Racism’s a Matter of fact

“Racism is still an issue in Ireland today,” was one of the messages stressed by participants of a well attended protest rally in Cavan Town last Saturday afternoon.

When the killing of unarmed black citizen George Floyd by Minneapolis police was captured on camera, it prompted not only seething resentment at institutionalised racism in the States, but highlighted the problem of inequality elsewhere across the globe. That drive for equality found expression on the streets of Cavan where a demonstration under the Black Lives Matter banner attracted hundreds onto Farnham Street.

The main driving forces behind the protest were the politically aware TY classmates from Loreto College, some of who had also organised the environmental protest in Cavan Town last year.

“It was really heartbreaking to see all the racism and prejudices going on in America, so we decided to have a march here in solidarity, and hopefully we could address some of the racism issues going on today here in Ireland,” Nora Abdelrahim from Swellan explained, holding a homemade sign reading ‘Where is the love?’. “There still is racism and people continue to deny it and that’s what fuels it even more. It just keeps continuing more.”

Each of the black protesters who spoke to the Celt without fail had stories about how racism had impacted on their lives, and those of loved ones - outrageous verbal abuse, exclusion, sinister so-called jokes, repeatedly stopped by gardaí (not in Cavan), and even having relatives being followed around major supermarkets by store detectives.

The examples were depressingly easy to recall. However the determination to reject and stand up to racism was inspirational for the vocal crowd who chanted slogans as organisers led relentless choruses of ‘No Justice, no peace’ and the refrain ‘Black lives - matter’. Many passing motorists tooted their horns in support, much to the delight of the protesters whose numbers continued to grow over the hour the Celt attended.

“We’re very happy,” said Nora of the turn out given it was organised at the last minute with limited resources. “It’s a lot more than we expected. It’s quite nice to see people come together in your community to fight something that’s so widespread.”

Amongst the protesters was Kebo Mosweu originally from Botswana, but now living in Ballyjamesduff. He was holding a placard that read: ‘Normalise Equality’.

He has been racially abused in Cavan by people “shouting and acting”.

The Celt notes that some people may sympathise with what happened in the States but may wonder why protest in Cavan?

“I think this is a message to the whole world,” said Kebo. “We need all equal rights, everywhere, the whole world - it’s not just America.”

As the crowd chanted “No justice! No peace!”, the Celt spoke to Andre Marx from South Africa originally, living in Cavan Town.

He too has been racially abused, even on the streets, “called black monkey”.

Andre was “very surprised” by the “excellent turn out”.

“The young generation must recognise equality amongst each other instead of fighting each other - it doesn’t matter where you come from or what colour you are as long as we are all working together, supporting each other, working to make a better life for each other,” he said confidently asserting that the protest “will make a difference”.

This point was echoed by Orla King, who was amongst the protesters.

“Humanity should be the main thing here, that we support each other,” said the Monaghan woman. “I’m just here to support people in the black community. I feel like their injustice is not being heard.”

One of those eager to ensure the injustice was heard - at a time when the media has been all-consumed by the pandemic - was Kate O’Brien. Wearing a hi-vis top, she was another organiser from the group of Loreto TY students. The Celt noted that many people had expressed on social media their support for the motives for the protest, but given the pandemic, thought that this wasn’t the time.

“I totally understand,” she empathised of people who were reluctant to support for health reasons. She explained that they were compliant with HSE guidelines. The posters promoting the event insisted on participants wearing masks and gloves. Kate also pointed out brightly coloured chalkmarks on the ground beneath her feet which had been measured out in advance to identify where protesters could stand safely individually or as family pods.

“There’s never a good time for a protest,” Kate said, surmising it would likely draw negative comment even if there wasn’t a COVID-19 pandemic. “We decided we were all going ahead with it.

“We keep on going up and down the lines telling everybody, please keep 2m apart,” said Kate.

Gardaí also attended the event, maintaining a discrete distance at the other side of the road, and didn’t deem it necessary to intervene to enforce guidelines while the Celt was there.

“No incidents of note occurred during any demonstrations in those areas,” a garda spokesperson later confirmed to the Celt of Black Lives Matter events in both Cavan and Monaghan.

Raissa, who gave her surname but requested it not be printed, was another of the organisers. Not amongst the TY contingent, she became involved through social media.

“We must still be open to realise that racism does exist in our country, and these conversations do need to be had between people. It’s an uncomfortable subject for some.

“The only way you can have that is by talking to black people - educating ourselves about what racism is.

“And we are not listening to respond, we’re listening to understand one another.”

“If you ask any black person here, we have experienced some form of racism in our lives,” Raissa asserted. She recounted an example of a loved one who had been considering buying a good quality handbag when a shop assistant probed, ‘Are you sure you can afford these bags mam?’

Raissa noted that white people wouldn’t be asked such a provocative question.

“That is a privilege that you have. We live two lives but it’s almost as if we are going in parallels. It’s very easy if I come along with this story for you to dismiss it because it’s not something you have to experience... you’ve probably never had such conversations with people of colour - ‘what would happen if you were in this situation, and I was in this situation?’ And the fact that we don’t have these conversations as often as we should is what leads us to points like in America, where people... are deprived of their lives because of their skin colour.”

She said that white people should “own” their white privilege.

“You have your privilege of seeing racism from an outsider’s point of view because you will never experience it, and use that not to undermine the black community but to empower them. Speak on it, it’s going to be uncomfortable and that’s okay. I understand that you’ve never understood.”

Helen Gibson was protesting on her knees for much of the event.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think it would make a difference,” she tells the Celt. “Of course it makes a difference, but how much of a difference and how long?”

She recalled being angered by someone trying to reassure her that things will change, but it will just take time.

“So it takes time for equality? It takes time for justice? It takes time to treat one human with the same rights and dignities as another human? So we’ve got to keep waiting? That was just a slap in the trap.”

Helen has lived in Ireland for well over 20 years, and now living Westmeath, and has an adult child living in Cavan.

The mother of four adult children gave a deeply troubling example of a racist attack.

“My daughter has sat on a bus and been called jigaboo and nigger,” she said, adding that no one stood up for her. “She was only a child at the time.”

Asked if she too has experienced racism in Ireland, “Oh yes”, she says in a distinctly Birmingham accent. “When I first came I was either Cromwell incarnate because of my accent, or I was told that I was coming to take the houses and the social welfare - just an immigrant scrounger come to abuse the country.”

She notes that while it is now illegal to be “outwardly racist”, she concludes the situation has “not really” improved in the last two decades, and blames successive governments in part for not stressing the contributions made to the Irish economy by migrant communities.

“When I first came here I could believe how badly they were managing it because they had the examples of America, the UK and everyone else, and they still allowed people to think these people were coming to scrounge, they didn’t say we actually need these people - we need these people.”

Helen wasn’t as enthused by the turn-out as others, deeming it “okay, I wish it could have been more... There’s a lot of young people here which is really good, but there’s not many old people, which is really sad.”

She recalled a so-called joke that was told to her white husband by someone who didn’t know his wife was black.

“How do you stop the crime rate going up? Make abortion mandatory for black women. That’s a horrendous joke and some people thought that was okay,” she says.

“I think it’s important for people to challenge - to explore what they are feeling.

“When they see someone overlooked and it’s obviously because of - whatever the injustice - whether it’s racism, sexism, ageism, whatever it is - challenge that in a loving way... use your voice in a loving way to ask people to explore are they aware of what they are saying?

“Are they aware of how they are living, and what they are doing? People need to look inside and check themselves.”