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  1. #1

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    IL-Latinos following Irish immigrants' path to power

    Latinos following Irish immigrants' path to power
    June 14, 2010

    BY ESTHER CEPEDA
    DUBLIN, Ireland -- This column is a love note to the country that has -- more than any other -- made Chicago what it is today: a city defined by a group of immigrants who came to the U.S. tired and poor but overcame institutionalized discrimination to become a politically empowered majority.

    Yep, I'm on the Emerald Isle, and everywhere I go I see a little bit of home. In addition to the Bulmer Vintage's thrilling billboard which cheekily asks "North Cider or South Cider?" there are the two stunning Santiago Calatrava creations -- the Samuel Beckett and James Joyce bridges over the River Liffey -- which make me long for the Chicago Spire to come to life.

    Let me assure you, based on my admittedly unscientific but in-depth research, that your favorite Chicago Irish bar is a darned good replica of the pubs all over Dublin. And also, I met your Irish uncle; almost everyone I've spoken to in my travels has either been to Chicago or has a relative in our fine town.

    Oh, and Dublin -- like the rest of Ireland and much of Chicago -- is filled with Polish immigrants whose ethnic grocery stores dot the town, displaying "mowimy po polsku" signs.

    From the sparkling glass high-rises built during the tech boom to Ireland's standing as a top beef, lamb and dairy exporter (hog butchers to the UK) and the dueling Old St. Patrick's churches, there are a million similarities.

    I've spent time here learning about Ireland's history of struggle, uprising, independence and migration. What impresses me the most is how these people made names for themselves in the U.S., and how their success could be a model for the Hispanic community.

    The Irish started showing up on U.S. soil en masse in the 1830s. They spoke English, sure, but with an accent and were ridiculed, marginalized and discriminated against.

    When they weren't being denied work just for being Irish, they generally were used as cheap, disposable labor. Unlike today's Latin American immigrants, they weren't singled out as "illegals" but were demonized as "immorals." Take your pick as to which could be considered worse in historical context.

    The key to the eventual economic empowerment of Irish immigrants was a heavy involvement in the political process: They networked, building powerful organizations, then set out to work successful alliances with non-Irish ethnic groups.

    That's the inspiring part, the part that makes me feel I'll be writing a similar success story about Hispanic immigrants in a few decades: The Irish came here poor, uninvited and uneducated. They were hated, used and abused, but they worked hard, found their own political voice and eventually became part of the landscape -- just another ethnic minority taking a fair shot at the American Dream while melting down in the great assimilation pot.

    Latinos in the U.S. are getting there. For all the angst and gnashing of teeth the Arizona anti-illegal immigrant laws are causing, what cannot be denied is that today's divisive immigration anxiety is successfully uniting the Latino community into an all-American subgroup that can and will come together to have a strong voice in the U.S. It's a community that's starting to flex real political muscle and simultaneously create alliances with Asian, European and other immigrant groups on the rise.

    Like the Irish, Latinos and their multicultural offspring will grow up to become just another part of the landscape, with representation in all walks of private, public and civic life. Oh, it'll take a while, but those days are coming.

    Like the Irish, Hispanics will achieve complete assimilation through politics.

    I can almost hear the cheers at the someday presidential inauguration: "Kiss me, I'm Latino."

    http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/...ther14.article
    I would never be so arrogant as to move to another country and expect them to change for me.

  2. #2
    Senior Member miguelina's Avatar
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    The Irish (and other immigrants) of yesteryear came thru Ellis Island, they were examined and registered, they also were not a burden on society (aka welfare, anchor babies, etc.).

    The illegal aliens (from all countries) of today come uninvited, unexamined, undocumented and are huge drain on our society.

    As a latina who emigrated legally, I am offended that the so-called hispanic "advocates" keep pushing the fallacy that all illegal aliens must be latinos.

    Stop the hate, stop the propoganda. Legal immigrants and illegal aliens are not the same at all.

