Of all the nations in the world, the United States of America is the greatest force for freedom, human dignity, and democracy. Our leaders ought to uphold this role on the world stage and to proclaim it boldly.
President Joe Biden has decided otherwise. He apparently believes the U.S.’s role in the global community is to apologize and that America should stand as a symbol of shame and oppression.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Biden’s ambassador to the United Nations, has made it clear that promoting human rights on the global stage is far less important than trashing the U.S. as a country that is racist to its core.
Speaking to the National Action Network, Thomas-Greenfield declared that “slavery weaved white supremacy into our founding documents and principles.” She also said that “when we raise issues of equity and justice at the global scale, we have to approach them with humility.” This all came in the context of rejoining the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Thomas-Greenfield’s statements suggest that she thinks the U.S. is utterly irredeemable, rooted in racism that is codified by our founding documents and a part of our founding principles rather than contrary to them. This self-flagellation promises to be the Biden administration’s calling card at the U.N., to the glee of authoritarians.
China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran have all used the U.N. to propagandize against the U.S. on human rights. China, a member of the council itself, has enthusiastically embraced the idea that the U.S. is systemically racist. Thomas-Greenfield’s picture of America is the very one Chinese communists use to defend their genocide. Thomas-Greenfield’s suggestion that the U.S. should broach the issue of China’s genocide against the Uyghurs with “humility” would be laughable if it weren’t so disgraceful.
It’s a far cry from one of her predecessors, Nikki Haley, who treated the council and its more egregious members with the contempt they deserve. Along with China, current members include Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, and Pakistan. Thomas-Greenfield has promised that the U.S. will roll over for them.
The U.S. under Biden will continue to pay the U.N. to lecture us on human rights, and the Biden administration will welcome the propaganda pushed by the world’s worst actors as it feeds directly into the liberal narrative about how awful the U.S. is.
Under Biden and Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. will not be a reliably strong voice for human rights. It will offer the world’s worst human rights abusers a defense by allowing them to say the U.S. is no better than they are, by the very admission of Thomas-Greenfield. A self-shaming America at the U.N. will be embarrassing for the public and a blow to human rights.
