“BREAK THE SILENCE ON RACISM”
A minority group may be defined as a group
of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are
singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential
and unequal treatment and who, therefore, regard themselves as objects of
collective discrimination. This group differs from the rest because of their
race, religion, or political beliefs. Many
countries have minorities that are discriminated against, either officially by
law or by common practice. In every region of the world, ethnic
minorities are excluded from a sense of national identity, there is no region
in which national identification is equal among minority and non-minority groups.
However, these gaps are particularly large in some regions, especially in Northern
Ireland and Belfast.
Belfast
is a city in transition, a divided city, divided by walls and divided even by
the River Lagan. There
have been many minority communities in Belfast for about 80 years. The largest
ethnic minority groups are Chinese and Irish Travellers. There have been many
Eastern European immigrants moving to the city in recent years with the
expansion of the European Union. More than 2 per cent of the population belongs
to an ethnic minority, with more than 50 per cent living in south Belfast.
While there has been peace for some time, most of Belfast still shows
signs of the division in Northern Ireland, with many areas very segregated by
religion, politics and ethnicity. On the east bank there is a largely
unionist population, Protestant, and on the west, a solidly nationalist and
Catholic one.
Although there has been a high degree
of class overlap between Catholic and Protestant, it did appear that the
Catholic position was a less favourable one at every level. Firstly, education
is heavily segregated, most state schools in Northern Ireland are
predominantly Protestant. However, Catholic children
attend
schools remaining faithful to their ideals. Secondly, employment was highly
segregated in favour of Protestants, which led to emigration to seek employment
among the Catholic population. In the 1960s, it was common for a job advertisement to
state "only Protestants need apply". Apart from these
differences, the most relevant is that in Northern Ireland and Belfast, people from
minority ethnic groups have been forced to move into areas inhabited by one of
these denominations: Catholic or Protestant. Those who did not move were badly
affected by intimidation, violence and discrimination. As a result of the
rising residential segregation, the British government created many laws to
finally abolish it. Nevertheless, not all incidents were reported and there were
many reasons why some members of minority ethnic groups did not register crimes
committed against them. Finally, the huge barrier between them ended in a
violent situation.
The
conflict in Northern Ireland during the late 20th century is known as the
Troubles. Over 3,600 people were killed and thousands more injured. Although
the numbers of active participants in the conflict were few, its effects were
felt across society. Not only did the people in Ireland suffer, but also anyone
who heard about these terrible events and the extremely segregation among the
population. For that reason, the lead singer of the group U2, Bono, wrote a
song called “Where the streets have no names”. In this song, he wants to tell
the world and especially Irish people that no matter what anyone thinks about
you, and no matter how different you are from the rest around you, at the end Protestant
and Catholic are going to meet each other at the same place, where streets have
no names. It is highly probable that that place is heaven. The song includes
this passage:
The
city's a flood, and our love turns to rust.
We're beaten and blown by the wind
Trampled in dust.
I'll show you a place
High on a desert plain
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name.
Therefore, a lot of singers tried to convey a message about
discrimination in their songs as Bono did. For example, “All the girls love
Alice”, by Elthon John, which relates the tragic
story of a young lesbian who died in the streets.
All
the young girls love Alice
Tender young Alice they say
Come over and see me
Come over and please me
Alice it's my turn today
Another famous song is “An
Englishman in New York”, by Sting who wrote about the gay author Quentin Crisp
and his experiences as an outcast.
If "manners maketh man" as someone said
He's the hero of the day
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Nowadays,
we live in a world where discrimination seems to be a way of life, it would appear
that if you are not in the majority, so you have no rights, no possibilities
and no life. Instead of being proud of being your own person, you just accept
being badly treated by the rest of the society, because it is your fault to be
different. Years ago, Africans themselves seemed to admit that they were
inferior to white people. And today, women at work, lesbians, gays,
heterosexuals, among others, all of them are different, but all of them are
human beings. Whereas Bono showed the world Belfast situation, Elthon
John and Sting were inspired by particular and everyday situations which we
sometimes do not face, but they exist. The uncertainty of world events, the
face of discrimination and its victims in the coming years is unclear.
SOURCES:
·
“Matters of Life and
Death: Protestant and Catholic Ways of Seeing Death in Northern Ireland”, Belinda Loftus, Circa, No. 26, The
Religion Issue (Jan. - Feb., 1986), pp. 14-18.
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