    Deport illegal aliens back to their countries NOW!
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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  3. #3
    Senior Member ReggieMay's Avatar
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    Like the Irish, Latinos and their multicultural offspring will grow up to become just another part of the landscape, with representation in all walks of private, public and civic life. Oh, it'll take a while, but those days are coming.
    Not if they keep self-segregating. Not if their children drop out of school at such high rates. The Irish had dreams of making it big in their new country. The illegals are here for the free benefits.
    "A Nation of sheep will beget a government of Wolves" -Edward R. Murrow

    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

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    Senior Member Richard's Avatar
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    Yep, I'm on the Emerald Isle, and everywhere I go I see a little bit of home. In addition to the Bulmer Vintage's thrilling billboard which cheekily asks "North Cider or South Cider?"
    This V-------V (Mexican brand of bread) must be unaware of Carsons the other largest selling brand of cider.
    I support enforcement and see its lack as bad for the 3rd World as well. Remittances are now mostly spent on consumption not production assets. Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  5. #5
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Miguelina wrote:
    The Irish (and other immigrants) of yesteryear came thru Ellis Island, they were examined and registered, they also were not a burden on society (aka welfare, anchor babies, etc.).
    No Welfare, no subsidized housing, no bonus for having children to boost welfare income, no free medical care. They came legally through Ellis Island.

    Trying to compare the 20 - 30 million illegal foreign nationals that have violated current laws to the total of from 1 and 5 million Irish that came here over 150 years ago, because of a famine is grasping at straws and unrealistic. This comparison, in my opinion, is made to justify the unjustifiable

    The Irish assimilated and embraced the culture of this country and renounced their citizenship to Ireland unlike the current illegal foreign nationals that want all the benefits of citizenship in this country, while retaining dual citizenship and allegiance to the country that they left.

    The Mexicans which are the largest percentage of illegals have had a free ride and have broken our laws.

    Gone to America

    Throughout the Famine years, nearly a million Irish arrived in the United States. Famine immigrants were the first big wave of poor refugees ever to arrive in the U.S. and Americans were simply overwhelmed. Upon arrival in America, the Irish found the going to be quite tough. With no one to help them, they immediately settled into the lowest rung of society and waged a daily battle for survival.

    The roughest welcome of all would be in Boston, Massachusetts, an Anglo-Saxon city with a population of about 115,000. It was a place run by descendants of English Puritans, men who could proudly recite their lineage back to 1620 and the Mayflower ship. Now, some two hundred thirty years later, their city was undergoing nothing short of an unwanted "social revolution" as described by Ephraim Peabody, member of an old Yankee family. In 1847, the first big year of Famine emigration, the city was swamped with 37,000 Irish Catholics arriving by sea and land.

    Proper Bostonians pointed and laughed at the first Irish immigrants stepping off ships wearing clothes twenty years out of fashion. They watched as the newly arrived Irishmen settled with their families into enclaves that became exclusively Irish near the Boston waterfront along Batterymarch and Broad Streets, then in the North End section and in East Boston. Irishmen took any unskilled jobs they could find such as cleaning yards and stables, unloading ships, and pushing carts.

    And once again, they fell victim to unscrupulous landlords. This time it was Boston landlords who sub-divided former Yankee dwellings into cheap housing, charging Irish families up to $1.50 a week to live in a single nine-by-eleven foot room with no water, sanitation, ventilation or daylight.

    In Boston, as well as other American cities in the mid-1800s, there was no enforcement of sanitary regulations and no building or fire safety codes. Landlords could do as they pleased. A single family three-story house along the waterfront that once belonged to a prosperous Yankee merchant could be divided-up room by room into housing for a hundred Irish, bringing a nice profit.

    The overflow Irish would settle into the gardens, back yards and alleys surrounding the house, living in wooden shacks. Demand for housing of any quality was extraordinary. People lived in musty cellars with low ceilings that partially flooded with every tide. Old warehouses and other buildings within the Irish enclave were hastily converted into rooming houses using flimsy wooden partitions that provided no privacy.

