The Foreign Service Journal, November 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2020 15 Racist disparities have affected our ability to connect with underrepresented communities regarding participation in the COIR program. As Ramona Harper, a retired Senior Foreign Service officer who is instrumen- tal in mentoring COIR participants, once said: “Systemic racism and educational and cultural inequities have created a situation in the United States in which African Americans are in a deficit when it comes to thinking of themselves as global citizens. Before you can even fantasize about an international career, there needs to be an exposure to international living through travel experiences and other direct experiences of living abroad.” Patricia Mitchell, a City Year Alumna of AmeriCorps, adds: “Having recruit- ers go into the under-represented feeder schools and communities for targeted students; looking for recruits straight from the source; and providing them with the proper training and resources to fit the needs of the programs would create results for inclusion.” The American Foreign Service Association has played a role in COIR by providing pertinent literature (including copies of its book, Inside a U.S. Embassy ) and Foreign Service speakers. It would be great if the association could expand its role, for instance by attending career day and other gather- ings involving underrepresented schools and organizations; by collaborating with COIR to extend invitations to clubs and organizations of the underrepresented for events hosted by AFSA and the State Department; or by facilitating the selec- tion of two students from Southeast Washington, D.C., to receive a summer internship position at the State Depart- ment. Further, as Ambassador (ret.) Ruth A. Davis has often pointed out, it isn’t enough to increase the numbers from underrepresented communities being taken in; these new diplomats must be retained and developed. Here the promo- tion system, unconscious bias and the awards programs must all be looked at. Going forward, dismantling global oppression and racism with concrete action must be the mission of the U.S. Foreign Service, both internally and in our foreign policy. n