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SINN FÉIN PRESIDENT Gerry Adams has spoken once more regarding the controversy surrounding a tweet he sent last Sunday evening while watching Quentin Tarantino movie Django Unchained.
Adams had, in his own words, been moved by the struggle of the eponymous civil war-era slave and had posted a tweet intended he says to draw parallels between the character’s struggle and that of the Catholic Irish in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and beyond.
Speaking today to The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio, Adams admitted that he had made his point “clumsily and inappropriately”, but that he stood by the “political point” he had been trying to make.
“I had been canvassing (for the MLA elections) in Ballymurphy for an hour and a half. I’m not in Ballymurphy much at present, I was meeting a lot of people I hadn’t seen in a long time, and this brought back a background of memories of what happened there,” he said.
That evening I was babysitting. I don’t have Netflix myself, so I switched it on and came up with this movie, Django, which is very powerful and very violent. And that is the background to the tweet and the use of the ‘n’ word.
I was trying to make a political point, I was talking about my own community of Ballymurphy, as could be seen when I used the phrase ‘uppity Fenian’.
Adams repeated an apology for his use of the word, saying to do so was “silly and stupid”.
The whole thing was to make a political point, if I had left that word out would the tweet have gotten any attention?
I was paralleling the experiences of the Irish, not just in recent times but through the penal days when the Irish were sold as slaves, through the Cromwellian period.
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Adams’ comments regarding the Irish being sold as slaves are a reiteration of a claim he made on Sunday saying “50,000 Irish men and women were shipped as slaves to Barbados between 1652 and 1659″.
That claim was subsequently rejected by historian and slavery expert Liam Hogan who told TheJournal.ie that the figure of 50,000 is wrong and that the most credible estimates were 10,000 as indentured servants at most.
“The exploitation and dehumanisation of African people by Europeans in the Americas has no analogy in Irish history and this fact should be respected,” said Hogan.
Today, Adams was questioned about his relationship with Nelson Mandela, for whom he served as pallbearer, and asked whether or not the South African leader would have understood his tweet in the context in which it was used.
“Of course he would understand,” he replied.
He was hugely loyal. He was loyal to us in Sinn Féin because we were part of the anti-apartheid struggle. That’s why he refused to condemn armed struggle.
The Sinn Féin leader acknowledged that he has no issue with “anyone who was genuinely offended” by his tweet.
There are also those who are hostile to me and Sinn Féin who seize upon anything, and that’s my fault because I have given them an excuse.
Adams did admit that given the situation to live through again he would not have sent his infamous tweet.
“I certainly wouldn’t do it again,” he said.
I may have tweeted having seen such a powerful film, but I probably would have tweeted something else.
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What digging? He has apologies for using a politically incorrect term. Are we too mean to accept it? Or is the allegation that he is in fact racist, despite perhaps spending a lifetime fighting racism? To quote the Guardian newspaper on this story: “To judge Adams, who has a life’s work of internationalism and antiracist solidarity, by a single tweet borders on the grotesque.”
Do the Bort government mouthpiece I told you before, just go away ….dont forget to leave a place for your beloved racist joke teller Kenny in that hole!
No Tommy and I’d say not many on here did. You really need to find a new hobby other than trawling the Internet for things Jerry might or might not have said.
@Tír Eoghain Gael, he is digging because it happened on Monday, and the only reason is still be talked about in the media on Wednesday, is because Gerry keeps bringing it up.
@gus sheridan, because I don’t like SF, I’m a government mouth piece? And no, I’ll stay around as long as I want :)
Ger and Tommy, 2 troll fools of the highest order. Say they hate Gerry and Sinn Fein yet they write the most comments on their articles. They recycle dull lines over and over again hoping that people respond so their tired lives are somehow improved with social contact, even if negative. Lads, don’t worry it’ll get better, eventually when you grow out of this phase you might realise that trying to be constantly outraged by a political party is a pointless way to spend your life.
