Why US diplomats are breaking silence on race, repression at home
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Howard LaFranchi Staff writer
Brian Nichols recently posted on social media how the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police touched him personally. He was reminded that, as a young Black man in America, he knew that many considered him a lesser human being.
鈥淎s an African-American, for as long as I can remember I have known that my rights and my body were not fully my own,鈥� wrote Mr. Nichols, who grew up in Rhode Island. 鈥淚n a long unbroken line of black men and women, George Floyd gave the last full measure of devotion to point us toward a new birth in freedom.鈥�
In and of itself, Mr. Nichols鈥� post was not extraordinary. Social media in the wake of Mr. Floyd鈥檚 killing is full of similar comments, while the protests that have drawn millions to America鈥檚 streets shouting 鈥淏lack Lives Matter!鈥� spring from the same sentiments.
Why We Wrote This
What strengthens U.S. representatives as they engage with the world, many say, is not military might, but American principles, a sense of moral authority. Which is why they feel compelled to speak up now.
What does make Mr. Nichols鈥� 鈥渓etter鈥� stand out is that he is the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, and his honest and personal commentary was posted on the Harare embassy鈥檚 Facebook page.
It is highly unusual for a high-ranking American diplomat to speak out about events at home, particularly in a critical or opinionated way.
But as it turns out, Ambassador Nichols is far from a lone voice among foreign service officers, both serving and retired, in commenting publicly on the Floyd killing and the ensuing social tumult over institutional racism, police brutality, and threats to America鈥檚 democratic values.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 speak for Brian, but I would guess he was thinking that these are issues that we鈥檝e been addressing with the government of Zimbabwe, so I need to be honest and frank about my perspective on this if I鈥檓 going to be effective,鈥� says Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a former career diplomat. When she retired in 2017, she was the assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs and the highest-ranking African American woman at the State Department.
鈥淔or African American diplomats especially,鈥� she adds, 鈥渋t鈥檚 been important to speak out on this particularly horrific killing after we鈥檝e watched these awful killings for too long.鈥�
Retired diplomats鈥� letter
Other U.S. embassy websites 鈥� particularly in Africa 鈥� have posted statements on the Floyd killing and nationwide protests. The embassy in Seoul, South Korea, unfurled a large banner declaring 鈥淏lack Lives Matter鈥� on its facade, until State Department management ordered it taken down.
Moreover at home, more than 600 retired foreign service officers and civilian national security officials have signed on to an open letter criticizing the Trump administration鈥檚 response to the American protests as repressive, both rhetorically and in its actions.
In particular, the diplomats express dismay over the use of the military to disperse peaceful protesters in Washington 鈥� outside the White House and at the Lincoln Memorial. They deplore those events as exactly the kind of repressive actions many witnessed while posted abroad and were called on to condemn as undemocratic and unacceptable to their host governments.
鈥淢isuse of the military for political purposes would weaken the fabric of our democracy, denigrate those who serve in uniform to protect and defend the Constitution, and undermine our nation鈥檚 strength abroad,鈥� the letter states. Serving across the globe, 鈥淲e called out violations of human rights and the authoritarian regimes that deployed their military against their own citizens,鈥� they add. 鈥淥ur values define us as a nation and as a global leader.鈥�
For seasoned and proudly nonpartisan foreign service officers and civilian national security officials, sounding an alarm on domestic affairs does not come easily.
Moral authority under attack
But for many who signed the letter, it was the trampling of rights and principles guaranteed in the Constitution 鈥� first among them that the military will not be used at home against American citizens 鈥� that compelled them, they say. It was the sense that the values and principles of governance they spent their careers promoting overseas were under attack at home that emboldened them to take unprecedented steps.
