FAQs

Q: What is the difference between race and ethnicity?

Race and ethnicity are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Ethnicity is based on facts, while race is based on perception. You can be racialized differently from someone, and still be in the same ethnic group. For example, an individual can classify their race as Black but identify as ethnically Hispanic.

Race is socially imposed and hierarchical. It was created incrementally over the past 600 years to rank human differences like skin tones, facial features, eye shapes, and hair textures.

Ethnicity refers to shared cultural characteristics such as language, ancestry, practices, and beliefs.

Q: What is the difference between external racial equity work and the State Department’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) work?

While complementary, there is a distinction between the State Department’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) efforts and our Equity in foreign affairs work (Equity). The Department’s DEIA work, led by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, seeks to increase the recruitment of and identify barriers to entry for underrepresented racial and religious groups, LGBTQI+ persons, and people with disabilities to ensure that our internal diplomatic workforce reflects the rich diversity of the United States.

The Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice is focused externally – on our foreign policies, programs, assistance, and messaging – and how we can do our part to combat the global scourge of racism against marginalized communities globally. These two missions mutually reinforce each other. Department personnel posted domestically and overseas often work on both mandates.

Q: What’s wrong with the term “minorities?”

We do not use the term “minorities,” because it is often factually incorrect and, in some cases, is perceived as pejorative. We use “marginalized or underserved communities,” which we define as populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life.

Q: What do you mean by intersectionality?

We cannot go at this work alone. The Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice is only one part of a team of State Department officials tasked with exploring ways U.S. foreign policy can help build a more just and equitable world. We understand that racism is often compounded by the intersection of other identities that are also the targets of oppression.

We fundamentally believe that when we defend the equal rights of all people around the world – of women and girls in all their diversity, people of African descent, LGBTQI+ individuals, Indigenous individuals, people with disabilities, and people of every ethnic background and religion – we promote the protection of those rights for our own children here in America. Our steadfast dedication to intersectionality drives us, because our freedom is collective.