@Bort
And if he said nothing more beyond his initial apology and explanation, he’d be giving free reign to an all too willing press to hammer him. As far as I can see, the blame does not lie with Adams for continuing to talk about it, but with those who continue to cynically use the opportunity to label as a racist a man who has been perhaps the most vocal anti-racism voice in Irish politics in living memory. Also worth remembering that his comments are being used to beat him in the six counties by those trying to make hay ahead of tomorrow’s election. Were the tweet ‘tweeted’ next week, those same people hammering him wouldn’t be quite so energetic. So he is hardly going to sit back and let them at it.
Shinnerbots out defending the indefensible yet again. internment would be a good place to start with dealing with racism, would be like a trip down memory lane for the baron
He used the word ” n*****r “. He and he alone. Doesn’t matter who is interviewing him . He called all this on himself. He was the person who used the awful , racist word.
lets hope the british authorities investigate baron adams disgraceful comments. didnt he label half the community in his home country a shower of b******s recently too?
Caused uproar!! Yeah because it was a bank holiday and the media filled some space while putting Adams down! Mountain molehill crap again from a weak media.
In all fairness, Comparing two things doesn’t mean somebody is saying they are the same. He was saying how both of them have been mistreated by the hand of another people. (This is like people being all politically correct and saying that GA thinks he’s the Irish equivalent of Nelson Mandela, even though he’s said many times before that he actually looks Up to him and regards Mandela as his personal hero.)
It was obviously a Wrong/foolish thing to say, but if he doesn’t deal with it Conclusively Now while it’s being brought up in the public eye, it will mean it’s more likely to be brought up again (and inevitably/naturally embellished) in the future e.g during debates, interviews, People’s day to day Conversations with one another etc
- i.e he would ultimately be digging a much bigger hole if he doesn’t deal with it now.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I think if recent years have taught us anything, and in particular the presidential election campaign of Martin McGuinness, it’s that the people of the south could learn an awful, awful lot from the six counties about moving on. The level of dragging up the past in relation to SF that goes on in elections in the south is nauseating. It’s at a level unionist politicians haven’t sunk to for at least the past ten years.
He really is making a fool of himself. Despite his language I don’t believe for one second that he’s racist but what he’s said since the incident is just downright embarrassing..
The Irish were sold into indentured servitude in recent centuries but as the historian in the article states, in Cromwellian times, the Irish were captured for slavery in large numbers.
Not true Shawn, Irish people where indeed sold for less than black people, this doesn’t take away from the fact black people where treated horrifically, but I suggest you read white cargo, the Irish where the first imported slaves to the Americas, Cromwell seen to this.
Gerry did apologise and in my own opinion I don’t believe he is a racist and I do believe this story is being blown out of proportion.
However, the reason it is is due to Gerry’s track record and his association with the IRA and his refusal to apologies or condone much more serious matters. People are lynching him because of his past and using this as an excuse
He is very ill-informed here and offends without understanding the offence and that’s a problem.
We all have a lot to learn but at this stage in history Sinn Féin needs a leader who understands global issues much better. The centerary of 1916, the world watching, Brexit in the news: it’s time for clarity, boldness, and credibility.
Ní leor bheith ag caint ‘clumsily and inappropriately.’ Níos mó damáiste sa fhreagra aige thuas. Déan an rud ceart. Tabhair seans anois do dhuine nua, Gerry. Seo an t-am.
Tyrone, I thought that it was Sinn Fein living in the past. They even have a 1916 exhibition in Dublin to try and brainwash tourists of their bogus claims about their involvement in the rising.
@For Connolly, being silly? No, Gerry is being silly. Correct, he was asked about it on the radio, so why not respond with something like “I have retracted my tweet, as it caused offence to many people, which was not my intentions at all. I would again like to offer my sincere apologies to anybody that may have been offended by my remarks.” and leave it at that, there is no more new information there, and the media move on. However, saying Irish people were treated like slaves just adds fuel to the fire, and its not back in the media for at least another day.
