Tag Archives: Samantha Power

A sad day for the Irish diaspora

Men and women from Ireland are involved in many types of endeavors, big and small, all over the world. The stories of 18 April made that clear in a sad way:

  • Sister Clare Theresa Crockett, 33, of Derry, Northern Ireland, was among more than 350 people killed in the Ecuador earthquake. From The Belfast Telegraph.
  • The speeding motorcade of Irish-born U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power hit and killed a young boy while en route to the front lines of war-torn Cameroon. She later returned to the family to express “grief and heartbreak.” From TheJournal.ie.
  • Joshua Molloy, a 24-year-old from Ballylinan, County Laois, is being detained in Iraq after a spending time fighting with Kurdish forces opposing the Islamic State. From The Irish Times.

Tragedies and triumphs happen every day to people all around the world. The coincidence of these headlines from three continents just happened to catch my eye.

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Sister Clare Theresa Crockett

Obama nominates Irish-born Samantha Power as U.S’s U.N. ambassador

President Barack Obama has nominated Dublin-born Samantha Power to serve as the United State’s ambassador to the United Nations. His pick is paired with the nomination of current U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as National Security Adviser.

Both women are already drawing heat from the American right wing. Her nomination requires U.S. Senate confirmation.

Power

POWER, AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

I like Power for two more reasons in addition to her Irish roots.

First, she worked as a journalist and won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her book on U.S. foreign policy response to genocide. Second, her first stop in America at age nine in 1979 was to my hometown of Pittsburgh. (I was 20, attending the University of Pittsburgh.)

According to a Boston Globe story, Power recalled arriving in America wearing a red, white, and blue shirt and quickly trying to stifle her Irish accent. “For the next three months, I came home from school every day… and I sat in front of mirrors for hours straining to drop my brogue so that I, too, could quickly speak and be American,” she said.

More U.S. – Ireland – Northern Ireland politics

As reported last month by Irish Central, Obama isn’t expected to name a new U.S. Ambassador to Ireland until at least September. The pick is traditionally made around St. Patrick’s Day.

Before then, Obama is to visit Belfast and Fermanagh in Northern Ireland on June 17-18 for the G-8 summit.