The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2023

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2023 35 ADVANCING RACIAL EQUITY AND DEIA TEN TRUTHS OF IMPLEMENTATION Marianne Scott recently retired from the Senior For- eign Service. Her 26-year diplomatic career included assignments in South, Central, and North America; Africa; and, most recently, as senior adviser for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility with the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. The opinions and character- izations in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. government. A Senior Foreign Service officer who was charged with advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs distills lessons learned. BY MAR I ANNE SCOTT Racismmakes democracies less prosperous, less stable, less equitable. It fosters polarization and distrust. And it robs democracies of the strength, the innovation, the creativity that can be drawn from diverse and inclusive communities and workplaces. It requires a concerted, urgent effort on the part of all of our communities and institutions to address this challenge, including government institutions like the one I lead. One of my top priorities at the State Department is ensuring that our diplomats reflect America in all of its remarkable diversity. —Secretary of State Antony Blinken, “Making Democracy Deliver for the Americas, ” Quito, Oct. 21, 2021 W ith these words, Secre- tary Blinken summed up the assignment Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian A. Nichols and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Ricardo Zúniga had reiter- ated to me a month earlier, in September 2021. We had just started in our new positions, mine a one-year tour as the first senior adviser for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the Bureau of West- ern Hemisphere Affairs (WHA) front office. My mandate: Lead a concerted, urgent effort to (1) include equity as part of our foreign policy to reduce the corrosive impact of racism on equal opportunity in the Western Hemisphere and (2) institutionalize processes and programs to recruit and retain a bureau workforce that reflects the diversity of the United States. I knew the State Department’s historical track record on diver- sity in our workforce and inclusion in our workplace was poor. I knew the WHA front office had to provide the leadership, but the entire bureau had to do the work. I knew that most of the State Department had little experience discussing racism, but employee FOCUS DEIA: FOUNDATIONS FOR PROGRESS