Our discussions in class thus far paired with the reading and conversations with Eamonn McCann has made me realize how truly different Irish Americans are from those who still live in Ireland. Of course, one can expect that when people emigrate from a country, their ideals and habits may change as they find themselves in a new country and a new culture. However, in the case of Irish Americans, there are very stark differences between the two groups. For example, when Eamonn traveled to America to talk about Irish civil liberties, he came into contact with the Black Panthers. This was frowned upon by Irish Americans, and his talks were canceled. The following quotation clearly displays the differences in ideology between the two groups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The argument of the Left was that our natural allies in the United States ought surely to be those who, like us, were fighting against oppression. The counter-argument, not just from Irish Americans but from many civil rights \u2018moderates\u2019 at home, too, was that it made no sense to alienate powerful US interests, that to gratuitously introduce issues of injustice in the US would, as one prominent Bogside Repiblucan put it to me, \u2018split our support\u2019\u201d (McCann 4).\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, not every Catholic person in Ireland held the same ideology. There were plenty of those with conservative beliefs who aligned with Irish Americans. After listening to Eamonn talk about his life in Ireland, I think there are distinct differences in people\u2019s everyday lives that created this divide in ideology. In America, the Irish did not experience extreme persecution. They were free to practice their religion, and their ability to speak English enabled them to prosper in the new culture. Catholics in Ireland, on the other hand, faced extreme persecution from the Protestants. Of course, this treatment was not on the same level as the dehumanization that occurred in America with African Americans, but Catholics were definitely treated as belonging to a lower class than the Protestants. Those that were actively persecuted were able to see the connection between their struggles and those of African Americans. To those in Ireland, it made sense to ally themselves with people in America who were able to understand their struggles. Both African Americans and Irish Catholics had the same overall goal: an increase in civil liberties for those who had been oppressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Towards the end of class, I began to think about the fight for African American civil liberties that is still ongoing today. I thought to myself, \u201cI wonder if there are parallels in the Irish community today. Surely Catholics in Ireland would support the BLM movement as they had supported the civil rights movement years ago.\u201d However, according to Eamonn, those in Derry who attempted to participate in BLM protests were warned that they could go to jail for their actions. When people attempted to express their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, police would begin to question them: \u201cWhy are you here? What is your name? You could get in trouble for this.\u201d The goal of the police was clearly to disrupt the event. Eamonn told the class that he has seen many protests in Derry and none of them have had the same resistance from the police that occurred for the BLM protest. I found this very interesting, especially since I had thought that Ireland would be more sympathetic to the BLM cause. After doing some research, I found that although there isn\u2019t persecution of Catholics in Ireland today as there was in the 1960s, there is still prejudice present. The peace walls that divided the Protestants and Catholics are not completely torn down. For those of you that read this post, my question to you is this: Why do you think that Derry had such a negative reaction to the BLM movement when plenty of left Irish Catholics supported the civil rights movement?\u00a0This question is something I’ve been asking myself over the course of the week and I have yet to formulate a satisfying answer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our discussions in class thus far paired with the reading and conversations with Eamonn McCann has made me realize how truly different Irish Americans are from those who still live in Ireland. Of course, one can expect that when people emigrate from a country, their ideals and habits may change as they find themselves in … <\/p>\n