The last people in the world who should be xenophobic are the Irish, Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island told a conference on racism in Dublin yesterday.
He said the Irish, "more than anyone, should be able to identify with those who have been downtrodden and struggled and spat upon and stepped upon and who are the outcasts of society because that's the history of Ireland".
He was speaking at a colloquium at DCU, Multiculturalism and Racism: Comparing Issues in Ireland and the United States, supported by the US embassy and The Irish Times.
He called on Ireland not to go through the same learning curve as the US which has been dogged by race problems. Instead, the Irish people should "lead the way and be a beacon of hope for the rest of Europe and for the world".
Despite claims to the contrary, he said the problem of racism still exists in the US. While many racist laws and much violent language has been banished to the past, he said a fear "still rests within the American psyche. Overt and half-concealed racism and discrimination are, sadly, everyday occurrences."
He said many voices in Congress still speak in terms of "us" versus "them". "In the debate over welfare, immigration and education, the none-too-subtle sub-text of arguments to limit benefits to our new immigrants to the United States, to close the doors, to reduce aid is that these non-Americans - others - were weakening `our' country."
One unhealthy development, he said, was the return of appeals for "state's rights", where states would legislate on important human welfare issues. Under such circumstances, he said, people's welfare would "depend upon what side of the state you live in".
He said there were double-standards in the US approach to immigration. While frequent calls have been made for new security barriers on the Mexican border, few people have raised the issue of Canadian immigrants.
One irony, he said, was that in the New England area "one of our biggest illegal immigration problems is Irish overstays".
Congressman Kennedy said the US approach to race has for many years been a contradiction. The writers of the US Constitution, which declared all Americans equal, kept slaves themselves.
Moreover, he said, "when the United States was helping to rebuild a world destroyed by racist ideology, we officially endorsed the concept that separate could be equal, that some Americans belong to the back of the bus."
He said centuries of discrimination cannot be erased overnight or with the stroke of a pen. It will only be overcome if society is rid of "fear and misunderstanding".
Calling on Ireland to learn from the American experience, he warned: "Racism is the oldest and deepest, most wide-ranging and, sadly, most enduring issue. It cuts to the very heart of America itself. Our inability to develop a society where each person is judged, in Martin Luther King's words, `by the content of their character and not by the colour of their skin', is our greatest shame, our greatest failing and is the ultimate American tragedy."
