Biden makes Desiree Cormier Smith “Woke Czar” in charge State Department’s equity and justice agenda
In the “you couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried” book of ideas he uses as he works to turn his presidency into a Barack Obama redux, Joe Biden has appointed Desiree Cormier Smith to be his global “Woke Czar” to lead the State Department’s equity and justice agenda.
Smith was given the job to lead Joe Biden’s “efforts to protect and advance the human rights of people belonging to marginalized racial and ethnic communities and combat systemic racism, discrimination, and xenophobia around the world” with the hope of achieving “more effective foreign policies and programs that support all people regardless of their race or ethnicity,” according to a State Department June 17 press release.
Despite the grandiose job description, a small band of Republicans are calling for an inquiry into the State Department’s newly announced equity and justice representative, calling Desiree Cormier Smith a “Woke Czar” responsible for spreading Joe Biden’s global progressive agenda (via The Center Square):
Republican lawmakers are calling for an inquiry into a new State Department equity position they are calling a “woke czar.”
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are leading the charge against President Joe Biden’s appointment last month of Desirée Cormier Smith as the first “special representative” for the State Department’s “Equity Action Plan.”
“The Special Representative position continues the Biden Administration’s prioritization of a radical, progressive agenda the American people consistently reject,” the letter said. “Committee Republicans question the necessity of this new position. Further, we are concerned about wasting taxpayer dollars on an undefined role which categorizes and further divides Americans instead of focusing on the Department’s mission to ‘protect and promote U.S. security, prosperity, and democratic values and shape an international environment in which all Americans can thrive.’”
The letter points to reports that Smith would also be tasked with dealing with disinformation, an effort that has landed federal agencies in hot water in recent months.
The lawmakers pointed to the Department of Homeland Security’s new Disinformation Governance Board, which has been the subject of much pushback and saw its leader ousted after her controversial social media videos surfaced. (Emphasis mine)
Joe Biden’s Disinformation Governance Board — more accurately described as a Ministry of Truth straight out of George Orwell’s 1984 — was announced by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during an April 27 appearance before Congress in response to a question from Rep. James Langevin (D-RI) about how DHS planned to shore up election security and fend off Russian cyber-interference:
“We have just established a mis- and disinformation governance board in the Department of Homeland Security to more effectively combat this threat not only to election security but to our homeland security.
“We are disseminating information to the secretaries of state. We are counseling them and providing resources to ensure better physical security.”
“We are addressing all aspects of election security given, of course, the midterm elections that are upon us and the fundamental integrity of our democratic processes that is at stake.”
Using DHS to provide “election security” was first introduced by Barack Obama as part of his plan to nationalize elections, so it was unsurprising to see Joe Biden do the same thing, particularly since Democrats have made nationalizing elections and destroying free speech a top priority.
Joe Biden’s Ministry of Truth was bad enough on its own, but it was made worse when Nina Jankowicz, a Russian disinformation expert who is easily influenced by partisan ideology when determining the difference between fact and disinformation, was given the job of heading it up.
Jankowicz was a perfect fit for Joe Biden’s self-declared war on disinformation war on social media.
For example, in a June 2020 op-ed for Wired.com, Jankowicz wrote that Facebook groups were destroying America because they are built for privacy. And in a recent interview with NPR, she had this to say about Elan Musk’s buyout of Twitter:
“I shudder to think about if free speech absolutists were taking over more platforms, what that would look like for the marginalized communities all around the world, which are already shouldering so much of this abuse, disproportionate amounts of this abuse, and retraumatizing themselves as they try to protect themselves from it, you know, reporting, blocking, et cetera. We need the platforms to do more, and we frankly need law enforcement and our legislatures to do more as well.”
Fortunately, Jankowicz was forced to quit, essentially ending the Ministry of Truth. Good news because the US government has no business determining “disinformation” using an Orwellian shadow department operating within a national security agency.
Unfortunately, Joe Biden’s Obama-inspired agenda lives on, which is why he is now trying this backdoor approach to addressing so-called misinformation via the State Department and the “Woke Czar.”
Of course, progressives in Congress are ecstatic about the State Department’s Woke Czar because it fits their global New World Order agenda. When the position was first announced last month, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released a joint statement singing its praises:
SFRC Chairman Menendez statement with @HouseForeign Chair @RepGregoryMeeks on the appointment of Desirée Cormier Smith to serve as @StateDept Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice: pic.twitter.com/4TkHtDrWv0
— Senate Foreign Relations Committee (@SFRCdems) June 17, 2022
“We applaud the Biden administration’s creation of the new position of Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice as a positive step forward in our continued efforts to advance a freer, more just, and inclusive global society. The appointment will play a critical role in streamlining our efforts to secure human rights and fight inequality around the world.
“As we called for in our letters to Senate and House Appropriations Committees last year, the new position reflects the strength of our nation’s commitment to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion in international affairs. As we face the rise of authoritarian regimes pushing racist rhetoric, discriminatory laws, and other fear-based tactics to undermine basic human rights and governance, the Special Representative will work to ensure that our policy and programs promote the safety, security, and prosperity of marginalized communities worldwide.”
In Orwell’s dystopian vision of the future as described in 1984, the Ministry of Truth pretended to be dedicated to the pursuit of truth when, in fact, its primary function was to erase the truth of the past and present and replace it with the Party’s truth. Orwell’s reference to “the Party” is reflected in today’s political environment by the Republican/Democrat duopoly running the show in Washington.
Joe Biden’s appointment of a global “Woke Czar” to lead the State Department’s equity and justice agenda sounds exactly like something you’d expect “the Party” to do, doesn’t it?
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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