The Association of Black American Ambassadors (ABAA) strongly supports diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in domestic and foreign affairs. We therefore oppose the current Administration’s rollbacks of DEIA requirements. The ABAA believes the November State Department Foreign Service promotions approved for employees who initially were not selected because they did not meet DEIA promotion precepts returns to a restricted, racialized view of who merits advancement. State Department promotion requirements are negotiated and approved by personnel management and by the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), effectively the union for the Foreign Service. DEIA requirements made the selection processes for promotions, assignments, and senior positions more transparent; they were the scaffolding that supported a more open system where everyone knew the rules. To assume that such precepts and practices narrow opportunities for one group over other groups diminishes the loftiness of our Founding Fathers’ creed and norms. We believe the promotion process must advance only employees who demonstrate professionalism across all precepts.
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are at the heart of America’s values to be celebrated in 2026, the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States. Well before 1776, diversity was a key characteristic of the people who won the nation’s independence – – patriots who fought for freedom were white, black, indigenous, immigrant, men and women – and has been essential to our growth ever since. The emerging faces of America were not just land-owning men of European descent but a mosaic of groups who believed in the promise of our Declaration of Independence and subsequent Constitution: that it is self-evident that all men (and women) are created equal. For 250 years, in fits and starts, the United States has found ways to expand the definition of “We the people” and to commit to the common good by creating a country “out of many, one”. To be an American is not only to be born or naturalized in the country, but also to believe in U.S. values and norms. ABAA calls for a return to DEIA principles, programs, and practices because they reinforce our revolutionary consensus and renew our American spirit of hope, benevolence, and opportunity for all.
Foreign Service personnel must learn to manage across different generations, races, genders, and nationalities. DEIA encourages leaders to cultivate an environment for everyone to contribute ideas, to mentor every employee, and to further each individual’s professional development, not just a favored few, and to avoid changing the rules of the game after the fact to justify decisions that disadvantaged some.
Foreign Service Officers, as diplomats, work with all nationalities in pursuit of U.S. national interests. Among all nations, the United States uniquely has citizens from almost every country in the world. This strength enables us to relate to every country in the world and to demonstrate American norms and values as stated in our Constitution. DEIA is the pulverizing engine that can break up the favoritism and discrimination that have unnecessarily hobbled our foreign policy and damaged our role as the leader of the free world.
ABAA believes the underrepresentation of black Americans in U.S. global relations, in particular, carries strategic consequences for America’s future. As an example, the parallels between global human rights movements and domestic civil rights struggles provide diplomatic insights that remain largely untapped. Americans of all backgrounds can attest to how polarizing foreign policies promote outrage reflected in social media content. Untapped also are the experiences of black Americans in dismantling oppressive systems despite the outrage. Historically, the State Department has not had the numbers of underrepresented groups in its Foreign Service and in the middle to upper levels of the Civil Service, equivalent to their percentage in the U.S. population. Without DEIA programs, the State Department is on track to have the lowest percentage of black and other diverse senior officers since the last century.
The challenge is not just with promotions and personnel, but also foreign policy. The December 4, 2025, U.S. National Security Strategy regrettably does not give primacy to the use of diplomacy to safeguard U.S. national interests and security, nor does it even mention DEIA as a strength. Moreover, in a recent AFSA poll, a majority of U.S. diplomats reported that recent Trump Administration changes have hurt their ability to advance U.S. priorities. The December 22, 2025, recall of about 30 United States foreign service career Ambassadors from their posts weakens the United States’ ability to promote U.S. national interests and for all U.S. diplomats to be the first line of defense for the nation. Operational weakness could follow the hollowing out of our Foreign Service. ABAA stands with U.S. diplomats, with the projection of U.S. diplomatic power, and with our foundational values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
Given our 250 years of striving to make our nation “a more perfect union,” ABAA believes that for many of the world’s people, the United States remains the most inspiring, democratic experiment globally, as reflected in positive international messaging on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. At the same time, U.S. credibility can only be enhanced by being candid about racial, ethnic, gender, and other forms of discrimination and intolerance. The 250th anniversary of our increasingly diverse nation should recognize the role of all immigrants, who have helped create and shape our country, as have many other groups. Reinstating DEIA policies can help our nation and the State Department avoid applying a genetic hierarchy to humanity and instead create the broadest possible talent pool to sustain our nation’s preeminence in the world.
January 12, 2026
For inquires please contact: info@abaausa.org
Pamela L. Spratlen