(credit: U.S. Department of State)  Linda Thomas-Greenfield is a career diplomat  who has previously served as an ambassador to Liberia and the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 2013-2017

Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED  NATIONS  –   NEW  YORK –  President-elect Joe Biden is nominating career diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield as US ambassador to the United Nation.   Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield brings a resume of deep diplomatic experience and will help restore the U.S.-UN  relationship that was strained  after four years of President Trump’s administration which resisted multilateralism. President Trump did not hide his scorn for the  UN and took a strong-arm unilateral “America First”  diplomatic posture in  global affairs.  A long-time diplomat, Thomas-Greenfield has previously served as an ambassador to Liberia and the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 2013-2017. 

“My mother taught me to lead with the power of kindness and compassion to make the world a better place,” Thomas-Greenfield tweeted after Biden’s transition team announced her nomination. “I’ve carried that lesson with me throughout my career in Foreign Service – and, if confirmed, will do the same as Ambassador to the United Nations.”

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield To Bring Taste of ‘Gumbo Diplomacy’ to UN

US Ambassador to the UN nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks – abc NEWS Nov. 24, 2020

The Louisiana native who enjoys cooking is set to bring her recipe for what she calls “Gumbo Diplomacy” to global affairs at the UN.  In her introductory remarks after Biden nominated her to the UN post, Thomas-Greenfield recounted how, wherever she was posted, she would invite people over to help make a roux and chop up the holy trinity for a homemade, homestyle feast.:

“In my thirty-five years in the Foreign Service across the world, I put a Cajun spin on it. I call it Gumbo diplomacy. Wherever I was posted, I’d invite people of all walks then make homemade gumbo. Thats how you break down barriers, connect, and see each-other as humans.”

-Ambassador  Thomas-Greenfield

My mother taught me to lead with the power of kindness and compassion to make the world a better place. I’ve carried that lesson with me throughout my career in Foreign Service – and, if confirmed, will do the same as Ambassador to the United Nations.

— Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@LindaT_G) November 23, 2020

Thomas-Greenfield, an African American,  was born in Baker, Louisiana, in the early 1950s and attended segregated schools as a child

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield a Strong Advocate of Diversity in U.S. Foreign Service

Credit: Gary Raynaldo /   © Diplomatic  Times /  Ambassador  Linda Thomas-Greenfield , an American diplomat who served as the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the United States Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs from 2013 to 2017, was the moderator of Honoring Dr. Ralph J. Bunche at the NMAD in Washington D.C. Feb. 27, 2020. 

U.S. State Department / Foreign Service Far From Being Racially Diverse

“Despite decades of attempts to make the Foreign Service look more like the real America, it’s still pretty much white, male, and Yale,”  according to a May 2016 article in Foreign Affairs.  The article is titled: “The State Department Has a Diversity Problem”   

The State Department reported as of  2019 that 81 percent of its Foreign Service generalists and 75 percent of its specialists are white, while 59 percent of generalists and 71 percent of specialists are men.  Only 5.3 percent of FS generalists are African American; and 8.8 percent of its FS specialists are African American.

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield has acknowledged there currently remains a critical need for more diversity in the State Department and International Affairs nearly 40 years after she began working at the Department. “We have to redouble our efforts,” she said in order to have a State Department that reflects the diversity of America. 

Thomas-Greenfield has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (2004–2006), Ambassador to Liberia (2008–2012) under President Obama;  Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources (2012–2013).  In 2017 she was pushed out by the Trump administration amid a purge of many career diplomats at the  State Department.

Thomas-Greenfield Would Replace U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft at United Nations

Credit:  Gary Raynaldo  /  ©Diplomatic Times /   Kelly Knight Craft, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, speaks with reporters at UN world headquarters in New York Dec. 6, 2019.

The current U.S. Ambassador to the  UN is Kelly  Knight Craft.   Ambassador Craft succeeded  Nikki Haley, Trump’s first UN envoy, who resigned in 2018  to spend more time with her family.

The U.S. ambassador to the UN is neither a member of the State Department nor the Department of Defense, or a cabinet member.   But as the leader of the U.S. Mission to the U.N., the American Ambassador’s most important job is  to represent the interests of the U.S. on the U.N.’s most powerful organ, the Security Council.  The ambassador operates from the  U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City.