Diplomacy and the Fight Against Racial Injustice: Fireside Chat with Desirée Cormier Smith

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

In the summer of 2022, the U.S. Department of State announced the creation of a new Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice, the first mandate of its kind in the U.S. diplomatic corps. On February 21, Desirée Cormier Smith joined us to share reflections from her experience as the inaugural Special Representative and her work carrying out a mission 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.”

Special Representative Cormier Smith was joined in conversation by Catherine Powell, Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Reiss Center on Law and Security.

This discussion was cosponsored by the Reiss Center on Law and Security and the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU School of Law.