Anonymous,
USA

I’m the great-grandson of Irish immigrants who came to this country to escape famine, persecution, and poverty. However, nobody seems to talk or care anymore about the struggles they faced when they arrived in the New World. My people were excluded from public life, forced into menial labor, and refused the same Constitutional protections as their White Anglo-Saxon Protestant neighbors. I mentioned this on a message board recently and was told I’m a “racist” and that I “probably have an Irish and Confederate flag in my yard” when bringing this up because Irish-American People were “allowed to assimilate unlike African-Americans”. Go to South Boston or Queens and then talk to me about “assimilation”. These folks continue to have their own unique cultural heritage and, despite disparaging remarks from others, the fact is that the Irish have helped make this country stronger, safer, and more prosperous. Our history should be celebrated not categorized as “racist”.