President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced several historic nominations and appointments to key cabinet and White House posts, including two black women and several people of color.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, will be nominated to serve as United Nations Ambassador, and Shuwanza Goff, the first Black woman to hold the position of Floor Director for the House of Representatives, will serve as Deputy Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.
During a formal introduction of his first cabinet selections Tuesday, the President-elect referred to Thomas-Greenfield as a seasoned and distinguished diplomat who is willing to meet with anyone — an ambassador, a student, working people struggling to get by — and always treating them with the same level of dignity and respect.
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“On this day, I’m thinking about the American people, my fellow career diplomats and the public servants across the world,” Thomas-Greenfield explained. “I want to say to you, America is back. Multilateralism is back. Diplomacy is back.”
“The challenges we face,” she continued, “a global pandemic, global economic and climate change crisis, mass migration, extreme poverty and social justice – are all unrelenting and interconnected. But they are not unresolvable if America is leading the way.
When announcing the appointment of Goff, on Monday, President-elect Biden highlighted her White House role as a driving force behind helping to advance the agenda of the Biden-Harris administration and ensure that all Americans are offered a fair shot at success.
Black media outlets celebrated both announcements and praised the President-elect for sticking to his promise to create an administration that resembles and celebrates the diversity of America.
“By choosing two prominent Black women to join his forthcoming administration,” The Grio reported, “Biden is making good on his promise to choose from a diverse pool of candidates.”
“As President-elect Joe Biden continues to announce members of his White House senior staff, African American women are being appointed to high profile roles in the incoming Administration,” reported by ESSENCE.
Blavity reported, “although she is not a household name, Thomas-Greenfield has had an incredible career trajectory and history,” before going on to list “five things to know about the Black woman who is likely to become America’s most prominent ambassador.”
“As President-Elect Joe Biden builds out his administration and appoints leaders to various roles, he is selecting some of the nation’s most respected diplomats and key experts on foreign policy to shape his team,” BET reported. “Two of those individuals are Black women.”
President-elect Joe Biden is already making good on his vow to have a presidential cabinet that “looks like America” by naming several people to key leadership positions within his upcoming administration,” NewsOne reported.
“Biden has addressed a series of reforms through his Lift Every Voice and the Build Back Better plans, which seek to address the COVID-19 pandemic and the resounding economic fallout, police reform and criminal justice reform,” reported separately by NewsOne. “Goff’s position will provide a crucial barometer in aiding the president-elect’s agenda on a pathway to become legislation.”
“As Biden attempts to fulfill a promise to show diversity among his Cabinet, he nominated Thomas-Greenfield, a Black woman whose impressive career record has landed her in foreign service posts from Pakistan to Kenya and all of sub-Saharan Africa,” the Washington Informer reported.
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