After long-standing criticisms regarding systemic racism at the State Department reached a fever pitch, the U.S. secretary of state issued a statement lamenting the “small number of blacks in senior positions ‘because’ it is of fundamental importance that the Service represent the cultural and ethnic diversity of our society.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken? No. Former Secretary of State George Shultz in 1986. Numerous secretaries of state before and after Shultz have said variations of these words; yet for decades, the U.S. diplomatic corps has failed to reflect the diversity of the United States.
The State Department is, in many ways in terms of diversity, worse off than it was almost 20 years ago. Black diplomats—past and present—have written about the U.S. State Department’s long history of systemic discrimination as well as their personal experiences of indifference, willful ignorance, and outright abuse. According to a Government Accountability Office study released last year, the State Department is behind other federal agencies in employing historically underrepresented groups, especially at senior levels.
