Happy St. Patrick’s Day. On Monday, many will pretend to be Irish, wear green and maybe find an excuse to drink green beer and wear pins that proclaim, “Kiss me, I’m Irish” and partake of all sorts of other faux Irish celebrating, myself included. My grandfather was a second generation Irish-American who came through to the farm and met my grandmother while working on a government-sponsored job, so I owe my own heritage to Irish immigrants. As far as I can tell from ancestry research, my grandfather’s parents left Ireland with their own parents to England, then emigrated on to America. Because of their decision to leave what they knew and try for a better life here in America, I will wear green, raise a Guiness to my ancestors and enjoy an Irish breakfast with a bit of Irish blood running in my veins. While I proclaim my own Irish heritage on St. Patrick’s Day, I will wonder about these not-too-long-ago ancestors who emigrated to the U.S. and established our lineage as Americans. When they came from the Emerald Isle to the shores of the United States, it wasn’t pleasant here for Irish immigrants. They were relegated to low paying jobs in tough conditions, and the struggle for a better life than the one they left in Ireland was very tough.
Irish immigrants flooded across the Atlantic into our harbor cities when the potato famine hit Ireland starting in 1847, forever changing the American way of life. A great internet article about Irish immigration can be found at historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/america.htm. This article describes the horrors the Irish faced when coming into the United States. Filthy living conditions, religious prejudice, no jobs, signs proclaiming, “No Irish Need Apply” and utter hatred and prejudice were the greeting for these people, already battered and bruised by famine and the need to leave their homes, their loves, their land, their culture and their pride. That we now proclaim Irish heritage with pride and with celebration is testament to a long battle of hard work and suffering on the part of our Irish immigrant ancestors and the generational hard work to suppress prejudice and hatred and build tolerance and acceptance by entrenched Americans.
To compound the problem in the mass Potato Famine immigration, the Irish refugees were competing with freed slaves for jobs and a third political party called the “Know Nothings” was rallying the American citizenry in efforts to keep the new Irish immigrants from naturalizing and becoming citizens. Riots erupted with the new immigrants further attacking and suppressing Blacks who were their main competition for jobs, and a war in the competition for survival and equal rights erupted. Wrap the Civil War into the picture, and American soil was in turmoil.
As the Irish immigrants naturalized and became American citizens, they used their collective voice in elections, and wound their way into politics, finally able to vote their way into a better way of life.
Because of this sheer determination of a people to survive, we are now able to admit to our Irish heritage with pride. But it came with a fight. Just as new immigrants are fighting for their way on American soil and the suppressed are still working for a better America for their particular cultures, lifestyles and beliefs, the Irish were willing to stand up for their values as humans and work through the struggles to eventual acceptance and respect. The land of the free is the home of the brave, however, and it takes a lot of guts to stand up for what you know is right and fight for equal treatment. If our history has anything to say, it is that American freedom is not free and is challenged at every turn, just as we see today.
I urge all who are struggling here in this amazing country to continue the struggle. Don’t quit. Keep your pride. For the rest of us, keep up the struggle for fairness and equality and let your voices be heard at the ballot box and in the streets. Don’t be afraid to speak up and protest when you see things going wrong. Write emails and make calls to your senators and representatives. Don’t let the United States slip backward into protectionism and nationalism at the expense of our immigrant population. Fight to keep yours and their rights intact. Don’t let government sponsored suppression rear its ugly head become widespread. Follow the Golden Rule and treat others the same as you hope to be treated. We are ALL sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of immigrants and refugees who came to America for a better life, and we need to remember this.
Let’s celebrate our history and progress this St. Patrick’s Day and prepare to fight for equality for all of us on this wonderful soil. Let’s celebrate our diversity and come together to build the strong fabric of true acceptance in a true melting pot. Freedom is a hard master, and you have to work hard at it to keep it, so let’s work to make the American Dream a reality for all who strive to attain it. Resist authoritarianism, tyranny, prejudice, repression and inequality. Gather together and just say no when our American Dream is threatened. Don’t sit back and let things happen without speaking out and fighting for what’s right about America so that all immigrant holidays can be celebrated with pride in this great big melting pot of America. Be loud and be proud of your heritage and proud to be an American. Happy St. Patrick’s Day from this loud and proud American descendent of Irish immigrants.
Becky is the eighth generation to live and farm at Beaver Pond Farm in Newport, New Hampshire. Reach her at [email protected].
