State Department Appoints First “Racial Equity and Justice” Representative

The State Department appointed its first-ever racial equity and justice special representative on Thursday, another Biden administration step toward promoting equity as some question the administration’s efficacy on policy.

Desiree Cormier Smith will be tasked with leading the department’s “efforts to protect and advance the human rights of people belonging to marginalized racial and ethnic communities and combat systemic racism, discrimination, and xenophobia around the world” with the hope of achieving “more effective foreign policies and programs that support all people regardless of their race or ethnicity,” according to a press release.

“The State Department strives to promote and protect the rights of individuals and communities who are oppressed because of their race or ethnicity and create a just world where all people are valued, included, and able to live up to their full potential,” the release read.

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Cormier Smith began her career as a foreign service officer and most recently was the senior adviser to the department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs.

“Inequity, racism, and xenophobia are threats to democracy and run contrary to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,” Cormier Smith said in a video shared by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “I’m honored to serve alongside my State Department colleagues, and our partners and allies, to create a more just world where all people are valued and included. A world in which no one is prevented from living up to their full potential simply because of their race or ethnicity.”

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Last month, the Biden administration unrolled hundreds of “equity action plans” as part of the president’s “ambitious equity and racial justice agenda.”

Biden, 79, has been contending with increasing dissent within his own party, with some arguing he should not seek a second term amid flagging polling numbers.