A unity of purpose to improve the lot and experiences of people has helped keep the lid on racist sentiments to date in nationalist areas
Last week, a new initiative was launched creating a digital archive providing ready access to the works of the late, great and sorely missed Éamon Phoenix, whose On This Day columns were a regular feature of the paper for more than 30 years.
I can recall a column from Éamon featuring a news report in the August 31 1920 edition of the paper about sectarian violence in the Oldpark area of north Belfast, which had seen five men killed that week.
In his notes providing context for the article, Éamon made reference to the involvement of the well-armed UVF – ‘Carson’s Army’ in his words – and a new loyalist paramilitary gang, known as the ‘Imperial Guards’.
The column piqued my interest because my own grandfather, along with his family, had been burned out of their home and public house premises in the area by loyalists during this time, escaping with only the clothes on their backs.
Members and associates of the descendants of the Imperial Guards have been responsible in recent months for terrorising and intimidating young mothers and their children as part of a campaign to cleanse a mixed residential housing estate of Catholics in the very same Oldpark district of Belfast.
The campaign of hate has also involved several ethnic minority families being targeted, with ‘locals only’ graffiti crudely painted across walls in the area.
Last week, the prominent academic Dominic Bryan asked politicians to take greater care with the language used regarding immigration.
Sam Carson, the Ballymena landlord targeted for housing Filipino workers in the area, spoke out after cars were torched in a blatantly racist attack, pleading with politicians to be more pro-active in combating racism.
Their comments were particularly at odds with the pronouncement of the leader of the Royal Black Institution, Rev William Anderson.
He used the platform of the ‘Last Saturday’ parades in late August to declare to fellow loyalists that Northern Ireland was “being overrun”, a particularly irresponsible allegation given the summer of racist attacks and hate incidents taking place in the predominantly loyalist areas which many of the loyal order marchers and band members reside.
A multi-agency meeting was hastily convened in north Belfast on Tuesday involving politicians, the police, housing officials and other representatives from statutory bodies to address the issue.
They might as well not have bothered.
There are only two groups of people whose voices and actions could carry weight and authority to make a difference and end the intimidation campaign: the PSNI, and unionist political and community leaders.
Depressingly, the PSNI continues to come up short when called upon to defend the vulnerable. Its response has been insipid.
There have been no pro-active moves to arrest and question the prominent loyalist figures being openly named and discussed, including in the print media.
The erection of loyalist flags throughout the mixed residential area is clearly part of the sectarian campaign of harassment and intimidation, yet the PSNI continues to stand idly by.
In a statement released after the story broke, the PSNI declared it would be “strengthening their footprint” in the area.
In what world is such meaningless drivel acceptable from those tasked with protecting the weak and vulnerable?
Last weekend, I attended the funeral of Jim McKee, the chairman of Immaculata FC, an amateur football team.
Scores of school-age kids, kitted out in the club’s light blue colours, waited with adults to pay their respect to someone who had dedicated his life to developing and promoting a club for those living in the shadows of St Peter’s twin spires in the lower Falls.
Many pillars of the west Belfast community were in attendance at the Mass, including youth and church workers as well as political and community representatives. Local school principal Mairead Weir sang beautifully and fittingly throughout the Mass.
The throngs of local people filling the endless pews of the pro-cathedral, ensuring hundreds were left to stand at the back of the church and outside, provided testament to the indelible impression Jim had left in his community.
In his homily, Fr Martin Graham spoke of how his “legacy of faith and family and football” would endure for a long time.
A daily communicant at St Peter’s, Jim also managed the St Vincent de Paul collections at weekly Masses. His wife, Nuala, volunteered in St Peter’s Primary School, helping staff and pupils for more than a quarter of a century.
Their son, Conor, took on the mantle as a coach for ‘The Mac’ over the years. Jim’s brother, Patsy, has volunteered for more than 15 years helping out in the Frank Gillen youth centre in the area.
You might be asking yourself why I have mentioned Jim and his family amidst a column about racist and sectarian upheaval.
Stephen Nolan openly asked the question during the week about why these campaigns of intimidation are almost exclusively taking place in loyalist and not nationalist communities.
It is a good question.
Catholic communities continue to disproportionately feature amongst the poorest areas in the north. Chronic housing pressures are being disproportionately felt amongst working-class Catholic areas.
Those two factors, anywhere else in these islands, would provide fertile terrain for those promoting racist views and campaigns to thrive.
Yet the line still holds.
The difference is the calibre and depth of leadership and the legacy of people like Jim McKee, whose quiet work away from the media’s glare over decades has helped develop the social fabric of working-class communities, making them more resistant to the malevolent endeavours of those promoting a racist agenda.
A unity of purpose to improve the lot and experiences of people has helped keep the lid on racist sentiments to date in nationalist areas.
It is apparent in the successful campaigning at ground level to eradicate the destructive bonfire culture in Belfast’s republican communities.
These communities suffer many other problems and face many challenges, but thankfully strong leadership has so far prevented those peddling a poisonous and wholly destructive racist agenda from gaining any real traction.
It isn’t easy, but the fruits of good leadership, at every level, are never more apparent than during the times that test us.
by Sonaghan
3 comments
You red!
Jim McKee was a great man, such a tragic way to go. Proper community hero. RIP.
I don’t think Chris is wrong. There’s definitely a lack of leadership in Unionism-Loyalism.
The DUP largely don’t seem to care about the communities that elect them, and their weird once-removed relationship with loyalist paramilitarism means the party both cedes authority to them and washes their hands of what the UDA etc. get up to …and also never challenges them (and often worse, Gordon Lyons et al.)
You could talk too about an ideology of supremacy and othering that can easily shift targets; the article hints at that.
But there’s more too.
One-for-me-one-for-you sectarianised housing construction (directed by the same irresponsible politicians) has led to a chronic shortage in nationalist areas and a surplus of social housing in areas where they aren’t needed – in loyalist areas.
So that’s where people get housed – where the houses are. And where the paramilitaries still are – again, because of the lack of leadership and responsibility in political Unionism-Loyalism…
…and, let’s face it, because some people want to have them around – the same irresponsible people.
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