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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: Eugene McElroy <emcelroy@igc.apc.org>
- Subject: Irish Reactions to LA
- Message-ID: <1992Sep4.003611.26879@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: ?
- Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 00:36:11 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 147
-
- NOTES FROM THE USA
- BY STAN WOODS
- *********
- from "Irish Freedom", the Bulletin of the Irish Freedom Movement.
- Summer, 1992 issue (Number 18)
- ********
-
- Well, the rebellion is over. The whole world--via CNN-- was
- really watching. Approximately 25,000 arrests nationally: 17,000
- in LA, at least 3000 here in the San Francisco Bay area; 61
- killed, mostly by police and National Guard; hundreds injured.
- States of emergency declared in LA, San Francisco, Berkeley,
- Seattle and even Las Vegas--this was truly a social explosion.
- Everyone, bar none, has an opinion on the verdict and the
- response that shook the country. How did Irish-Americans, both US
- and Irish born, view the April-May events? While both blacks and
- Irish have been victims of oppression many Irish-Americans have
- had great trouble grasping that common thread with African-
- Americans. From the 1863 New York City riots, which started as a
- legitimate expression of working class rage at the grossly class-
- biased military conscription system but swiftly degenerated into
- an anti-black pogrom, to the 1974 Boston 'Southie' anti-bussing
- eruption, many Irish-Americans haven't been able to break free of
- racist bigotry.
- With that history in mind, I decided to carry out a very
- unscientific survey, in a few San Francisco pubs and restaurants,
- on the King verdict and its aftermath. Here's a few of its
- responses:
-
- John Campbell, a baker and active union member from Belfast in
- his mid-thirties:
- "I followed the case from the first and I though the beating
- was vicious and uncalled for. The verdict was a crime...While I
- don't necessarily agree with it {the rebellion} it's completely
- understandable. People will go out on the streets when they're
- excluded from the system."
- Speaking about his experiences with the Belfast RUC {Royal
- Ulster Constabulary} which causes him to empathize with African-
- Americans:
- "In the mid seventies you has these tartan gangs, fascist
- skinhead-type gangs affiliated to the Loyalist UDA (Ulster
- Defense Association), that would hang about the city centre
- waiting for nationalist youth. They spotted me and threw me
- through the plate glass window of a shoe shop. The RUC finally
- arrived, pulled me out of the store-front and I told them I would
- point out to them which direction the gang went and also identify
- them if we caught up with them. Well, they put me into their
- mini-van and drove slowly towards the republican neighborhoods,
- the opposite direction from where they--the assailants--had gone!
- I said to the cops that I told you they were Loyalists and you
- know that anyway but you just want them to escape clear."
-
- Colm Riley, a bartender, born in Dublin, though he lived in
- London for many years, in his early 50's:
- "Of all the people that came into the pub during the riots,
- both Irish and Irish-American, not one supported the verdict, not
- one. There were different levels of understanding about the
- riots, some disagreeing completely, some agreeing completely--
- especially the lads from Belfast--but no-one was very upset about
- the riots, you know. People know the blacks are treated terribly.
-
- Tom and Donna O'Neill, small business owners from Dublin, now US
- citizens, both in their early 40's:
- "As for the verdict, outrage but no surprise. Some people
- won't believe their own eyes when it comes tom the police. The
- bumper stickers say 'Question Authority', but some people never
- do. As for racism, it's for real. A few lads from Dublin were
- saying, 'well, what about the gangs, the police have to be tough'
- and so on. And I said to them 'have you forgotten about Dublin?
- You talk about gangs; blacks have no monopoly on that.
- "As for the riots, well, I suppose it was bound to happen.
- As small-business people we naturally sympathized with the
- Koreans, though who did all the destruction? Some had to be
- insurance fires. Some, who knows, maybe were done by police
- provocateurs, as an excuse to go in shooting everything black in
- sight. The account isn't clear yet!
-
- Terri O'Donnell, and Irish-American, San Francisco native,
- university student, in her early thirties:
- "On both my parents' side, both families came over after the
- Potato Famine, what was left of their families.
- "On my Dad's side, they landed in Charleston, South
- Carolina. My Dad told me one about a letter his great-grandfather
- wrote back to Ireland about how shocked he was by slavery and how
- un-Christian it was. Other members of the family weren't so
- shocked, I guess because several ended up fighting with the
- confederate army during the Civil War.
- "As for me, my family were pretty liberal, pretty cool. My
- dad's a plumber and he told me he always argued against Archie
- Bunker types who were upset about blacks coming into the union. I
- even had one great-uncle who was in the Communist Party back in
- the 30's. Anyway, I got my dad to join me in a march the police
- decided not to stop {May 17, 1992}. It was great! You know, even
- if you're not political you have to take a stand sometimes.
-
- Sam, a San Francisco fireman, second generation Irish-American,
- whose parents came from County Armagh, in his late 20's:
- "Well, I don't know if you want to interview me, being a
- fireman and all. I'm no socialist, no liberal, definitely not a
- faggot! I think the jury gave the right verdict, the guy {King}
- did look like some weight room King and he probably was on PCP;
- labs make mistakes all the time.
- "Racism, I don't ever want to heat the word again. Blacks
- and their buddies like Bruce over there throw that word around
- all the time in the department and its bullshit. I'm the one that
- wants 'equal opportunity', they want 'special privileges.
-
- Bruce, also a fireman, of Irish/German descent and about the
- same age as Sam interjects. Sam listens for a minute, snorts, and
- then stumbles up to the bar for another margarita.
- "Sam's good at his job but he's full of shit when it comes
- to race. Those Simi Valley guys should have got a hard time. I
- sure don't hate all cops. Hoe could I? We work with them all the
- time, but the ones who don't agree with all that crap have to get
- away from that 'code of silence' and break ranks. Otherwise we're
- going to have a major civil war.'
-
- Jane, a waitress from Derry in her mid 20's:
- "I'd rather not give my last name. My immigration status
- isn't quite {laughs} kosher, you know. But I'm a lot better off
- than those poor bloody Haitians out there in them boats, you
- know. You can imagine that the coast guard is sending them back
- to that bloody hell!
- "As for Rodney King, I sympathize totally. When I heard the
- verdict I called all around and found out about the 30 April
- march. I got two other girls to go with me. One of their older
- brothers, Liam, tried to stop us from participating. He said all
- this racist garbage about blacks and praised the bloody coppers.
- We told him he sounded like on of the most ignorant Orangemen
- back home and to fuck off. He hasn't learned a thing. We have."
-
- Postscript: Jane was clubbed to the ground and kicked in the side
- by the San Francisco Police Department at the April 30
- demonstration. Her ribs were broken. She is presently writing
- long letters to all her relatives and friends back in Northern
- Ireland about 'the other side of America.
- **********
-
- The Irish Freedom Movement can be contacted at:
- Irish Freedom Movement
- BM IFM
- London WC1N 3XX
- tel: (071) 375 1702
- **********
-
- for further info on Ireland in Peacenet, see reg.ireland.
-
-