A Shared Humanity Between African Americans and Indigenous Peoples

Michael Orona has worked for the U.S. Department of State for over 20 years where he has held an array of senior-level foreign policy advisory positions in Washington, DC, and various countries around the world. In his years of government service, Michael served at the White House as National Security Council Director for African Affairs where he oversaw the formulation of the U.S.- Africa Strategy. While serving at the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, Michael negotiated the release of three prisoners of conscience. In 2004, Mr. Orona established and led the State Department’s Sudan Atrocities Documentation team, which was dispatched by former Secretary of State Colin Powell to investigate the violence in Darfur.

In 2020, Mr. Orona was selected to serve as Senior Advisor for Strategic Global Policy in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor where he oversaw implementation of the President’s Executive Orders on Advancing Racial Equity and Promoting Gender Equity. In 2022, he was selected to concurrently serve as the State Department’s Senior Advisor for Global Indigenous Rights. In this current capacity, he serves as advisor to the Department’s Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice. Mr. Orona co-leads the White House Sub-Committee on International Indigenous Human Rights and oversees U.S. foreign policy regarding Indigenous peoples across the world.

Aside from a juris doctorate degree in international law, Michael received an M.S. in Military and Strategic Policy Studies from the U.S. Marine Corp University – Command and Staff College in Quantico, Virginia where he was awarded the Foreign Area Officer Association award for Exceptional Research in International Affairs. He is the recipient of five U.S. Department of State Superior Honor awards and three Meritorious Honor awards.

He is a member of the Chihene/Mimbreno band of Apache and of Yaqui ancestry. He currently lives in the Washington, DC area with his wife and college age children.