@ForConnolly, I’ll tell you what…. why dont you pop into Dublin City Centre tomorrow and call out the word n#$ger on Grafton/Henry/O’ Connell St… If anyone rushes over to give you a slap, you can be rest assured that your context will safe your ass…..
Except Adams didn’t stand in the middle of the street and shout “n*****”. He used the word in a historical context. As countless people do. Is Roddy Doyle a racist for saying “the Irish are the n*****s of Europe?”
He didn’t just say “n*****” though. He used the term in a historical context. If you can’t see the difference, you are hardly qualified to be allowed comment. And Roddy Doyle did say that in his writing of “The Committments”. He was later asked about it in an interview on May 12th 1997, and remarked: “There is also a certain truth as Ireland, and all its members, represents a country that was a colony and it shares many worlds history (like Africa, Latin America). So Ireland never quite fits the European patterns: Ireland is different, is darker and the experience of a lot of Irish people who emigrated in the 19th century to America and late in the 20th century to other places was just to do work for the least pay. Overcoming the legacy of colonisation and becoming independent gives the idea that you are second wage, that you are a n*****. But primarily it is a joke, primarily there is also the intention to shock respectable people, who hate the idea that they, as Irish people, are n*****”. So is Roddy Doyle a racist?
It was used in the book, written by Roddy Doyle: http://tinyurl.com/hkteexv And I just provided you with the quote where Doyle used the word in an interview. So is Roddy Doyle a racist?
Tommy, link I thought you could use. http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Dictionary-English-Angus-Stevenson/dp/0199571120. Anyway my main point is that while you feign to be offended, you spout ‘go back to your own country’ etc which is incorrect and ignorant. Adams is a TD and leader of the 3rd largest party in the Republic of Ireland. We all live on the island of Ireland, to be reunited within the next 25 years. Enda Kenny said the exact same word, links were provided but no response. Gerry owned it, apologised and explained the context then reiterated he was incorrect in using the word even in the context.
and then it will be another 25 year and another 25, meanwhile SF administer british rule in the part of the UK. and you wonder why everyone laughs at you clowns :D
Classic Tommy, miss the salient point of the comment and focus on something you can try and get a rise from. While you might disagree, if our country didn’t have to deal with subjugated emasculated fools like yourself, we would have demanded our borrowed 6 counties back by now.
Thats no way to talk to a priest! So much anger and aggression…. soo sad to see. Bless your cotton socks my lad. Ill have a with the Almighty to see if he can get Lifestyle to have a sale on Celtic jerseys (60% off ). That ok?
In fairness, he is being asked the questions by radio broadcasters. If he declines interviews it would be painted as him running away and not taking responsibility for what he said. Damned if you do…
He had been working on the homelessness crisis above all other issues, Brinster. But don’t let the truth get in the way of a good yarn. In fact, a few weeks after the election, TD’s gathered in the Dáil and had a vote as to whether they ought to give themselves an extra 8 days off on holidays. SF, under Adams direction, were the only party to oppose this, and argued instead that the Dáil should be using the time to establish a Housing and Homelessness committee. That proposal had to be shelved for a full week mid-crisis, as the other TDs felt 8 days holiday were more important.
As for your “different jurisdiction” jibe, sorry to report to a freestate gombeen like yourself, but it’s all the same country.
No, Jason. Free Statism is a mentality, not a label that fits everyone in Ireland. It’s a warped mentality of partitionism, arrogance, disloyalty to ones own and sheep-like political views and voting activity.
Tir it’s the only time I have ever agreed with you and disagreed with Tommy. There is no “free state” , it’s an scangers term term used by dissidents, ra heads, partionists and loyalists and others who want to seperate out our 2 juristicions. We have a republic and we have the north but its still a 32 county island nation that I hope will be as one at some stage. We live in a republic not a free state.
The gift that keeps on giving. He just doesn’t know when to shut up. He’s going to end his career if this keeps up. The Washington Post ran a scathing headline and account of him.
Gerry Mandela strikes again. The black IRA human rights leader. Is it cos youse black Gerry?