鈥淚t was a confluence of events that brought to the surface very deep concerns about a straying from the Constitution and from American values of democracy and freedom of expression that prompted such a large number of diplomats and civilian national security officials to speak out so forcefully,鈥� says Earl Anthony Wayne, a retired career ambassador who signed the letter.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 say if the number [612 signatories by Wednesday] is unprecedented, but it is certainly extraordinary and reflects the degree of concern particularly across a wide spectrum of very senior diplomats and nonpartisan professionals.鈥�
A strong sense that the moral authority that had girded them as American representatives overseas was under attack at home, for all the world to see, prompted many to speak out.
鈥淢any of us have a firm belief that our leadership in the world is based not on a strong military, not even on the economy, but on the values and principles that constitute the core identification of the United States,鈥� says Barbara Bodine, a former ambassador to Yemen.
鈥淏ut there is a recognition that what happens here doesn鈥檛 stay here ... but is picked up in the rest of the world with tremendous interest,鈥� she says. 鈥淎ll these expressions of concern reflect a deep frustration that the rhetoric and abuses and policies we鈥檝e seen from this administration over recent weeks have diminished how we are seen around the world.鈥�
Ambassador Bodine points to the Arab Spring as an example of a movement that flourished as publics sought to advance the principles embodied by America.
鈥淥ne reason the Arab Spring was able to get as far as it did is that the police in Tunisia refused to go against the protesters as [President Zine El Abidine Ben] Ali ordered them to, and the police in Egypt refused to go against the protesters in support of [President Hosni] Mubarak,鈥� says Ambassador Bodine, now director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University.
鈥淐omfort to the autocrats鈥�
She and others say they were particularly motivated to speak out by the rhetoric used by President Donald Trump 鈥� that governors and other officials needed to use armed security forces to 鈥渄ominate鈥� the demonstrations, and dismissing the protesters as 鈥渢hugs鈥� to be repressed.
鈥淭hat kind of language gives comfort to the autocrats around the world whose impulse is to use violence against their own publics,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd is not the sign of the moral leader of the world.鈥�
The former diplomats who are speaking out underscore the importance they place on their comments being seen as nonpartisan, and they stress that almost all of them served administrations of both parties. They are not criticizing America, they say, but sounding the alarm about shortcomings that diminish its moral authority abroad.
鈥淭his is not a condemnation of our country,鈥� Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a condemnation of the racism that exists in our country and that we know must be rooted out for the good of all of us.鈥�
She recalls walking into her State Department office the day after Minnesotan Philando Castile was killed by police during a routine traffic stop in 2016.
鈥淚 told my staff, 鈥楾oday I鈥檓 not the assistant secretary; today I鈥檓 an angry Black mother. That could have been my son.鈥欌��
Out of that discussion grew a 鈥渃onversation on race鈥� that was extended to other bureaus and agencies of the State Department, and even out to the field.
Need for recruitment
But Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield says that despite the encouragement she feels from all the 鈥渟peaking out鈥� across her profession, she knows there is tremendous work to be done for America to fully embody the values it promotes.
She notes, for example, that when she joined the foreign service in 1982, the State Department was facing two class-action suits over employment, one from women and one from African Americans.
鈥淎nd yet the numbers for African Americans are worse today than they were all those years ago when they won that suit,鈥� she says. 鈥淎s for ambassadors, today we have only three African American ambassadors 鈥� imagine, three!鈥�
Still, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield says she鈥檚 optimistic. She notes that the nonpartisan responded to the Floyd killing by demanding the recruitment of a foreign service corps that 鈥渓ooks like America鈥� and pledging to work with the State Department to help make that happen.
The House Oversight subcommittee held a hearing Wednesday on a Government Accountability Office report published in January that finds a significant lack of diversity at the State Department and recommends steps to address the problem.
鈥淲hat all of us are calling for right now is for our country to strive to embody the values and principles we worked to promote and strengthen overseas,鈥� says Ms. Thomas-Greenfield. 鈥淲e have to deal with these ways we鈥檝e fallen short, but we know the strength is there to do it.鈥�
