A pastor with Harlem and Bronx roots who calmed religious tensions after 9/11 was sworn in yesterday as President Obama's ambassador for religious freedom.
The Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook is the first woman and first African-American to hold the post.
Critics questioned whether she was too much Oprah - with a website and nearly a dozen spiritual books - and not enough ambassador.
She said doubters should read her résumé more carefully.
"I have certainly learned to navigate political waters," Johnson Cook said with a laugh.
She was the first woman to serve as a chaplain for the NYPD, a position she has held since 1990. After 9/11, she helped traumatized police officers and worked with the city's Muslim leaders.
She had taken religious delegations to Israel, Jordan and Egypt and was the first female senior pastor in the 200-year history of the American Baptist Churches USA.
She founded the Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in 1996. In 2002, she was the first woman to lead the heavyweight Hampton University Minister's Conference.
None of those accomplishments came through razzle-dazzle, she said, but through building consensus.
"That's diplomacy," she said.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) agreed, and pushed Johnson Cook's appointment after a lone Republican senator with Tea Party support stalled what should have been a shoo-in nomination in the Democratically controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year.
"Dr. Cook has the qualities and experience to be a successful ambassador-at-large," Gillibrand noted in her letter pressing for Johnson Cook's nomination to get a second chance. "And [she] has the trust and confidence of both President Obama and Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton."
Johnson Cook said passion for learning about other religions and cultures came from her mother, a teacher at Public School 194 in the Bronx, who teamed up with Jewish teachers to improve education.
Her global interests were cemented by studying abroad in Spain and taking part in community-building projects in West Africa.
For Johnson Cook, any delay in her appointment didn't dampen her enthusiasm for the work ahead - promoting religious freedom and monitoring religious persecution.
"This is a chance to build connections that can increase understanding and can help bring peace," she said. "I am honored, and think this is a time when we can open doors."
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