I genuinely think the guy is losing the plot very slowly. Goes to show that votes rule the roost and you can be a complete muppet ala the boys in Kerry, Mick Wallace, Ming Fla etc
True look at the number of halfwits who still vote f.f and f.g/uvf after the number of times they have bent the ordinary decent people of Ireland over and shafted them. Brain washed halfwits.
Adams is correct. The Irish were sold into slavery and that’s historical fact. Go read a history book. It might not fit with the FG narrative that the English were actually all sound and just a bit misunderstood.
Tommy, you’re the biggest racist and hatemonger seen on the Journal comment threads for a long time. You drip your bile on to your keyboard so great is your stench of hatred.
mask is off dave isnt it….. I made no racist comments, baron adams done that all on his own and tat is why you shinnerbots are livid. excellent article in the independent on your ilk today
Tommy, what mask? I’m not livid. I’m just countering your raging naked hatred. Advocating the removal of foreigners, or the deporting of them is racist. You’ve done it more than once in this thread.
The Spindo?? Who gives a flying one what Dennis pays to be printed.
I have a question. Oliver’s Army by Elvis Costello (a song about military conscription of the working class by ruling elites) has the line “one more trigger, one more widow, one less white n!gger” white n-bomb was commonly used as a shirt hand for nationalist working class in the 70′ and 80′s. That song has been played constantly on ad’s promoting Costello upcoming gig in Dublin. So the question is why is it okay for Elvis Costello to make the reference but not Gerry Adams?
Lets be brutally honest here. Was the tweet ‘racially charged’? Possibly. Was it composed as an act of racism, bigotry or the like? No. Even FGFM yesterday had a former FG minister exclaim that Adams is not racist.
Clumsy? Yep. Ill though out i.e. trying to put across a fairly complex comparison in 140 charachters or less? Yep.
The article also didn’t discuss the possibility of Adam’s suitability of being a future Taoiseach. So since YOU brought up the topic, then I ask again:
If using the “n-word” in a tweet referencing historical context makes that person unsuitable as a Taoiseach, then does telling a racist joke including the use of the “N-Word” make a person a suitable candidate for Taoiseach?
For Connolly, how is it not bigoted to compare the situation of Catholics in 1960/70s Ireland with those of slaves who were killed in their hundreds of thousands, kidnapped from their homes and forced to work as slaves for generations, the effects of which are still felt today. He is a bigot by definition of the word for not understanding why those two situations are different.
I’m not sure where you are coming from. Are you saying because Enda Kenny used a racially charged phrase in the past it is OK for Gerry Adams. I’m not a Gerry Adams supporter but as leader of SF I do recognize he could be Taoiseach one day and I was asking one of his supporters is it OK for a potential future Taoiseach to use racially charged words.
I have not once stated that it’s OK for anyone to use the term he used. Yet in his defence, he was using it in the context of historical discussion rather than in an attempt to be derogatory. That is the absolute key point. So my question to you then, is that you implied his tweet makes him unsuitable to be a Taoiseach. So if that is your view, do you think it is suitable for Enda Kenny to be Taoiseach given that he has previously use the same word, not in a historical context, but in order to tell a racist joke in public?
I’m defending him against accusations of racism. Use of that word doesn’t define the user as racist. It all comes down to context. To again quote a column in the Guardian yesterday: “To judge Adams, who has a life’s work of internationalism and antiracist solidarity, by a single tweet borders on the grotesque”.
Roddy Doyle said ““The Irish are the n*****s of Europe”. Is Roddy a racist?
John Lennon said ““Woman Is The n***** Of The World”. Was he a racist?
So, again, context is everything. Are you trying to argue that using “the n-word” in a historical discussion context is equally as bad as using it to tell a racist joke? Perhaps answer my question. If you believe Gerry Adams using the term in a historical context makes his unsuitable to ever be Taoiseach, do you think it is suitable for Enda Kenny to be Taoiseach given that he has previously use the same word, not in a historical context, but in order to tell a racist joke in public?
