Zakiya Carr Johnson is the U.S. Department of State’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer (Credit: blackwomendisrupt)
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
Zakiya Carr Johnson is the U.S. State Department’s new chief officer of diversity, equity and inclusion who will help make the diplomatic corps personnel “reflect America.” She took over the position last week. “Zakiya will lead our Office of Diversity and Inclusion and advance our deep commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the Department,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in appointing Carr Johnson. She previously worked for the State Department from 2010 to 2017. Carr Johnson is the co-founder and director of Black Women Disrupt.
“American diplomacy can only succeed if it fully harnesses all of the talent that our nation has to offer. The State Department needs to reflect the diversity of the United States”
–Secretary of State Blinken
In April 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken named former ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley as the State Department’s first chief diversity officer to help diversify the foreign service. In appointing the first diversity officer, Blinken said the Department has the honor of representing the American people to the world. “To do that well, we must recruit and retain a workforce that truly reflects America,” he said at the time. Abercrombie-Winstanley left the post June 2023. Many wondered why she departing before achieving the lofty goal of having a truly diversified diplomatic corps. Truth be told, Abercrombie-Winstanley most certainly had a mammoth challenge from day one in her attempt to change the face of the U.S. Foreign Service, which many critics characterize as being a deeply entrenched, systemic “pale, male, and Yale” culture. Blinken, in announcing Abercrombie-Winstanley’s departure from the diversity post, stated the same line he gave two years earlier when Abercrombie-Winstanley was installed in her position: “The only way to ensure our foreign policy delivers for the American people is to recruit and retain a workforce that truly reflects the American people. Thanks to Gina’s leadership, the Department has made significant progress to live up to our commitment to create a more inclusive workplace.” However, in reality, little if no progress has been made, despite what Blinken says, as the problem of under-representation of minorities at the State Department still persists. Carr Johnson will certainly have her work cut out in diversifying Foggy Bottom.
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 country can no longer afford a State Department that is pale, male, and Yale,” Karen Bass wrote in a Dec. 5 2020 article in Foreign Policy.
Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley Delivers Remarks Upon Being Named Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at U.S. Department of State in Washington D.C. April 12, 2021. (Credit: Department of State)
“African American diplomats are still subject to harsh treatment from their own colleagues, some of whom use tools of coercion, manipulation, gaslighting, and enduring systems to keep the “pale, male, and Yale” culture alive,” Jalina Porter, former principal deputy spokesperson at the U.S. State Department in the Biden administration wrote in the Feb. 28, 2023 issue of foreignpolicy.com. titled ‘The State Department’s Lack of Diversity Is Bad for U.S. Diplomacy’
