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I grew up in an area that was largely Irish American and, even still, the narrative I was taught was “the Irish only grew and ate one kind of potato and then the Blight came and wiped their food supply out”
I only learned fairly recently that they actually grew a number of crops and animals for their British landlords. There was plenty of food. For the British.
No mention of Britain’s treatment of Ireland. No mention of mass evictions. No mention of the willful and repeated choice to starve Ireland.
I’m still trying to learn more about it but something about how we talk about it here in the US eats at me. It feels like a choice; to blame the victims for not growing other food or leaving on Coffin Ships or to blame it on an “Act of God”
It feels like a willful decision on the part of Irish Americans to ignore the capitalist and colonist root causes. Maybe it’s survivorship bias but part of it feels like the price that was paid to “become American”
There’s actually kind of a lot of this. I grew up with a strong sense of being Irish American - saint’s days and step dancing and all that - but that “don’t air your dirty laundry in public” mentality hits on a cultural level too, not just the family level.
There’s a pride in seeing old photos of “No Irish Need Apply” signs but no mention whatsoever about how the Irish “earned their whiteness” by steering hard into American racism and racially motivated violence
Even on a personal level in my family, my mom’s side is all Irish. My dad’s is Polish/French/etc. There’s also a clear difference regarding finances/class, heteronormativity, and mental illness.
I get a very real sense of “you’re not one of US” from my mom’s side of the family.
I get a very real sense of “you’re not one of US” from my mom’s side of the family.
I know I’m unpacking quite a bit of dirty laundry rn (especially when I’ve said I’d take a break from Twitter) but yeah.
I feel like Irish Americans are very proud of everything we’ve overcome as Irishmen but we refuse to acknowledge the root causes of that oppression because those causes were what we used in turn to get ahead as Americans. It’s time to recognize and dismantle that.