In all fairness, Comparing two things doesn’t mean somebody is saying they are the same. He was saying how both of them have been mistreated by the hand of another people. (This is like people being all politically correct and saying that he thinks he’s the Irish equivalent of Nelson Mandela, even though he’s said many times before that he looks Up to him and regards Mandela as his personal hero.)
It was obviously a wrong/foolish thing to say, but if he doesn’t deal with it Conclusively Now while it’s being brought up in the public eye, it will mean it’s more likely to be brought up again (and naturally embellished) in the future e.g during debates, interviews, People’s day to day Conversation etc
- i.e he would ultimately be digging a much bigger hole. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
‘Shinners’ is a derogatory term that falls into hate speech as it unfairly paints all members of a group in a negative way. Do you have anything to contribute apart from name-calling, Tommy?
mary lou mcdonald described herself as a shinner when she was busy buying prawns, she even went on to explain what a shinner was. are shinners the only ones allowed use the term shinner?
If what Adams means by slaves is “Indentured Labourers” so were English people enslaved.
An Indenture Labourer was indeed serving a life sentence of servitude.
But their offspring or families were not slaves…..unlike the offspring of black slaves.
Adams is an idiot.
And indentured servants were treated worse especially coming towards the end of their terms as servants a lot were worked to death as it cost the “owners” nothing.. whereas the African Slaves were more expensive.
Adams talk of loyalty says a lot about him. Absolute loyalty is not a good trait. Standing beside someone no matter what they do is not a good trait. If people were less loyal we would have a lot less bloodshed in the world because people would stand up for the morals they believe in, not the people they believe in.
Dammit Gerry…you had one job…ONE job! Stop fecking talking and trying to explain! As you should have learned from watching the messers Kenny and Bruton, if you’re explaining, you’re losing.
Yeah, it’s probably nothing to do with the fact that he brought them form barely existent, to being now the largest political party in the country (32 counties).
And he brought thesis counties from a unionist dominated sectarian state let with no hope of unification for the Irish to a state with shared power and all Ireland bodies on the verge of unification. Great work considering only 40 or 50 years ago catholics were being burned out of their homes by loyalists in a bid to creates 100% protestant state. Some achievement considering they were a minority fighting not only loyalists but their supporters in the British and Irish governments.
Damocles, James 11 sold 30,000 Irish prisoners to the Virginia plantations in 1625. He wrote a Proclamation requiring all Irish political prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies.
This is the problem with Sinn Fein – they see everything through the eyes of nationalism. Nationalism is a dangerous and obsessive thing and it’s touted as something to be held in high esteem.
This is the problem with FG/FF – they see everything through the eyes of bankers. Saddled us with generations of debt. I would love to see our people that have been forced to leave this country being given a vote at General Elections, the blue shirts couldn’t stomach that one
If he can’t help himself but tweet some anti Semitic slur afterwards, he can always say that many Good Republicans were imprisoned by the British and so he has a right and a licence to empathise with Jewish history by using derogatory slurs.
I can’t get offended on behalf of another race who weren’t offended. I was however offended by the leader of f.g/uvf calling me a paddy. The halfwit enda then went on to offend me more by proclaiming that I like to be kept informed while then keeping us in the dark. Would the the leader of f.g/uvf like to explain why the then f.g/uvf government of the free state give the British the green light for the Dublin and Monaghan bombings or explain why when the gardai near the border stopped the car as it was travelling home afterward and the men arrested, they where able to give the name of a high ranking garda, who was contacted and they were let go on their merry way.
Well go on enda “paddy” would like to know.
……the hate is strong in this one. Poor Tommy the Truffle Pig. Can’t stick to the topic. Can’t post under his own name. Can’t accept our day is coming. Your embarrassing yourself kid
Very good. You should be rallying support for your minister of healths new disaster of a hospital. Instead like a true FG clone you’ve your Truffle Pig snout in a tabloid story. Tut tut Tommy
I do not believe Adams is a racist, but he certainly could consider the social medias ability to react to any comment that may be vague or unclear.I am no fan of Adams but the Twitterati lynchmobs are pathetic in the extreme. Kenny’s joke was no slip of the tongue, nor was it a missuderstanding. It was a joke with a racist theme….period.
