Monday, April 03, 2006

Eilis takes a swipe at undocumented Irish again

Actually, we are not God's Own People in America
Sunday Independent, April 2nd 2006

KATHARINE Hepburn had it right: "Never complain, never explain." It's a philosophy all journalists should strive to emulate. If you're privileged enough to have a platform to communicate your views on various matters to readers, you shouldn't whinge if certain of them don't like what you say; and if you are wilfully misquoted or misread, then you shouldn't rush around trying to explain yourself to every howling detractor because, frankly, life's way too short and the world population of the perennially affronted much too vast.
There are exceptions to the rule, of course, and now I find that the Irish-born Dr Patrick Carroll of the University of California's Department of Sociology thinks I should be "fired, if not exiled from Ireland" for certain indubitably scabrous, sarcastic comments made recently in these pages about illegal Irish immigrants in the US.
Hang on, did I say illegal immigrants? Scrap that. If Nigerians and Poles come to Ireland without the proper authorisation, they're illegal immigrants. If we Irish do the same in other countries, then we are merely "undocumented". It makes it sound as if the lack of documentation is nothing but an unfortunate administration error.
Professor Carroll isn't the only one who wants to defend the, ahem, "undocumented" Irish in the US. The Irish Pastoral Center in Quincy, Massachusetts, not only wrote to this newspaper to complain, as is their absolute right, they also complained to the Irish Times as well. Barking up the wrong tree there, dears. Next time John Waters says something that annoys them, what are they going to do? Kick up a stink to the RTE Guide?
The details of the dispute are not necessarily significant. Basically, they're mightily offended at suggestions that Irish illegals are often racist, IRA-supporting, tax-evading scoundrels, and I think it's great fun to annoy the intellectual Murphia in Irish America by saying that they are, even if they aren't.
It's about delivering a much-needed kick up the pieties at a time when people back home are falling over themselves to show solidarity with this supposed lost tribe of our fellow countrymen stranded in desperate straits in . . . well, the world's most dynamic society and advanced economy, since you ask. Poor lambs.
A few points. If the illegal Irish in America already pay all their taxes, why did the Irish Government put its weight behind a proposal to let them gain legal status after six years once they paid their back taxes and a fine? And if the Irish in America were not a source of comfort and finance for Sinn Fein/IRA, why did republicans make such regular visits to the country for decades? It sure wasn't because they liked the taste of corned beef and cabbage.
The Irish Pastoral Center has a fair point to make, namely that "we can never forget our Irish abroad". We shouldn't. But nor should we expect everybody else to regard their situation with the same degree of sentiment and urgency.
That's the real problem with the whole debate on Irish illegals. It's the notion that somehow they are a class apart who should be treated differently from the other 11 million illegal immigrants in the US at present. Cubans, Mexicans, Chinese, Vietnamese, et al, have just as much or as little right to be in America as we have, and yet the tone adopted by the Irish when they talk about this is, as one American blogger remarked lately, "filled with a sense of entitlement, as if America is their spare country".
One reader immediately proved him right by responding that the Irish should be allowed to stay because we're "good, honest, hard-working creative, funny people and we deserve better". As if no other race on earth possesses any of these same qualities.
This is not about illegal immigration so much as the eternal Irish inability to stop thinking of ourselves as a race specially favoured by the Almighty. In Ireland, we may get away with pretending to be God's Own People with a wisdom and history and spirit unlike any other. In America, we just have to accept that we are one small stitch in a huge tapestry. The attitude that the other races should meekly take their places behind us in the queue purely because we are Irish and we built the skyscrapers and invented Guinness and sing such lovely songs and, sure, aren't we great crack altogether, irritates not just bloggers but other immigrants too.
The New York Sun was first to report the growing resentment of other ethnic groups at the political strings that are pulled by the Irish in an effort to get special treatment. You can hardly blame them.
Across the US, there are massive demonstrations by Hispanics, in particular, against plans to crack down on illegal immigrants. They see such measures as being aimed specifically at them. Many others resent illegal workers for, as they see it, pushing down wages. Many on the left think illegals, by being such easy fodder for the ruling classes, are inadvertently perpetuating an unjust social and economic system.
The arguments are complex and wide-ranging, but all we ever see is an Irish story. We seem to think "US" stands for "us" rather than "United States". This kind of solipsism is bad enough at home. In a country where so many other immigrants have fled to escape persecution, war, religious and political intolerance, and appalling poverty in search of a better life, suffering hardships and deprivations that we cannot begin to imagine, it's practically obscene to try to muscle to the head of the queue.
Thankfully, President Bush has so far remained unmoved by the entreaties of the Irish-American lobby, partly no doubt because he has little rapport with Irish America and also because so much of his support comes from the Hispanic community, which he is understandably reluctant to alienate by offering special treatment to illegals from one of the most prosperous nations on earth.
He also doesn't do that touchy-feely thing that Clinton perfected (Bill once punched the air during St Patrick's Day and yelled, "I feel more Irish each day!"), which, depending on one's taste, is either a shame or a relief.
I find it refreshing to have a US president who intends to treat the Irish the same as everyone else, and not get all misty-eyed just because his ancestors once lived in a cottage in Co Whatever.
That shouldn't be too hard for us to understand. It's in our own constitution: "All citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law." The principle of equality should be no less precious over there than over here.
Eilis O'Hanlon
© Irish Independenthttp://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ & http://www.unison.ie/

