Erin Go Brah! Mufuka! Yep today was St. Patrick's Day and lo and behold I was actually able to find a photo that expressed my sentiments to a tee! The American Irish and Black communities have historically endured a strained relationship which first crescendos with the death and destruction of Black people and their property during the New York Riots of 1863. Countless Blacks were murdered because the Establishment gassed the Irish immigrant population to believe that their low station in life was due to the progress and advancement of Blacks living in New York. Additionally, they were assured that the freedom of the enslaved would further hinder their progress and their position at the bottom rung of social achievement would be solidified. Soon after the riots, the Irish became a major force in the police department. With a legacy such as this, do we truly wonder at the pathology of Police Brutality?
Hopefully, history won't repeat itself with the constant racial pandering of the Clinton Campaign. In this instance, Democrats seem to be in keeping with their roots. The historical foundations of Ferraro's comments reek of the terror campaign initiated by the Democratic party at that time. They preyed on the poverty and desperation of the Irish immigrants and were made to fear the Black Man and view them as a threat. They promised citizenship if they fought to uphold the despicable institution of slavery which was nothing more than the protection of white southern holdings. They promised these gullible Irish that they would one day have access to such wealth--probably the same story being told to Hispanics in Iraq today.
This is what I think of during St. Patty's Day. A joyous day of Irish pride and revelry brings to my Black self visions of orphaned Black babies running for their lives because mobs of Irish men with clubs are out for blood, and I think how this chase with clubs has morphed into deaths of excessive force with bullets so I refrain from green beer. I don't begrudge the Irish their day to rejoice. I've met some transplants straight from the shores of Eire and marveled at their lyrical version of English and supported their struggle with English rule and subjugation. Hell I know all about a people's struggle, so I bigged them up for fighting back and raising hell. In turn, they showed our history the same respect. Unfortunately, there is something about the shores of America that makes people lose their ability to recognize their allies. Maybe it's the history.
