| MARCH 2006
IT’S YOUR HERITAGE – DEFEND IT!!!
Have you seen the advertisement in an Italian
newspaper for a Racketeering Convention where the price of admission is
four stolen hubcaps? No? Per-haps you’ve seen the ad in Ebony magazine
for a Martin Luther King Memorial Water-melon Eating competition? No?
How about the open invitation to our Jewish brethren to attend a Nazi
Barbeque? No? And I hope to God that you never will! That is vulgar and
degrading ethnic stereotyping at its tasteless worst. But brace
your-selves, for the season of Paddy Bashing is upon us and we are about
to be assaulted by similar tasteless and insulting slander aimed at our
heritage in the name of freedom of cultural expression.
One sad example is the release of a new whiskey bearing the name of one
of Ireland’s greatest heroes – Michael Collins. Not only is the product
not Irish, but the firm promoting it knows little or nothing about the
glorious name it chose to degrade. Shame on the member of the Collins
Clan who sold the rights to that name, for that name was not his to
sell; it be-longs to the Irish people!
Another classic example of
ethnic slander can be found in the insulting Irish Music 'Drinkfest
Weekend' presented by the Villa Roma Resort on March 31 – a 3-day dip
into debauchery with such attractions as body art and pint-drinking
contests amid the advertised safety of No Driving. Sadly, the ad does
not mention the dangers of binge drinking or the drive home. As host Ed
Ryan is quoted as saying, “If you can’t find me drunk, I’m out drinking
somewhere!” The sad part of this one is that it is Irish – at least some
of the bands are Irish, and they’ve made a decent living from Irish
audiences, but then it has been said that if you put an Irishman on a
spit, you can always find another to turn him. In history, we know such
characters as Gombeen Men who take advantage of their own to benefit
themselves. The only thing green that they value is the almighty dollar.
None of this is new for history shows that in order to subjugate the
Irish, the Crown had to destroy their culture. The powerful nature of
that culture drove England to mock its expression, parody it
significance, and ridicule its supporters. Enter the comic lush known as
the stage Irishman – an individual so captivated by booze that no one
could take him seriously. When that image followed them across the ocean
to America, the Irish opposed it, as they could not do in their
British-dominated homeland. One N.Y. Times article dated May 7, 1902 was
entitled, “War on the Irish Comedian: AOH starts a crusade against
publications which cartoon Irishmen.” It reported that, “John T.
Keating, National President of the Irish organization, brought the news
to Chicago when he came back from the East today (that a) crusade will
be directed against newspapers and other publications which cartoon the
Irish-man.” Among the Stage Irish who were chased off the burlesque
boards with fruit and vegetable missiles were the Irish-American Russell
Brothers who portrayed Irish maids as bumbling buffoons always into the
master's liquor cabinet after which they would dance a jig or perform
some other nonsense. The anti-defamation campaign was soon picked up by
other Irish groups and continued for years. As late as 25-years later
the N.Y. Times noted on Oct 5, 1927 that the American Irish Vigilance
Committee was filing charges against MGM for producing several
anti-Irish films. Would that we had such Irish in our midst today! But,
we can dream.
We can dream of Michael Collins Whiskey going bankrupt, or at least
changing its name. And while I pray that no one gets hurt there or on
the way home, I can dream of a massive clean-up effort required by the
Villa Roma to repair the damage caused by the riff-raff to whom they are
catering. I also dream of Irishmen writing bags of letters: letters to
the Villa Roma to express their out-rage; letters to the entertainers
appearing at the 'Drinkfest Weekend' putting them on notice that they
will no longer be supported by the Irish community – no more concerts
and no more record sales; and letters to our Irish radio programs urging
no more air play for these of-fenders.
Somehow this always seems to happen around the feast of our Patron Saint
whom some still insist on calling St. Paddy. The truth of the matter is
that the difference between Paddy’s Day and St Patrick’s Day is the same
as the difference between the office Christmas party and Midnight Mass.
There’s a lot more I could say on this subject, but I have some letters
to write. Won’t you join me; IT’S YOUR HERITAGE – DEFEND IT!!!
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IS IT HISTORY OR NEWS?
