The State Department will announce a Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice on June 17 in connection with the department’s Equity Action Plan, an email obtained by the Daily Caller reveals.
The position of Special Representative was first announced by the State Department in its April Equity Action Plan. The position’s holder has not been named, but the Special Representative will have wide-reaching powers, since he or she will be responsible for “institutionaliz[ing] an enterprise-wide approach to integrating racial and ethnic equity.” The email names “advancing equity, addressing systemic racism, and strengthening democracy worldwide” as “national security imperatives and core tenets of President Biden’s foreign policy.”
Although the Special Representative will be responsible for “promoting systems of inclusion that mitigate bias, discrimination, and violence” and “fostering more inclusive societies,” previous U.S. government efforts to promote inclusion and equity have failed. The federal government spent nearly $800 million promoting gender equality in Afghanistan, a project that failed due to “traditional gender norms,” according to the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction.
The Special Representative will also be placed in charge of “countering disinformation and societal violence aimed at… marginalized racial and ethnic communities,” the email reveals. Currently, efforts to combat disinformation are housed in the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, and are primarily aimed at Russia.
The State Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on whether the Special Representative’s purview would be primarily domestic or international.
Biden campaigned on racial equity, promising that his administration would promote direct investment in minority communities through tax credits and venture capital. He has overturned several executive orders promulgated by the Trump administration on racial equity grounds.
Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office requiring the federal government to “pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, and the email describes the Special Representative position as part of that effort. Since then, he has ordered the federal government to engage in racially conscious hiring practices, and require employees to participate in implicit and unconscious bias training.
The Biden administration and elected Democrats have moved to make racial equity a key part of large portions of federal policy. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has argued that policies associated with the Green New Deal can be used to promote “economic, social and racial justice.” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has pushed for the Federal Reserve to include fixing “systemic racism and inequality” as part of its mandate.
Reporting from The Daily Caller.
