Daniel O’Connell in a 1836 watercolor by Bernard Mulrenin.
Between the Lines / By Peter McDermott
Irish singer-songwriter Imelda May said in a poem earlier this month, “You Don’t Get To Be Racist And Irish.”
She’s a big talent and has a way with words. One can’t say she doesn’t act from the best of intentions or that her aims aren’t hopeful.
The problem here is the uncritical way the media lapped this up. RTÉsaid the poem was “stunning,” while Irish Central labeled it “powerful.” One would have thought at this point the right thing to say is: “You don’t get to be racist. Period.” Ditch the simplistic, self-regarding nationalist narrative.
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Over the past seven days, every Premier League player, every coach, every referee and other match official has taken the knee as part of the struggle against racism and in solidarity with the Black Lives Matters movement. The idea was pretty elemental in a sport in which players face racial abuse constantly. Get the message across: inclusion, equality before the law, full citizenship.
The use of 19th-century Irish history was a strong argument when it came to making a case for people being accepted as refugees and as immigrants into Ireland in the late 20th century and into this one. It resonated. “You Don’t Get to Be Racist and Irish,” on the other hand, is convoluted and confused.
It is no more truthful than Brendan Gleeson’s Garda Gerry Boyle, AKA “The Guard,” saying, “I’m Irish. Racism is part of my culture.”
Brendan Behan suggested that it was part of our culture in the sense that the Irish were just as bad in their roles as European whites when dealing with non-white people overseas. Why can’t we deal with the actual history?
The poem invokes unnamed militant nationalist heroes and martyrs, but some of them were racists; and it wasn’t the cherished hope of those who left Ireland starving that the slaves should be free. Far from it.
Conjuring up an imaginary non-racist past doesn’t help. But we should study and celebrate the Liberator Daniel O’Connell’s abolitionism, and understand the extent to which he was going against the grain. Also fighting a brave uphill battle were the nine young people, eight of them women, who went on strike at the Henry Street outlet of Dunnes Stores in Dublin in the 1980s. They refused to handle produce from Apartheid South Africa, in accordance with their union’s stated policy.
And at a time when we’re marking the passing of Jean Kennedy Smith, we might put her brothers in the O’Connell category: men who often used their privilege in the service of principle. A woman recalling last week in the comments section of the New York Times obituary the contributions of Ambassador Smith’s siblings, male and female, added: “As a person of color, I didn’t feel safe in this country unless there was a Kennedy in the Senate.”
Explaining his support for Robert Kennedy in the 1968 Democratic primaries, singer-songwriter Bobby Darin, a white Italian-American from the Bronx, said the senator “has a spiritual understanding of what it means to be poor,” while Sammy Davis Jr. said about RFK, “No one relates to the black man like Bobby.”
Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has released a personal tribute to the former political prisoner and former party chairman Bobby Storey following his death at the age of 64.Mr Storey died in England last Sunday, June 21, following an unsuccessful lung transplant. Hundreds of mourners lined the Falls Road on Friday as his body arrived back to Belfast. Republicans wearing white shirts and ties formed a guard of honour and flanked the coffin as it was driven to his home.
His funeral is to take place in Belfast on Tuesday, June 30. It is understood that Sinn Féin has met with the PSNI to discuss arrangements. His remains will leave his home in Owenvarragh Park at 10.30am for 11am Mass at St Agnes’ Church on the Andersonstown Road and afterwards to Milltown Cemetery.
Thousands of mourners are expected to attend and republicans are being urged to ensure social distancing measures are maintained.
Mr Storey, who spent more than 20 years in prison, was loved and respected, and his death had come as a political as well as a personal blow, Mr Adams said.
“Bobby Storey was a stalwart of the struggle for Irish freedom for almost 50 years. As a young teenager growing up in North Belfast he witnessed, like many others of his generation, the violence and bigotry of the Unionist state, and then of the British Army.”
He said the introduction of internment in August 1971 and the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry had a huge influence on him.
“He was interned aged seventeen, one of the youngest internees, and in the decades that followed he spent over 20 years in prison.”
