes radical anti-DEI mandates, we can expect Black people in the State Department, most of whom are career foreign service and civil service officers, to maintain their commitment to doing their jobs. Black History Month celebrations have routinely taught that Black Americans as a whole have long exemplified grace, excellence and integrity in the face of political opposition, societal challenges and turmoil.
Not officially celebrating Black History Month won’t keep Black employees from embodying that lesson.
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