    A Boston Committee of Internal Health studying the situation described the resulting Irish slum as "a perfect hive of human beings, without comforts and mostly without common necessaries; in many cases huddled together like brutes, without regard to age or sex or sense of decency. Under such circumstances self-respect, forethought, all the high and noble virtues soon die out, and sullen indifference and despair or disorder, intemperance and utter degradation reign supreme."

    The unsanitary conditions were breeding grounds for disease, particularly cholera. Sixty percent of the Irish children born in Boston during this period didn't live to see their sixth birthday. Adult Irish lived on average just six years after stepping off the boat onto American soil.

    Those who were not ill were driven to despair. Rowdy behavior fueled by alcohol and boredom spilled out into the streets of Boston and the city witnessed a staggering increase in crime, up to 400 percent for such crimes as aggravated assault. Men and boys cooped up in tiny rooms and without employment or schooling got into serious trouble. An estimated 1500 children roamed the streets every day begging and making mischief.

    There were only a limited number of unskilled jobs available. Intense rivalry quickly developed between the Irish and working class Bostonians over these jobs. In Ireland, a working man might earn eight cents a day. In America, he could earn up to a dollar a day, a tremendous improvement. Bostonians feared being undercut by hungry Irish willing to work for less than the going rate. Their resentment, combined with growing anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment among all classes in Boston led to 'No Irish Need Apply' signs being posted in shop windows, factory gates and workshop doors throughout the city.

    Irish in New York

    New York, three times the size of Boston, was better able to absorb its incoming Irish. Throughout the Famine years, 75 percent of the Irish coming to America landed in New York. In 1847, about 52,000 Irish arrived in the city which had a total population of 372,000. The Irish were not the only big group of immigrants arriving. A substantial German population totaling over 53,000 also arrived in 1847.

    In New York, the Irish did not face the degree of prejudice found in Boston. Instead, they were confronted by shifty characters and con artists. Confused Irish, fresh off the farm and suffering from culture shock, were taken advantage of the moment they set foot on shore.

    Immediately upon arrival in New York harbor, they were met by Irishmen known as 'runners' speaking in Gaelic and promising to 'help' their fellow countrymen. Many of the new arrivals, quite frightened at the mere prospect of America, gladly accepted. Those who hesitated were usually bullied into submission. The runner's first con was to suggest a good place to stay in New York; a boarding house operated by a friend, supposedly with good meals and comfortable rooms at very affordable rates, including free storage of any luggage.

    The boarding houses were actually filthy hell-holes in lower Manhattan. Instead of comfortable rooms, the confused arrivals were shoved into vermin-infested hovels with eight or ten other unfortunate souls, at prices three or four times higher than what they had been told. They remained as 'boarders' until their money ran out at which time their luggage was confiscated for back-rent and they were tossed out into the streets, homeless and penniless.

    During the entire Famine period, about 650,000 Irish arrived in New York harbor. All incoming passenger ships to New York had to stop for medical inspection. Anyone with fever was removed to the quarantine station on Staten Island and the ship itself was quarantined for 30 days. But Staten Island was just five miles from Manhattan. Runners were so aggressive in pursuit of the Irish that they even rowed out to quarantined ships and sneaked into the hospitals on Staten Island despite the risk of contracting typhus.

    Another way to take advantage of the Irish was to sell them phony railroad and boat tickets. Runners working with 'forwarding agents' sold
    bogus tickets that had pictures of trains or boats the illiterate immigrants wished to board to leave Manhattan for other U.S. cities. The tickets were either worthless, or if they were valid, had been sold at double the actual price or higher. On the boats, the immigrant were shoved into jam-packed steerage sections, although they thought they had paid for better accommodations. Sometimes, halfway to their destination, they were told to pay more or risk being thrown overboard.