Mr Adams said he was an important advocate of the peace process.
“Bobby had a sharp, insightful political mind. He embraced the opportunity for building the republican struggle and advancing our goal of Irish Unity created by the peace process.
“At countless republican meetings he spoke in favour of Sinn Féin’s peace strategy. And when, following years of negotiations, the potential emerged for republicans to engage with the new policing dispensation Bobby played a leadership role in persuading others to grasp this new opportunity.”
He also said Mr Storey was one of the bravest people he had ever known.
“Whether inside or outside of prison, or through the years of harassment and beatings, arrests and torture from the RUC and British Army, Big Bobby demonstrated time and time again his enormous personal commitment and courage.
“He was also one of the funniest people I know. Big Bobby made light of his stammer. He could hold a group spellbound with his stories of past escapades and derring-do. His accounts of life in prison in England were hilarious. He was kind, thoughtful, loyal and very giving.”
He said even as he battled his illness, he remained cheerful.
“Big Bobby’s death is a huge political blow for republicans but is also a very personal loss for all of us who knew him. There were tears shed across Ireland as comrades got news of his death.
“On behalf of Colette and myself and our family I extend my sincerest and deepest sympathies and solidarity to Teresa, their children and grandchildren, his brothers Seamus and Brian, his sister Geraldine, his extended family circle and his many friends.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians has congratulated Ireland on its election to the United Nations Security Council.
In a letter to Irish Ambassador to the United Staes, Daniel Mulhall, AOH National President James McKay wrote: “As Ireland’s exiled children in America, we take special pride in being able to congratulate the Republic of Ireland in securing a position on the UN Security Council.
“For a nation that has yet to achieve its 100th birthday, for Ireland to now join the Security Council for the fourth time is truly an extraordinary accomplishment. It is a fitting recognition to the sacrifice of Ireland’s young men and women who have served as peacekeepers in some of the world’s most troubled areas. It is a testament to the energy and drive of the Irish people.
“As noted by former Ireland Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, ‘Ireland has never invaded any other land, never sought to enslave or occupy.’ Ireland brings a unique perspective to the critical deliberations of the Security Council that is sorely needed in a troubled world seeking lasting peace.
“In this year 2020, we mark the sad 175th anniversary of the nadir of Irish history, the start of the Great Hunger, a time when Ireland was degraded and abandoned; a time when she lost a quarter of her population to starvation and immigration. For Ireland in this commemorative year to take a place of leadership amongst the nations of the world is as appropriate as it is remarkable.
“May God continue to bless Ireland as she confidently strives forward, reaching new heights.”
Dear Editor, Sadly, your Washington correspondent has got it exactly right:“ that much of the success of Donald Trump was based on racism.” ( Suzanne Lynch,” Donald Trump’s political success is based on racism.” June 6).
Americans have been slow to actually come to terms with that. Even leading media people, who are critical of Trump, have been loath to actually and outrightly state it: fudging it with words like “ We don’t/can’t understand why he says/does that…” —making this Fermanagh man shout back at the TV :” because he’s a damn racist, that’s why he’s doing it.”
A Catholic from Northern Ireland can quickly spot racism/sectarianism (the twin evils of the world).Ms. Lynch rightly says slavery was the original sin of the United States. Racism (anti-Irish) and sectarianism (anti-Catholicism) were the original sin of England’s 1920 creation of Northern Ireland
There was a time not so long ago that White racists in America were proud to boast that they were anti-Black; and extreme Unionist/Loyalist/Protestants were likewise proud to demonstrate their anti-Catholicism. Now both groups will deny that they are bigoted. Indeed, it has now reached a ridiculous point that if one dares to criticize state-sponsored sectarianism in The North—the real serious issue, not individual bigotry, which may always be with us —one can be accused of being sectarian! But nothing can deny the enduring pathology, in significant sections, in both the United States and Northern Ireland.
One cannot watch the TV scenes of American police battering peaceful protesters off the streets and not immediately be reminded of the RUC. [Royal Ulster Constabulary, name of the former police force]. And one cannot hear about “collusion” (a word, I think, was first made popular in The North) and not think of The North when Trump keeps saying “ no collusion, no collusion”—knowing that that was England’s constant response, deny, deny.