We were sold as slaves and the Irish experience over 800yrs can be compared to the African experience. I absolutely despise the West Brit so clearly alive and well in Irish people.
I know of no other nation with such sub servants who hold so much deference to a foreign power. Perhaps people like Leo Lowebrow and Tommy The Truffle Pigs great great grandmothers suffered “Prima Nocta” it’s the only viable explanation
leader? the leadership qualities in 1916 were abysmal, pathetic in fact. if there was even an ounce of leadership it wouldnt have been the complete shambles it was, it was over before it started. leadership :D
A tiny band of rebels held the mighty empire at bay. Their response was the usual brit act of killing an ant with a sledgehammer. However manners were soon put on the invading British army in the War of Independence in which the British acted disgracefully. But I’m sure you ok with that and your Red Thumb Commandos
Tommy. According to your logic an IRA army council member is a resident in Dáil Éireann and another is joint first minister up north. Go have a cup of tea and a few jaffa cakes and let that fact sink in to your Truffle Pig head.
Irish people were not slaves in the Caribbean. They were indentured workers, bonded labourers who at the end of their indenture were free to live as they wished, a freedom that would never granted to a bought and paid for slave. It’s a great bit of anti -Brit propaganda for the Shinners to trot out and perpetuate the myth.
And the Irish sent to the Caribbean were indentured servants, not slaves. No fairy tale.
True, life was awful for an indentured servant (but then life was crap for prisoners in general) but this was a huge difference from being a slave. For one, indentured servants were still classed as persons in the yes of the law – if you killed an indentured servant you would be guilty of murder. Killing a slave on the other hand would be classed as destruction of property.
Nope many were chattel slaves it was the 17th century, you’d get your tongue cut out for speaking gaelic.
Also many Irish women and African males were forced to mate together in order to produce valuable progeny. The practice was so wide spread that laws had to be passed to outlaw it.
The term “mulatto” specifically refers to the children of African and Irish slaves.
You may want to check out Percy St, west Belfast 1969 & North Belfast 1969 burnings by loyalists abetted by RUC & B Specials on the Internet – this prior to the reforming of the IRA in 1970.
FG is like putting their hand in the fire and enjoying it. So if you invite the neighbours round for say tea. Then they decide not to leave, in fact they set up shop in your house, you’d be ok with that. Of course you would, like the sub serviant weasel you are. You and your ilk are the reason this country is the way it is. Bowed with cap and hand is your mantra
Your repeating yourself, new material please Truffle Pig. You better believe it will change, and your right I’m travelling around the country they are beautiful. Great pride seeing our counties decked out in tri colours. There’s most definitely a rejuvenation in Republicanism
Funny watching you all put forward your OPINIONS as fact… The n word is just one of those words that should have been lost to time back when the civil rights movement was gaining momentum in the states. But black people kept it alive and turned a derogatory term into one of many meanings. I worked with an African dude a while back and he was big into his rap music. He’d be singing the words out loud and every now and then the n word came up and I asked him if I was walking down the street with my headphones on singing along to some rap and I sang the n word, and he was walking by and heard me, would he have a problem? He said yeah, it’s a black thing. I said that’s Bulls@$t. I would just be singing the lyrics to a song. I wouldn’t be saying it in a demeaning or derogatory way. But that was his take. I mean, Gerrys a dick, should have retired years ago, did he mean to use the word in a derogatory or demeaning way, no, he used it to make a point. But because of our understanding, rightly or wrongly, of who gets to use the word and who doesn’t, it turns out like this. But newspapers gotta sell copies I suppose…
There is an argument that racism is being used as suppression, oppression, and to stifle debate. Looking at the FG trolls use of it, there is a point to the argument.
