Zimbabwe: Race not a factor in American diplomacy: U.S. Ambassador
Harare, February 21, 2012: United States Ambassador Charles Ray on Thursday played down the role of race in the conduct of U.S. diplomatic relations and described the election of incumbent U.S. President Barack Obama in 2008 as the culmination of an “inevitable historical evolution.”
Ambassador Ray with Grace Chirenje
“Quite often the problem faced by both Africans and African Americans when we meet on the continent is big expectations based on ethnicity, which I think needs to be put in a proper perspective,” said the U.S. ambassador.
“There is an expectation that because you are African American, somehow your actions are going to be different. And there is on the part of the African American side an expectation that because I am African American, my reception is going to be different. In fact, both sides get disappointed,” noted Ambassador Ray.
The U.S. Ambassador was the guest at a forum organized by the Zimbabwe United States Alumni Association (ZUSAA) to commemorate Black History Month. ZUSAA brings together Zimbabwean alumni of State Department exchange and educational programs with Zimbabweans who have either lived or have been to the USA on different initiatives to share memories, experiences and lessons learned from the U.S.
Since his arrival in Zimbabwe, the Ambassador has been at the receiving end of racially-motivated criticism from some sections of the media for U.S. government policies on Zimbabwe.
“As a diplomat of the Foreign Service of the USA, I am first and foremost an official of the American government… I just happen, coincidentally, to be African American. And it’s the same thing with Barack Obama, he happens, coincidentally, to be a black man who is President of the United States, but the important phrase there is ‘President of the United States,’” said the Ambassador.
The discussion centered on the topic “being an African American diplomat in an African country.” The U.S. Ambassador is in his second posting in Africa after serving as deputy Chief of Mission in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Most of his 30-year diplomatic career has been in Asia.
Event host Grace Chirenje took the American diplomat to task about his African-American roots, but the capacity audience at Café Expresso learned that the race dichotomy in the U.S. was more complex than just being white and black.
“There are very few Americans who are a single race,” noted the U.S. Ambassador. “During the time when I grew up the only groups that received any attention legally, socially and in the media, were African Americans and whites. We have a large percentage of the population that has Native American heritage but they have never received much attention.” He said his grandmother, whom he described as “the defining person in my entire life,” was half Native American and half African, and she was never accepted by any community because she did not fit in to any of the norms.
“She was a strong willed person, and I learned to look at life by how I define myself and not how others define me,” said the U.S. diplomat.
Despite these differences, said Ambassador Ray, “The African American basket is one that I was most comfortable with as I got to know myself and my inclinations.”
“As a student of history, I look back at the often unremarked history by people from the African continent — not just in the U.S. but in the world. I feel a sense of pride being part of that and a sense of motivation to make more people aware, including people from the continent itself because they are sometimes unaware of the contribution that their ancestors made to the world.”
The Ambassador recounted the significance of Black History Month to human rights.
“The hundreds of years of enslaving others and treating them as property was terrible, but if you look at the history of African Americans in the U.S., there is that bright spot that shows that these things can be changed and, ultimately, can be overcome,” said Ambassador Ray. “We went from being slaves, and according to the first draft of our constitution being only three-fifths of a human being, to having a black person sitting in the White House. You can make light of that or you can make politics out of it, but that is useful because it shows that with perseverance and faith you can overcome anything.”
The Ambassador said the ascension of Barack Obama to the presidency was significant, saying, “Barack Obama was the right person at the right time in history, regardless of his skin color or his racial background. He came along at a time when younger voters in America were angry and aching for change, and he was able to articulate that change in a way that none of the people against whom he competed could do,” said Ambassador Ray. – ZimPAS© February 2012
