The Inside and Outside of Ireland: comparing Irish San Diego and Ireland
Example
Photo courtesy of: house of ireland.org & san diegovips.com
Years ago, I lived in Ireland for half a year hoping to explore some of my roots. I often celebrated Irish holidays with my family. The first couple of pictures of people celebrating represent what most Americans think about Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day. These are often images of people dressed in green, Irish dancing, parades with leprechauns, and people drinking. While true, there is a whole other story that often goes unnoticed in San Diego, the story of a divided Ireland.
Most of Ireland belongs to the Irish, but there is a section in the North which remains under British control. This community has been fighting for centuries, ½ of the community wishes to stay with the British because they have a stronger economy and like being a part of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, etc). The other part wants to rejoin the southern part of Ireland for a United Ireland. During this time, I visited Northern Ireland was and still is under British Control.
photo courtesy of: Digital Library Federation (diglibfed.org)
While I did see parades a lots of green, one of aspects that stood out most were the murals painted on the end of almost every building. In Catholic neighborhoods, the murals were often depicting history of battles for independence from the British, or pictures of those who gave their lives for the struggle. The picture above is of an Irish Republican Army (IRA) fighter who gave up his life for the struggle by leading a hunger strike for 60 days in a Northern Ireland prison to protest conditions and and leave a lasting memory of united Ireland. He died in 1981. (Wikipedia) There were several pictures of Bobby Sands and other people who gave their life in the struggle. Some of it remind me of the murals along the 94 freeway in San Diego or Chicano park, where there are similar murals of local leaders. The difference is in Ireland I felt like the history of the town was always around and people talked about the history often. In San Diego, we often look at the pictures, but don’t always talks about them.
