March 2020: “Americans Aren’t Black”

In March 2020, Army veteran Kelvin Blas walked into the U.S. Embassy in Lomé, Togo, seeking consular assistance. He was an American citizen with a valid passport, verifiable military service, and a legal right to protection under 22 U.S.C. § 4215.

The man who met him was Ambassador Eric W. Stromayer, a career Foreign Service officer who had served as a diplomat since 1989. Stromayer held a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University and a Master of Arts from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. As a career member of the Senior Foreign Service at the Minister-Counselor class and the personal representative of the President of the United States in Togo, Stromayer held the highest level of responsibility for ensuring equal treatment of all American citizens.

According to documentation in the possession of Covenant for Forgotten Warriors, Ambassador Stromayer told Kelvin Blas: “Americans aren’t Black.”

Then he ordered Blas to leave the embassy immediately, threatening to call security to have him forcibly removed if he did not comply.

This was not a minor error in judgment. This was the highest-ranking American official in the country explicitly denying an American veteran’s citizenship based on the color of his skin.

Stromayer’s alleged statement to Kelvin would not be his last controversial remark about Black people. In January 2024, while serving as Chargé d’Affaires in Haiti, Stromayer made recorded remarks about Haitians that were criticized as dismissive and condescending. Haitian-American rapper Wyclef Jean sampled those remarks in a protest track titled “Kreyòl Pale, Kreyòl Konprann,” holding them up as an example of foreign officials’ disrespect for Haitian dignity.

What should have followed: immediate disciplinary action against Stromayer, an apology to Kelvin, emergency consular services to remedy the harm, and a systemic review of racial discrimination in embassy operations.

What actually followed: Five years of systematic abandonment.

Within weeks of Stromayer’s statement, the embassy established a different narrative to justify that abandonment. Not racism. Something more bureaucratically palatable.

A romance scam.

The Script Continues: June 2025

Five years after Stromayer’s statement, the abandonment continued under a different label.

On June 12, 2025, at 12:50 PM, William “Bill” Torrance sent an email to David Burger. Torrance introduced himself as a Country Officer in the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Overseas Citizen Services. His email was professional, even courteous. He asked for the best time to call, requested contact numbers, and expressed a desire to “make sure that we are best able to assist you and Kelvin.”

At 1:34 PM, Burger responded with specific availability windows and his phone number. Burger was on sick leave that week and provided times when he would be available to discuss his partner’s case, times that would be impossible the following week when he returned to work.

At approximately 1:45 PM, Torrance called at a time outside the windows Burger had provided. When Burger answered, Torrance introduced himself. One of the first things he clarified was that he was covering for the regular country officer responsible for Togo, Carlos Hernandez. Torrance sounded like he was reviewing notes, trying to get up to speed on the case. Then he explained he wouldn’t be available during the requested times.

The call lasted approximately 23 minutes.

At 1:53 PM, eight minutes after the call ended, Torrance sent a link to an FTC article about romance scams.

At 2:36 PM, Torrance sent his final determination:

“I am sorry to hear that you were likely the victim of a romance scam, where criminal actors imitate a person, you may know or meet through the internet and lead you to believe that you are in a romantic relationship with them.”

Total elapsed time from first contact to case closure: One hour and forty-six minutes.

Actual investigation conducted: Approximately twenty-three minutes of phone conversation.

The email closed with this assurance: “The staff of the U.S. Embassy in Lomé, Togo, whom I have copied in this email, are now aware of this case, and are standing by to assist Kelvin if he is indeed a U.S. citizen in need.”

The evening of June 13, 2025, one day after this “investigation,” David Burger was hospitalized for two weeks.