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been very politically active for the past 4 years, and I've also become very blog-savvy. For this reason, I always double check whatever is linked to in any blog and read it at its origin. I'd like to suggest that you double check your links when they're posted to confirm they work, and also shorten them when they are too long to fit on one line. You can do this by going to

http://tinyurl.com/create.php

and entering the original link. It will be automatically shortened and your readers will have no problem going to the original location. Keep up the great work!

Anonymous said...

The ILIR does not seek special status for the undocumented Irish living in the United States.

Elizabeth should get the facts straight before she issues her next inaccurate polemic.

Anonymous said...

Eilis, I am a fellow country woman of yours an undocumented worker in the United States. Please give me the courtesy to read this as I have read your previous ill informed articles. First off the Irish are not looking for a special deal the evidence of this is everywhere we fully support the McCain Kennedy proposals which are for everybody except the Cubans please stop talking about the undocumented Cubans in America there are none they have a dry foot rule which is by the way a special deal that I wish was true for me then I would have gotton my visa seven years ago when I landed.

At our rallies we wear McCain Kennedy badges we march with the other undocumented workers from all other nations. Listen to Katherine Hepburn, we do, we do not complain we try to envoke social change in a dignified manner. Eilis will you please at least meet me half way and say that yes the United States immigration policy is broken. President Bush, the United States Senate, the house of representitives and even your old buddy who I suspect you would like Congressman Tom Tancredo have accecpted that the time for immigration reform is now however they may disagree on how to do that.

I am disheartened that just for the sake of fun you report untruths about my life, if you can not make an agrument as it stands read more about these people and you will see how not only unfair you are being but ignorant. This is our life, it is a tax paying life, it is a law abiding life the immigrants are not broken the system by which they have to try to adjust their status and earn legalization is. I am an Irish person who wants to live outside of Ireland, its the sunshine, its lots of things. If this is my only crime then we should burn Joyce's books because as much as he loved to write about Dublin it was Paris where he wanted to be.
So don't get your Irish up but your sense of equality like Senator McCain and the Irish Lobby group and support this humaine proposal to make life better for all the undocumented immigrants and America.
Samantha

No no said...

The writer displays a fundamental misunderstanding, and repeats a false notion that has gained popularity, that the Irish are seeking a special deal and are not working in coalition with other immigrants groups and that is not the case at all.

Speaking of that issue, the Irish immigration campaign should be commended because I do believe the Irish can get a special deal if that is what the campaign would push for; but the campaign has taken the high road instead.

Anonymous said...

My viewpoint on this illegal immigration problem is simply this, what's wrong with your country? Why come to ours and feel like you have something to say, if you like being an American then take that feeling back to your country and express yourself there.

Anonymous said...

Here's a poll on HR4437, the Sessenbrenner bill and a video of Nancy Pelosi. Let's show them how we feel about it.

Poll and Video.

Anonymous said...

It's a shame that Eilis feels this way about a marginalized group of Irish people

Anonymous said...

Well said Steve C. from St. Louis. As an Irish person that has spent a few years working here (legally) I am happily taking your advice and going home to Ireland.

Anonymous said...

Here's a better way to view that Pelosi video and HR4437 poll. Just type in this link:
http://64.62.128.40/cgi/playclippltx.cgi?PelosiOnHR4377_20060114.mov

cheers

Anonymous said...

It is very clear that Ms. Hanlon is passionate about this topic. While she makes some very good points, she needs to understand that the Irish are not requesting preferential treatment but using their political clout to advance the bill in a form that will benefit everyone. Advocacy and lobbying at the federal level (and most expecially in this instance)are not about preferential treatment, although at times is may seem so. One has to use whatever fair means available to leverage the support needed at the legislature to pass a bill that will treat all 11 million illegal immigrantrs in the USA fairly. The process is more about educating our elected officials accross the US of the need for such a bill rather than seeking preferential treatment for one race. Is seems to me that support from international leaders would indeed influence the legislature not to mention the positive impact it would have on the often times low morale experienced by illegal immigrants in the US.

Berna Mann
Advisory Board Member
Irish Pastoral Center
Quicy Massachusetts