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ebonypearl) wrote2009-03-17 07:56 pm
American Irish Pride Day
Today is St. Paddy's Day, a day commemorating the end of Irish racism in America.
I know many people will consider it a celebration of St. Patrick and the works he reputedly did in Ireland. They will think of St. Patrick and the evil he did to Ireland. The Catholics of Ireland celebrate St. Patrick's Day in austerity, as is proper, considering it falls during Lent.
St. Patrick's Day is an intrinsically American holiday. It's a day the Irish, the most oppressed people in all of America, stood up and said, "We're Irish, we're proud, and we're not hiding!" They organized a parade, held on March 17, 1762 in New York City by the Irish who wanted to bond together and maintain their Irishness far from home. They played music and created Irish Aid Societies - which stood them in good stead when the Potato Famine hit Ireland and sent many Irish to America looking for survival. They were discriminated against, unable to find even the most menial jobs, portrayed as violent, drunken monkeys in the press of the day. There were signs that proclaimed "No Irish Need Apply". 80% of the infants born to the Irish during the times when the Irish were the lowest of the low in America died because of their impoverished conditions, being forced to live in basements and shanties (shantytowns) in crowded conditions where disease spread. Chicagoans complained that if you scratched a convict or a pauper, chances were, he was Irish. They advocated shipping all the Irish back to Ireland, saying this would reduce the crime in America. The African-Americans, free or slave, hated the Irish even more than the average American, and called them "white niggers".
Oddly enough, in spite of this intense hatred and discrimination against them, the dreadful conditions in which they were forced to live because they couldn't get decent jobs, they still fiercely loved America. The Irish responded by working harder, banding together to help one another, and set out to prove the Irish could do and be anything Americans could - and do it better. The Irish were used for the work no one else would do, building bridges, canals, and railroads. Some people say an Irishman died for every railroad tie laid down.
They never gave up their love of Ireland, either, and celebrated their Irishness with parades, rubbing it into the faces of all other Americans that they were here, and here to stay. They were maudlin for Ireland, but so protective of their adopted homeland that they took those scut jobs and did them well. They maintained their dignity, and employers slowly came to realize how well off they were with Irish employees - they were industrious, cheerful, willing, honest, and were strictly moral.
It was these traits of willingness, honesty, and morality as well as their pride in their ancestry that eventually won the rest of America over. They formed the Molly Macquires to fight brutal mine owners and win better conditions for the miners. They fought in the Civil War, forming the Irish Brigade. When the anti-Irish Orangemen copied the Irish parades with derogatory songs about the Irish and Catholics, and riots broke out, it was the Irish police who protected the Orangemen and Orangewomen. One newspaper was moved to comment that the Irish had become more American than Americans.
The Irish fought all of America and won.
By their firm conviction that they were worthy beings, were Americans, by their diligence and persistence, the Irish proved they were an asset to America. They were so conviced of their worthiness, they convinced even people with nary a drop of Irish blood in them to celebrate being Irish for a day.
You've got to admire that sort of spunk.
From being the most despised and oppressed people on American soil, they've become so celebrated people wish they were Irish. Other minority groups could stand to emulate the example of the Irish in America.
In America, St. Patrick's Day is a day to celebrate the overcoming of awesomely overwhelming odds. It's a tribute to pride and survival, stubbornness and worthiness. It's visible proof that any group of people, if they hold fast to their convictions, can integrate into American society, benefit from their merge, and still retain what makes them wonderful and unique people. It is a celebration of what America is all about.
Every race and group of people who feel discriminated against can look to the Irish to see how they overcame the worst sort of discrimination ever to become the respected people they are now. From utter degradation and poverty to the Oval Office was but a hundred years hard work. If the Irish could do it, so can other groups.
And that's why I celebrate St. Patrick's Day, and even look indulgently upon those, who for just one day,want to be a part of the magic and myth that being Irish is - no matter how silly or wrong they get it, no matter how absurd green beer and green eggs are, or those green felt stovepipe hats and meerschaum bubble blowers are. To touch the magic,to remember that epic journey from most hated ethnic group in America to the most beloved, for just one day - that's worth a few stupid people spewing green vomit from too much green beer and wincing at terrible fake Irish accents for one day.
Even though I have nary a dram of Irish blood in me, being Kiowa Apache and German,I salute the American Irish and remember their history. Today, I wear green in their memory. St.Patrick is an insignificant footnote to the real meaning of the day.
Here's to you, my Irish friends!
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I'm two days late, but I am proud of my Irish heritage. I maybe Irish waaaay back there, but its amazing what my ancestors had to go through for me to be where I am.
And I just repeated myself twice. I should probably go back to sleep. Amazing post :D Thank you.