The Foreign Service Journal, May 2022

80 MAY 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Ronald E. Hawkins Jr. is currently a student at the Foreign Service Institute in preparation for his onward assignment as deputy chief of mission in Lome, Togo. He is a recent graduate of the U.S. Army War College, where he pursued a master’s degree in strategic studies. FromAugust 2018 to July 2020, he served as the public affairs officer (PAO) in Kampala. Previously, he was PAO in Bucharest and Khar- toum. He has also had assignments inWashington, D.C., and served in Sarajevo, Reykjavík and Algiers. His article, “The Legacy of Jackie Robinson, ” was published in the March 2021 FSJ . “W e will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.” President Joe Bidenmade this statement when speaking about the global leadership role of the United States during his inaugu- ral address, and it causedme to reflect on some of the public diplomacy initiatives in which I have been involved. When promoting American values abroad to support and achieve our foreign policy objectives, did we domore than just give sermons? Did we engage in a con- crete way, showcasing the best examples America has to offer? The Power of Our Example BY RONALD E . HAWK I NS J R . At several postings where I was fortunate to be part of the team promoting nonviolence, diversity and inclusion to bolster local democratic institutions, we worked withMr. Martin Luther King III to share his family’s legacy. This work, I believe, has been powerfully effective. While we could schedule numerous presentations at various schools, commu- nity centers and the like for mission per- sonnel to extoll the importance of equity and nonviolence, nothing resonated more with host audiences than hearing it from the son of the civil rights icon himself. b In the early 1990s, as history books indicate, Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) saw terrible fighting, including genocide, as Yugoslavia imploded. The 1995 Dayton Accords ended the hostilities, but this peace agreement did not result in Bosnia becoming a stable democratic state. While diplomatic efforts focus on pre- serving BiH as one political entity, the eth- nically tripartite country—comprising Bos- niaks (Muslims), Croats (Catholics) and Bosnian Serbs (Serb Orthodox)—contin- ues to educate its children with ethnically tailored curricula. In some cases, they even use the same school facilities but at differ- ent times, thus avoiding having to integrate the children. The segregated schools are reminiscent of JimCrow America. In 2009, when I was on assignment in Bosnia, U.S. Embassy Sarajevo invited Martin Luther King III to help commemo- rate the 55th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education , which legally ended segrega- tion in the United States. Mr. King, then head of the nonprofit organization Realizing the Dream, was to visit and relate the legacy of his family to the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was joined by Realizing the Dream’s Chief Operating Officer Dr. Johnny Mack, who has an impressive set of credentials work- ing for social change himself. The weeklong tour began with a public address to which numerous political, civil society and community leaders and others were invited. As Mr. King entered the room, even before uttering a single word, he received a standing ovation. I got goosebumps thinking of howwe were truly engaging with the people of Bosnia through the example of the King family. Mr. King also traveled to the city of Tuzla, a Bosnian city with a long tradition of tolerance andmulticultural existence, to lay flowers at a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. TuzlaMayor Jasmim Imamovic, who greatly admired King and his message, had ordered the sculpture, donated by U.S. Embassy Sarajevo, and it was unveiled on King’s birth anniversary in 2003. REFLECTIONS Martin Luther King III laid flowers at the bust of Dr. Martin Luther King in Tuzla in 2009. ADNANBUJACK/U.S.EMBASSYSARAJEVO In Stolac, Martin Luther King III engaged with students at the local, ethnically divided high school. ADNANBUJACK/U.S.EMBASSYSARAJEVO