It is often said that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
If that be true, the questions raised by Sinn Fein regarding their
acceptance of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) show they
know their history. The questions follow the recent published results of
an international investigation which uncovered considerable and credible
evidence of British Army and police collusion in 74 sectarian murders
during the 1970s. The murders are history, but Republicans today are
concerned that history could repeat itself, especially if there remain
senior officers in the PSNI who were involved in the collusion reported.
They argue that these officers need to be identified and removed from
the PSNI if there is to be a new beginning to policing in the North.
The investigation was done by a panel of human-rights experts from
around the world, headed by University of Notre Dame human rights law
Professor Douglass Cassel who registered shock at the extent of
collusion uncovered. They found that senior officers of the Royal Ulster
Constabulary (now renamed the PSNI) were aware of, and approved of,
collusion with Loyalist paramilitaries while officials in London had
enough information to intervene, but didn’t. The panel’s report called
on the British Government to appoint an independent inquiry to examine
how high up the chain of command collusion went. Professor Cassel said,
“Personally I was shocked. The British Government has a reputation
around the world as one of the leading democracies and one of the
longest histories of the rule of law. To find this extent of collusion
in murders we investigated was shocking.” Among the incidents
investigated were the May 1974 Dublin Monaghan bombings which claimed 33
lives and the Miami Showband massacre in July 1975.
While Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams told Irish-American supporters in New
York on Nov 9 there was still more work to be done on the policing
issue, DUP leader Ian Paisley insisted Sinn Fein's attitude is a “major
stumbling block”. “I have conveyed to the prime minister”, he said, “the
view that there will have to be delivery from Sinn Fein on supporting
the Police Service of Northern Ireland, courts and the rule of law.
Until this happens there will be no progress made.” Apparently the
reverend wouldn’t object to repeating the history of Loyalist violence!
So you see, knowing your history is important. Check the
Washington-based Irish American Information Service at www.iais.org for
more information.
In a classic example of history getting its due, Britain pardoned 26
Irishmen executed during World War I. According to the Irish Shot At
Dawn campaign which sought this pardon, the men were “brutally gunned
down by British military authorities, not in the name of justice, but as
a stupid, spiteful and shameful example to others; most were clearly
suffering from shell shock. Treatment of enlisted men tended to be
harsher and more punitive and were seldom used on officers whose
treatment consisted of rest and encouragement usually accompanied by
withdrawal from the war zone for a period of rest and rehabilitation.”
Many were stubbornly refused the mercy of a pardon by the British
Government until Mr. Justice Anthony Babington, an acclaimed expert and
the first to gain access to official records in the early eighties,
observed that the military courts hadn't the foggiest idea how to
sentence, and that their decisions were arbitrary, inconsistent and
irregular. On November 30th 2000 he publicly urged the British
Government to look again at some 300 of these cases. In June 2002 the
Shot at Dawn Campaign (Irl) was founded in Dublin to lobby the Irish
Government and to invite Irish communities at home and abroad to
pressure the British Government to grant pardons to these soldiers who
were executed for minor military offences which ceased to be punishable
by death in 1929. Some were only guilty of disobedience but were
executed as an example to enforce discipline. The pressure worked. As a
result, relatives of the 26 Irish of the 300 pardoned gathered for a
wreath-laying ceremony in the War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge,
Dublin on November 12. They praised the work done by The Shot at Dawn
campaign, led by Peter Mulvaney. Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern
welcomed the pardon saying it showed the men met a fate they did not
deserve. The names of the 26 Irish volunteers will be added to the Irish
National War Memorial Records. See www.shotatdawncampaignirl.org for
more information.
Congratulations to Bill Kreamer of AOH Div 7, E. Islip, Suffolk who
was presented with the Legion of Honor Award by the Chapel of the Four
Chaplains, named for four chaplains – one Jewish, two Protestant, and
one Irish Catholic – whose selfless courage saved four sailors when they
gave their life jackets away on a sinking ship torpedoed by a Nazi sub
in 1943. See www.fourchaplains.org for the full story. The Legion of
Honor Award publicly recognizes persons who exhibit the selfless service
to community, nation, and neighbor so dramatically exemplified by the
Four Chaplains. Some notable recipients have been Presidents Truman,
Eisenhower, Carter, and Reagan as well as Bob Hope, John Glenn, Martha
Raye, James Michener, Marian Anderson, C. Everett Koop, Tommy Lasorda
and Shirley Chisolm. And now, Bill Kreamer. Walk proud, Bill, walk
proud!
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