And, I cannot watch Attorney General Bill Barr ( whom I call Lord Widgery) without thinking of cover-up, corruption, and lies.[The late Lord Widgery covered-up the State-massacre by the British Army of 13 innocent Catholics in Derry city, January 30, 1972.The British Army opned fire on thousands of peaceful Civil Rights protesters].
When I first came here in 1972, I , of course, knew that this great country still had problems. But it never occurred to me to be worried about the future of the United States—what new immigrant does?
But now, after almost 50 years, I am deeply concerned about the future of the United States, especially if Trump is re-elected for another four years. He has already hollowed out the main institutions: The State Department, the Justice Department, the FBI, the Separation of Powers (White House, US. Congress, Supreme Court), and he wants to use the U.S. military as his own Pretorian Guard or “B Specials.”
Historians warn us that great powers collapse from the inside, not the outside. This appalling occupant of The White House is a present and clear danger to the United States; he is the cancer on the presidency; he is a bully, a coward, and a narcissist beyond imagination, without a shred of empathy. He either does not know objective truth or he does not care about truth. He lies about everything, and according to the facts checkers of the Washington Post he has told about 20,000 lies since becoming president—and yet the Religious Right and many Catholics still support him, while he uses religion to divide and conquer.
Mother of God, how did this happen to this great country that I and every Irish immigrant love?
There has been a surge of pressure for an end to Britain’s trade in plastic and rubber bullets following disturbing scenes of serious injuries to Black Lives Matters protestors in the US. Seventeen people have been killed by rubber bullets over the course of the conflict in Ireland, including eight children, and there have been scores of other injuries, including blindness.
Originally designed to be suppress protests in Catholic areas, over 125,000 rubber and plastic bullets were fired between 1970 and 2005.
Official export licences show Britain is now the world’s largest exporter of rubber bullets, as well as other militarised policing equipment, such as smoke and pyrotechnic charges, CS gas grenades, and teargas.
Sinn Féin has supported calls by the Scottish parliament, opposition MPs at Westminster and human rights campaigners for an immediate suspension of the exports.
“The British government cannot be allowed to profit from weapons turned on peaceful protestors,” said Sinn Fein MP Francie Molloy.
“As was demonstrated during the conflict here, rubber and plastic bullets are anything but ‘non-lethal’. There is no excuse or justification for their use ever.”
This week, English TV host Victoria Derbyshire added to the controversy when she said during a live broadcast to the US: “We don’t use rubber bullets in the UK, we don’t know what they are”.
Derbyshire was apparently unaware that they have been used by the RUC, PSNI and British Army to attack peaceful protests in the north of Ireland for decades. But her comments motivated two Derry activists, now living in London, to help campaign for an end to the industry.
“Victoria’s comment shows that even in the supposedly more informed elements of media there is a blind spot about the use of rubber bullets by British Forces within its own borders,” wrote Maev McDaid and Brian Christopher.
“This is just one more example of the failure and inability to discuss Britain’s bloody past and present.
“Increasingly we see people take to the streets to challenge the legacies of empire, such as the statutes in public spaces, forcing the hand of the media to address Britain’s imperial past.”
An Irish-American leader in Philadelphia said he could not overstate his opposition to the use of plastic bullets anywhere “let alone on our fellow citizens”.
Bob Gessler, the president of the Irish Memorial Ancient Order of Hibernians, said he was one of thousands who marched against their use in Ireland.
“The devastation these bullets have done to Irish Catholic families throughout Northern Ireland cannot be forgotten – fathers, mothers, daughters and sons killed, maimed and wounded,” he said.
“We as a people cannot forget and can never condone their use. We cannot forget our history as a persecuted people, nor sacrifice the very human rights we have sought for and still seek for our sisters and brothers in Northern Ireland.”
The petition calling for an end to the British export of rubber bullets is available at https://bit.ly/3e96Iyo
A petition to ban rubber bullets is available at https://bit.ly/37qqwuX
