Diplomat identified as 1st American quake victim

[jefferson_dem]

Source: AP

Thursday, January 14, 2010; 4:41 PM

WASHINGTON -- A State Department official says the first American reported killed by the earthquake in Haiti was a foreign service officer crushed when her home collapsed.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley says diplomat Victoria DeLong died Tuesday, the first American identified among thousands of fatalities.

Crowley said DeLong, a 27-year veteran diplomat, was a cultural affairs officer and had been stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince since last year. She started at State in 1983.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR2010011403538_pf.html

[InkAddict]

1. So sad, a great loss....

http://mauritius.usembassy.gov/sp_pao_02162006.html

Speeches
Opening Remarks by Public Affairs Officer, Victoria DeLong
Conference on Non-Violence
in Collaboration with the Municipality of Port Louis, Mauritius Council of Social Service (MACOSS) and the International Sufi School (ISS)

02/16/2006

- snip -

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man who led the civil rights movement in the United States and advocated non-violent action as a means to overcome racism in America. Dr. King believed that all people are created equal. He dedicated his life to empowering people, no matter their circumstances, and challenged them to lift up their neighbors and communities. He broke down barriers within our society by encouraging Americans to look past their differences and refused to rest until the United States fulfilled its pledge of liberty and justice for all its citizens.

Dr. King had a vision for an empowered and a nonviolent world. Today’s conference is about “NonViolence A Way of Life.” Nonviolence is a powerful way to heal, transform, and empower our lives and our communities. Nonviolence is a choice and an action that you can decide to take in your daily lives. In the words of Dr. King, “The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had.”

When you leave here today, I hope that you walk away remembering that you as an individual can choose to live your life through the active practice of nonviolence principles, and that you have the ability to make nonviolent choices and actions.

Thank you.

[aquart]

2. Thank you for making her more to us than a statistic.