'I Was Asked If I Stole My Car': Black Diplomats Describe Harassment At U.S. Borders
Former diplomat Tianna Spears says she was pulled aside 20-plus times crossing from Mexico into the U.S. "One time, I was told not to look at the officer in the eyes when I spoke to him," she says.
In April 2018, Tianna Spears joined the State Department, looking forward to the promise of a fulfilling career. Then 26, she had spent three years learning Spanish in the Dominican Republic and Spain to help land a position in the Foreign Service.
"I was super-excited to start," she says. "I had dreams of being a diplomat and living in several places in Latin America."
Spears' first posting, in October that same year, was at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. Everything started off well, she says, and