Tommy, wonderful, it’s a joy to see how obsessive your hatred has become. I take huge comfort in the fact that Gerry and others must be succeeding in bringing an end to the corruption in politics in the cesspool of Ireland. There is no other excuse for your naked hatred and trolling of people’s comments. Go easy, or the paramedics will be calling on you. But Enda being Enda, they might not get to you on time. Can’t say i’d be to sad.
Tweety McBeardyFace is desperately trying to save face by defending his use of the ‘N’ word as if it was some sort of misinterpreted moral good deed, in reality, he was just being a dick (that’s why he deleted it so quickly). The best thing he could do is shut his big gob about it.
I saw him in town once and I said hi to him. He didn’t say hi back but he did smile at me. I wasn’t annoyed as he seemed very busy. Seems like a genuine guy.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-irish-slave-trade-the-forgotten-white-slaves/31076
“From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English and another 300,000 were sold as slaves. Ireland’s population fell from about 1,500,000 to 600,000 in one single decade. Families were ripped apart as the British did not allow Irish dads to take their wives and children with them across the Atlantic. This led to a helpless population of homeless women and children. Britain’s solution was to auction them off as well.
During the 1650s, over 100,000 Irish children between the ages of 10 and 14 were taken from their parents and sold as slaves in the West Indies, Virginia and New England. In this decade, 52,000 Irish (mostly women and children) were sold to Barbados and Virginia. Another 30,000 Irish men and women were also transported and sold to the highest bidder. In 1656, Cromwell ordered that 2000 Irish children be taken to Jamaica and sold as slaves to English settlers.”
The Civil Rights movement in N. Ireland was similar to the African American civil rights movement and that is true…
But the above link stands for the following as well… “Many people today will avoid calling the Irish slaves what they truly were: Slaves. They’ll come up with terms like “Indentured Servants” to describe what occurred to the Irish. However, in most cases from the 17th and 18th centuries, Irish slaves were nothing more than human cattle.
As an example, the African slave trade was just beginning during this same period. It is well recorded that African slaves, not tainted with the stain of the hated Catholic theology and more expensive to purchase, were often treated far better than their Irish counterparts.
African slaves were very expensive during the late 1600s (50 Sterling). Irish slaves came cheap (no more than 5 Sterling). If a planter whipped or branded or beat an Irish slave to death, it was never a crime. A death was a monetary setback, but far cheaper than killing a more expensive African. The English masters quickly began breeding the Irish women for both their own personal pleasure and for greater profit. Children of slaves were themselves slaves, which increased the size of the master’s free workforce. Even if an Irish woman somehow obtained her freedom, her kids would remain slaves of her master. Thus, Irish moms, even with this new found emancipation, would seldom abandon their kids and would remain in servitude.
In time, the English thought of a better way to use these women (in many cases, girls as young as 12) to increase their market share: The settlers began to breed Irish women and girls with African men to produce slaves with a distinct complexion. These new “mulatto” slaves brought a higher price than Irish livestock and, likewise, enabled the settlers to save money rather than purchase new African slaves. This practice of interbreeding Irish females with African men went on for several decades and was so widespread that, in 1681, legislation was passed “forbidding the practice of mating Irish slave women to African slave men for the purpose of producing slaves for sale.” In short, it was stopped only because it interfered with the profits of a large slave transport company.
England continued to ship tens of thousands of Irish slaves for more than a century. Records state that, after the 1798 Irish Rebellion, thousands of Irish slaves were sold to both America and Australia. There were horrible abuses of both African and Irish captives. One British ship even dumped 1,302 slaves into the Atlantic Ocean so that the crew would have plenty of food to eat”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_British_Isles
“From the 17th century until well into the 19th century, transportation to the colonies as a criminal or an indentured servant served as punishment for both major and petty crimes in England and Ireland.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant
“Indentured servitude was a labor system in which people paid for their passage to the New World by working for an employer for a fixed term of years. It was widely employed in the 18th century in the British colonies in North America and elsewhere. It was a way for the poor in Britain and the German states to obtain passage to the American colonies.”
It was harsh slavery sold under a lie.
