Comments beneath the Irish Central “forgotten white Irish slaves” article
On 28 March 2015, Irish Central promoted an ahistorical article about “the little-known history of the Irish slave trade” on their Facebook page. I have extracted a selection of the comments. If you are interested you can sign our open letter to the editors of Irish Central to correct the inaccuracies and remove the false claims in their article which has now been shared over 151,000 times.
Sample
Transcription
“Tell that to the blacks.”
“Send that to black America!”
“Maybe we should loot and riot everytime a black person commits a crime on us……oh wait we’re civilized.”
“I have always said this, you don’t hear the Irish whining about it, or using it to get pity!”
“See and you don’t hear me crying about that….”
“Irish are civil about it, not victim Americans.”
“Irish let it go unlike others, it’s all over now, baby blue!”
“So it’s agreed that black & white slaves were treated unjustly. But there is a difference between the two, hundreds of years later the whites aren’t burning down towns and calling for police blood.”
“Everytime someone mentions the race/slavery card we should point out this bit of information!! where’s my check!?! lol”
“We the Americans of IRISH descent have been proven to be treated worse than the African Americans Slaves and sold much more of us “white slaves” !!! But, do you hear this mentioned in history books or talked about amongst our children! NO! You do Not Hear a Freaking word of this un-justice and yet we are always plagued by the name racist!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!”
“I want reparations! (Now, don’t I sound ridiculous? Looking for money for something that happened 300 years ago)”
“You don’t hear us blaming this generation (just saying)”
“Now! Black people, read this and still contend that you are the only ones being persecuted.”
“It worked for some….With the invention of the ‘Race Card’… Diane Abbott MP never leaves home without hers…”
“And the Blacks thought they was the only slaves, in the past there was a lot of slaves for the right price.”
“Proud the Irish overcame and moved on. Unlike others.”
“When am I getting my reparations check?”
“White people was sold on the block before blacks come into the USA. So suck it up, stop your crying and go to work [and] stop asking for handouts.”
“Blacks have laid claim to being persecuted and they have….. But they still keep living it playing the race/slave card. Level the playing field, it’s not a colored thing, so get over yourselves, it’s HISTORY.”
“Interesting to know my Irish ancestors may have been slaves, but I agree with the post before ALL races have had some type of slavery in their histories. It only matters if you can rise above it and speak out to repair the past or choose to dwell on the past.”
“And the Irish are too proud the lay around expecting for the world to take care of them. I don’t think there’s any Al Sharpton’s they can run to when somebody “offends” them.”
“I had an argument with a Rastafarian one day. He couldn’t believe our people were slaves in the Caribbean long before the Africans, except we don’t want pity from anyone.”
“I am so sick of hearing blacks espouse how bad their ancestors had it and also every stinking news organization keeps up the same crap.”
“All races were subject to some type of slavery but we have some people asking for reparations ? Some people think that they are entitled to everything for free. Hard work and sacrifice has made this country, not entitlements that aren’t deserved.”
“The ones who want reparations are sitting around collecting welfare funded by the taxes paid for by the rest of us.”
“So much for “white privilege”, huh?”
“Sometimes [they] would put the Irish in the lower deck under [the] black slaves.”
“So do you hear us whining for compensation for the hell our Irish ancestors went through? No.”
“Where is my check?????”
“Have been trying to tell people this for over thirty years… Was hard to find info…”
“Never heard one Irish child (I know many) ranting in the streets, marching with signs reminding us all of their ancestors who were slaves. We have black history month, why not Irish history month??? Whites must suffer in silence…”
“Most people (ethnic groups) get up after getting knocked down, others whine, cry, and blame everyone successful, for their own failures…Every ethnic group in America has been pissed on at sometime, but most don’t dwell on it, and move on..”
“We don’t have an AL O Sharpton”
“Absolutely true! More white slaves in America than blacks when the Civil War started. Far worse treatment than black slaves because they sold for 1/5th as much.”
“It is time to put the past behind us and work on the future. We cannot continue to blame our forefathers, we need to become better people and become productive members of society by becoming accepting of the past as the past and working to make a better future.”
“I wish schools would teach about this in the US. I’m constantly getting into arguments with ignorant friends and classmates when I try to bring things up like this or when I try to correct them saying that Africans weren’t the only slaves.”
“At least black slaves were not deliberately starved to death, like the Irish!”
“Here is proof that there were Irish slaves, yet one doesn’t hear of the Irish descendants in this country saying that others have to now pay for what was done to them during years of slavery!”
“Where’s my reparations?”
“Blacks WERE NOT the only people so abused! Blacks were NOT the only segment of society that suffered generations of racism. As for “reparations” ? What utter nonsense.”
“Very seldom mentioned when discussing paying Africans for their servitude.”
“That’s the great thing nowadays. We have these things called airplanes. If anyone doesn’t want to be an American you can easily catch a flight to your homeland or another country and live there.”
“Long time ago Irish people were treated just as bad as black people.”
“You don’t hear any of the descendants staying in the slave mode. Many blacks have moved passed that and they have done very well. Inventors, politicians, etc. but, some modern day black youth are falling into the “ I’m black poor me” mode. They don’t look at all the successful youth and grown up around them.”
“Shows how little the other “experts” and activists really know about slavery.”
“Yea the black man owes us Irish free housing, free food, free medical and damn it i want my free iphone 6 and my escalade wtf”
“Maybe the Irish should demand money for their ancestors being slaves, like Black Americans!”
“Maybe the Irish need to get on the compensation wagon…”
“So now everyone can cry the race card….I myself am part Irish and very proud of it and tired of hearing how the blacks are owed everything due to being treated so bad…”
“You don’t hear us crying about it!”
“Who’s crying for compensation?”
“I wonder if we can get an Irish awareness month and a stamp and a holiday and all the other perks for having ancestors who were slaves. Just saying.”
“I’M IRISH, SO QUIT YOUR BITCHEN ABOUT SLAVERY.”
“Where’s our reparations?”
“You will never see that on telly..the blacks would rise up…they lay claim to being the only slaves ever in history…poor poor them.”
“I did a project on this and I really pissed off the blacks saying I was trying to change the real history of America I said no this is the real history.”
“What about my pay? I had more enslaved relatives than any black did.”
“Yah I want my reputations also…..”
“The Irish people had it much worse!”
“A lot of blacks need to think about that for a while! And, NO! You are not special!!!”
