State Department defends itself against 'racism' allegations

The US State Department is on the defensive after Democratic lawmakers said the agency was remaining silent over xenophobia and racism, and an ex-diplomat said white males were the overwhelming majority in senior official recruits.

Detractors at the department say Republican Donald Trump's arrival in the White House in early 2017 was a turning point.

"We are extremely alarmed by the Trump administration's policy of remaining silent in international fora about racism and xenophobia and declining to condemn hate speech and incitement," six Democratic representatives wrote in a scathing letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

They pointed to an episode that saw a senior State official dispute "the idea that leaders have a 'duty to condemn hate speech or incitement' and tried to strike an entire section of a United Nations document that links fighting racism with building a diverse democratic society."
"This is a dangerous policy," the signatories wrote, saying "this latest blunder amplifies the increasingly widespread perception that some officials in the Trump administration are racist and support an anti-foreigner, anti-Muslim discriminatory agenda."
Uzra Zeya -- who worked at the State Department for nearly three decades, before resigning this year after she was "blocked" from several top jobs -- blasted her former employer in Politico, writing "Trump is making American diplomacy white again."