The Foreign Service Journal, September 2020

26 SEPTEMBER 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Deputy Chief of Mission Mirembe Nantongo greets guests at the July 4 reception in Doha, Qatar, in 2010. U.S.EMBASSYDOHA/PAPPUDAKIN Personal Reflections on This Moment at State Deputy Chief of Mission Nantongo, at center, and Cultural Affairs Officer Erica Chiusano, third from right, with a group of International Visitor Leadership Program alumni in Doha in 2011. U.S.EMBASSAYDOHA/SUNNYTHOLATH United States as an immigrant in 1987 and was naturalized in 1991 before formally joining the Foreign Service in 1995. After rather awkwardly straddling my parents’ two very homog- enous cultures all my life, I reveled in the vibrant heterogeneity of the United States, where any fellow citizen might have any cultural heritage and any appearance, name or accent. My youth in Africa was framed by an unapologetically patri- archal society, over which the ghost of colonialism still hovers; but I learned early on that the Black American experience, and the legacy of slavery, repre- sented a dreadfully distinct and painful universe about which I understood little. Thirty years as an Ameri- can citizen, much self- education and living and working alongside Black friends and colleagues has made me better informed, both intellectually and emotionally, but I know there is still much to learn and understand. The brutal killing of George Floyd has horrified us all, and the accompany- As I retire after a 25-year career, I realize that close to half my life has been spent as a State Depart- ment employee. Starting as a Locally Employed staff member in the General Services Office at U.S. Embassy Kampala, I spent the next six years as an Eligible Fam- ily Member before joining the State Deparment as a Foreign Service officer in 1995. I have served and lived in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Washing- ton, D.C. Although coned as a political officer, I have worked in all five Foreign Service cones, served twice as a deputy chief of mission and, finally, as a deputy assistant secretary. Both my sons (now 19 and 28) were born under the Foreign Service umbrella and spent their childhoods in international schools overseas. Influenced by top-notch Embassy Marine Security Guards at our various assign- ments, both are now U.S. Marines themselves—one on active duty and the other recently graduated from col- lege. It is a source of great pride to me that all three of us have taken the oath of office, with its solemn commitment to the Constitution and to public service. It has been a truly fabulous career, and I have enjoyed or learned from every moment. A child of African and European parents, I was born in Africa and grew up biculturally between Africa and Europe, at home and yet not fully belonging in either place. I came to the