    The penniless Irish who remained in Manhattan stayed crowded together close to the docks where they sought work as unskilled dock workers. They found cheap housing wherever they could, with many families living in musty cellars. Abandoned houses near the waterfront that once belonged to wealthy merchants were converted into crowded tenements. Shoddy wooded tenements also sprang up overnight in yards and back alleys to be rented out room by room at high prices. Similar to Boston, New York experienced a high rate of infant mortality and a dramatic rise in crime as men and boys cooped-up in squalid shanties let off steam by drinking and getting in fights.
    More at:
    http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistor ... merica.htm
    The U.S. born children (citizens) of Irish immigrants were put on "Orphan Trains" and taken out west and "redistributed".

    Excerpt From:
    http://www.irish-society.org/Hedgemaste ... Trains.htm

    [quote]The United States’ 1860 census indicated the 1,500,000 immigrants claimed to be born in Ireland, many of these mainly urban dwelling immigrants living in poverty. In that time, some of the reformers who hoped to improve the lot of the residents in a violent and dirty New York City believed that poverty was a result of moral failing, a Calvinist tenet believed by people other than Calvinists. They felt that the problems of immigrants could best be met by the absorption of the newcomers into the mainstream Protestant religions. They knew that the adult Irish-Catholic population would be unlikely to convert, but their children might be fertile ground for Protestant proselytization. As early an 1853, legal statutes allowed reformers to remove children from poor parents. For instance, if a child were truant or if a parent could not be located or the child were arrested for a second time, the child could be placed into a Protestant institution, such as the Children’s Aid Society. From the 1860’s through the 1880’s, Irish children made up a disproportionate number of children placed by the Society. In 1870, the Irish made up 44% of New York City’s population and 56% of the Children’s Aid Society placements. In 1880, those numbers were 39% and 50%.

    The Children’s Aid Society was created in response to teems of children whom the police called “street arabsâ€
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  6. #6
    Senior Member Tbow009's Avatar
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    LOL

    There is NO Comparison. The Irish came to America to become part of this nation. While some latin/hispanic people do come here for the same reason, MEXICANS DO NOT.

    The Irish were not interested in a racist, Aztlan/Reconqista and expelling the gringos from North America...

    Mexico needs to be sanctioned and the doors to our nation closed for a while. Only after all Aztlan/Reconqista and other ethnic studies have been removed from their schools should we allow any migration from Mexico...

  7. #7
    Senior Member draindog's Avatar
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    dont compare my irish forefathers to this hostile invading hoard of illiterate 3rd world rejects, STEALING INTO THE USA ILLEGALLY. first, the aliens compare themselfs to jews in concentration camps, now they are suddenly irish too, can we get some tortillas with this corn beef and cabbage? times running out for them, and desperatly they grasp and claw at any way to keep robbing and murdering here in the USA.

  8. #8
    Senior Member artclam's Avatar
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    The Irish

    Actually, most of the Irish immigrants were much poorer than the current illegal aliens from Mexico. The Irish immigrants during the famine era were arriving on our shores just a few steps ahead of starvation. Mexico has the 4th highest personal income in North Amerca and a very bad obesity problem. A better comparison to the famine Irish would be those Africans who are currently starving whose spots in the immigration queue were stolen by the Mexicans.

  9. #9
    Senior Member draindog's Avatar
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    my ancestors came here legally. so did the rest. like i said, comparing these criminals to the irish is not only an insult, but a flat out retarded lie. and it cost to come here too. not free. explain south americans of the 1800's. much less ANY 3rd worlders of the time. not the well mannered cleancut, educated catholic irish my great greats were when they left belfast and dublin. they wernt "shanty", no offence.

  10. #10
    Senior Member draindog's Avatar
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    and the irish were a huge part of the building of the USA, not a drug dealing, murdering, child-raping, hoard of illegal alien criminals. i suppose the ingrates will also compare themselfs to the italians too, what the heck. i wonder howw many SS numbers, and identities the irish have stolen from mexicans? im positive by sheer millions of americans of some irish ancestory have had theirs filched and good name ruined by these criminal foregners. insult to injury is all it is.

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