I think we're on slightly different topics even though they intersect. I'm not against opening doors, but I'm also focusing on the specific case raised earlier regarding WOTC and TOA. Disregarding the article's inaccuracies regarding the setting, let's say WOTC published something that fell short of the goal of introducing a black civilization to FR, or made decisions that changed the setting in a way that had the same result. There are a couple of questions that logically follow:
1. Is there any indication that the intent behind the changes had to do with anything other than game reasons?
2. If the problem is that not enough research into sub-Saharan cultures was done, what would have been the best way to fix that?
In the first case, I think that the intent was actually to treat the setting and civilization with respect. To the extent that they fell short, it seems to be less relevant than it initially seemed from the article given the other black civilizations in FR previously mentioned as addressing the shortcomings noted with Chult.
In the second case, it seems like for the purposes of TOA they wanted a jungle adventure with plenty of hazards, old ruins, undead and dinosaurs. With the previous game history of Chult, they improved the situation of the civilization there, but incrementally. Given what we know, it seems like the real way to address the expresses wishes would have been to do a different adventure set in one of the other black civilizations, or to release a new FR sourcebook that expands further on those as they did with the Sword Coast.
Setting all that aside for the purposes of this thought experiment, it's fair to assume they already have an expert on FR and the game history of Chult on staff, so the next suggestion was to hire a person of color. This is where I diverged from the article strongly, not because I disagree with hiring people of any skin color but because there is no reason to believe someone with a different skin color would have actually made any real difference in the outcome. Had they hired an expert in sub-Saharan African cultures, who may or may not happen to have a darker skin tone, then it may have indeed made Chult more interesting.
What I got from your earlier post was the statement that they should have hired someone with a different skin color, even if that made no difference, because it would at least give them a different viewpoint (which I don't see as necessarily true, again because I tend to focus on the individual rather than group identities) and might by chance have been someone who also knew more about sub-Saharan African history. That's the part that I just don't understand logically. If they realized that their own best effort with their staff would fall short, then the only reason to hire someone who may or may not be helpful is effectively a roll of the dice and, as you pointed out, for scapegoat/CYA reasons. That to me seems worse than just putting in your best effort and doing your own research.
Alternately, If they did know that their own effort should fall short, then to me tokenism also makes no sense - instead search for someone who is the best expert in sub-Saharan Africa who is available as a consultant and pick their brains for a while and have them review the setting. That person may be black or may be of another skin color but the likelihood of improving the setting is much greater than if expertise is secondary to skin color.
In a more general sense, when WOTC has new positions of any kind, their hiring should be color-blind and I think that they would benefit if their staff has people from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. I just don't see that we have any reason to believe that hiring more staff for this particular project based on skin color alone would have made any realistic difference.