The ‘article’ you quote has being shown to be a pack of lies, Michael. It’s a American white-wing racist propaganda, not Irish history. And its so-called author ‘John Martin’ does not seem to exist. Even Irish Central – “America’s number one news website for Irish news with over 3.5 million readers a month” – eventually took it down, because its not true. Opinion is not fact. Are you really happy to let our history be so abused?
“The reluctance to differentiate between indentured servitude and perpetual chattel slavery in these contexts gives succour to ahistoricaltypes, such as neo-Nazis, 9/11 Truthers and White Nationalists. Their propaganda includes a conspiracy theory claiming that historians avoid calling indentured servants ‘slaves’ for political reasons. They protest that historians are not to be trusted and that one should avoid reading ‘biased history books’ about slavery, as they have covered up the ‘truth’.”
“Those inculcated have been persuaded to ignore contextualised history. In an op-ed piece for the Dublin-based thejournal.ie, the three authors of this article were attacked with comments claiming that our ‘white guilt’ was compelling our research agenda. Other accusations of ‘denial’ are intended to have a chilling effect on this debate by co-opting the loaded language usually reserved for Holocaust denial.”
“It is pertinent to point out that Michael Hoffman II (a Holocaust-denier) and the Barnes Review
(a Holocaust-denial journal)endorse the ‘Irish slaves’ meme,which does not differentiate between indentured servitude and perpetual chattel slavery.”
Under Elizabeth 1 I believe they did the same to the Germans, promised them a new world and when got them there used them as slaves to pay for their travel as in ship building?
All English attempts to establish American colonies during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) ended in failure. No Germans were involved, as they were not her subjects.
On top of that, white European Christians were not enslaved because you had to be a black, African, pagan, to be a slave. That had being the case since the 1400s, and is the basis of the colour bar.
Not one of the historians who have rebutted the ‘Irish slaves’ myth deny the Irish had a rough deal – on the contrary all of them have gone to some trouble to document the very real political, sectarian, and ethnic disabilities they suffered. That’s their job as historians – to give an honest account of the past.
If you care about our actual history, instead of racist American stereotypes, please give the above a read. Tolerating this racism is unrepublican and abuses Irish heritage.
The English under Elizabeth 1 were advertising in Germany with a leaflet that British navy would take them to start a new life in Germany, which ended up with Germans working for the British navy building ships for them, how can history be racist? http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/passage.htm
But the link you have says nothing about Elizabeth I. She died in 1603. The British navy did not exist in her lifetime. The events in the link are from the 1740s and 1750s. And notice that it barely quotes from Gottleb Mittelberger’s book … Almost all of what you read is not his words, but someone else’s.
This is the trailer for the documentary ‘Frederick Douglass and the White Negro’ by Camel Productions telling the story of the 19th century black icon and his escape from slavery, leading to refuge in Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine. The film focuses on the powerful influence Ireland had on him as a young man. It also explores the turbulent relationship between African Americans and Irish Americans in general. http://www.camelproductions.net/frederick-douglass-and-the-white-negro/
Robert King, a member of the Black Panthers and surviving member of the ‘Angola Three’ spent most of his life in solitary confinement after being wrongfully convicted of murder.
In 2001 when his conviction for murder was overturned he spoke to CNN wearing a Celtic jersey. He is a big fan and said that the football shirt “represents oppressed people”, like himself, and revealed that he has been to Celtic Park a number of times to watch them play.
I didn’t see the original tweet but I assume he was comparing the term House n**** to the term uppity Fenian or something along those lines. You can say what you like about Adams but one thing he is certainly not is racist. He was after all given the great privilege of being part of the Guard of Honour for Nelson Mandela’s funeral. And there are some parallels here. Ireland was after all the only Western European country that was a colony so when Adams said yesterday he doesn’t especially identify as white he is just echoing the sentiment behind that famous line in the Commitments that “the Irish are the blacks of Europe”. It’s the reason why when I read Frantz Fanon on the psychological effects of colonialism, even though I am white, because I am Irish I can totally get where he is coming from.
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