The State Department responded to the controversy surrounding its new diversity, equity and inclusion chief Zakiya Carr Johnson, explaining that it has “high confidence” in her ability to lead in a “complex world.”
Carr Johnson has previously called America a “failed historic model” and demanded the destruction of tradition “at every juncture” on the altar of antiracism.
The State Department released a statement to Fox News Digital, which said, “The Department has high confidence in the leadership of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer (CDIO) Zakiya Carr Johnson. She is a social inclusion, diversity, and equity expert and strategist with over 20 years of experience in shaping public policy across the government, development, and nonprofit sectors. Zakiya has spent her career building bridges of understanding between people and communities.”
Carr Johnson previously served as President Barack Obama’s senior adviser and director of the first Race, Ethnicity and Social Inclusion Unit at the State Department. Her experience after that consists of owning two companies – Odara Solutions, a DEI consulting firm, and Black Women Disrupt, an initiative in which Carr Johnson interviewed Black women involved in creative spaces around the world.
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“Secretary Blinken created the position to ensure the inclusive workplace environment we need to continue to attract and retain the nation’s top talent. When the people making foreign policy decisions on behalf of the American people don’t reflect the full diversity of our nation, we all lose, and our national security is weaker. Together, we will ensure the United States is best positioned to meet the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly complex world,” the State Department statement continued.
Carr Johnson called for a “cultural shift” in America, while blasting the United States as a “failed historical model.”
“[There] are chinks in the armor of traditional leadership that refuse to reconcile with a colonizing past, or recognize that time has run out for experimentation and tweaking of a failed historic model… We understand that a cultural shift is on the horizon and in order to save us all, we must be prepared to change,” Carr Johnson wrote in a 2019 article for the group Fair Share of Women Leaders, that has since been deleted.
Carr Johnson elaborated that discomfort is fundamental to the antiracism she was looking to implement.
“It is my belief that despite the tension and discomfort that may come from questioning the way things have always been, we must critically explore privilege, power and process to chart new ways forward,” she continued.
Carr Johnson co-authored a Fair Share toolkit guide entitled “Feminist Leaders for Feminist Goals.” According to the guide, redistributing power requires “feminist leadership” to redress “a culture of male and/ or white dominance.”
“Feminist leadership must change power structures. In order to achieve transformative change, we must analyze and question existing power structures and how they affect decision-making. How can we redefine, value, use, share and distribute power differently?” the guide said.
In a Facebook post, Carr Johnson’s Odara Solutions complained that female-directed diversity initiatives allow too many White women to advance, purportedly “at the expense of women of color.”
This idea was reiterated in a June 2020 letter Carr Johnson signed with Fair Share which outlined a series of antiracist commitments.
“We strongly believe that feminist leadership must be anti-racist in order to transform our societies. Today we call for… long-term transformation… We will do our part to uplift and amplify feminist leaders of colour, counter White-centered feminism trends and narratives, and share Black and Brown feminists’ wisdom and recommendations,” it said.
