3/17: Irish cops should GET immigrant rights. Protest NYPD criminalization of immigrants.

Friday March 17, 1-2:30pm

50th St/West Side Highway, at Pier 90
Protest outside NYPD Emerald Society's St. Patrick’s Day party. 

This St. Patrick's Day, tell the NYPD to celebrate ALL of New York's immigrants.

Stop targeting communities of color.

Stop helping ICE deport New Yorkers.

Please RSVP if possible, thanks!
https://www.facebook.com/events/681203075395042


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The NYPD officers’ union says they’re eager to help ICE deport immigrant New Yorkers.

NYPD officers celebrating Irish heritage on March 17 should recall that their Irish grandparents fled violence and hunger, and were persecuted because they weren’t considered white in the US. But NYPD union boss Ed Mullins says these cops want to help ICE deport Latinx & Muslim immigrants for Trump.

Broken Windows policies allow the NYPD to deliver New York's immigrants into ICE's hands. Aggressive policing of low-level offenses needlessly arrests hundreds of black and brown people every week, including immigrants. Arrests make people extremely vulnerable to deportation, regardless of whether they committed a crime. Mayor DeBlasio refuses to rein in these NYPD tactics.

White people -- including white immigrants -- are mostly left out of Broken Windows arrests, at the NYPD's discretion.

It's racist, anti-immigrant, and dangerous.

For immigrants' safety, and for our communities: Stop Broken Windows policing.

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Join Irish Queers, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Community Voices Heard, SURJ NYC and others (list in formation.)Protest discriminatory policing that helps ICE deport New Yorkers.

For more information, 917-517-3627

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Watching Ireland's gay marriage referendum from queer NYC

Photo: mashable.com

Along with the rest of the world, we're watching Ireland today for the marriage referendum. We're not big on marriage… gay marriage in the US has been used as a way to take apart the queer movement that sees gender, race, class, health care, housing, policing, and corporate power as all part of the same web.

But...

Ireland is another place.

• In Ireland, the campaigning around the referendum has turned up some really intense homophobia, and we hope today's vote shows a victory over that.
• Conservative religion and church power in Ireland have been challenged so importantly and beautifully in the past decade or so -- today's vote is another huge challenge, and that's unquestionably fabulous.
• The NO campaign has tried to portray African and other migrants in Ireland as religious, conservative, and homophobic in an ugly racist fashion that mirrors how Western churches have been pushing homophobic laws in African states. Migrants have spoken out against the NO campaign's racism, and against homophobia. Today's YES vote will turn that racism on its head, we hope.
• The YES campaign has been extremely white (not to mention full of images of queers as just regular folks, which is different in Ireland than here, but not so different...) We hope today's YES vote will make space for queers to be queer again, rather than normal.

 Good luck to Ireland from NYC Irish Queers.

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What IrishCentral says, and what it means.

Photo: Niall O'Dowd's Facebook page, where he declares
himself an "expert in all things Irish and Irish American."

We've often thought of starting a section on this blog called "Why does the Irish Voice/IrishCentral  hate us now?" The publisher Niall O'Dowd, and his wife/columnist Debbie McGoldrick, have devoted a LOT of effort to dumping on us. Especially when we're winning a little on the parade issue, they inevitably print a story that talks about how we're not really part of the Irish community and don't "deserve" a spot in the parade.

We've never bothered to write those posts before. But now we're close -- really close -- to overturning the ban. And O'Dowd has predictably come for us with his claws out. So we'll take this on, hopefully just the one time.

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What he says: Irish Queers doesn't have "real standing" in the Irish community, unlike another Irish gay voice who is "preferring to continue to negotiate."

What he means: Irish Queers is the follow-on group from the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization. O'Dowd was initially supportive of the group, which he claims to have started by publishing a meet-up notice in the Irish Voice in 1990. His vision, it seems, was that New York's downtrodden Irish LGBT immigrants would find each other, form a social circle, and have no politics other than his own. What happened instead was that Irish queer immigrants -- some of whom were already politicized and none of whom was interested in crowning O'Dowd as their rescuer -- formed a social and political group. ILGO challenged the Catholic Archdiocese, the sexism and racism of the New York Irish political establishment, and the regime of brutally enforced politeness that tried to muzzle queers, Irish republicans, and other protesters.

So when O'Dowd says Irish Queers don't have standing, he means we don't have standing with him, and with the entwined business, political, and religious power brokers who run official Irish politics.

He also means that the Irish community in New York is a tiny, closed circle of people who can be brought in or pushed out -- and not the expansive, bustling community of New Yorkers who share in different aspects of Irish culture, different relationships with Ireland, and wildly different politics. He means: "I own this b****!"

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What he says: "Irish Queers is a fit-for-purpose once a year serial boycotter of the parade. Their website is an angry harangue against the parade and cops who are alleged racists. They are the Irish equivalent of Act Up."

What he means: O'Dowd knows nothing about Irish Queers that he doesn't read in the paper or on this blog, and even there we're only of interest to him when we talk about the parade. He's not interested in our work on antiracism from an Irish perspective in New York, nor our support for Irish activism on Palestine, nor activities like supporting political prisoners. But he does think we're Irish enough to be the Irish equivalent of ACT UP, so there's something. (P.S. A lot of those ungrateful ILGO queers he "saved" were also in ACT UP!)

He also means that challenging racist policing has nothing to do with Irish politics or community. Really, he thinks that!!

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What he says: "Of all people, Brendan Fay and his organization deserve to march in the parade. They have earned it over the years, staging an alternative parade in Queens, being open and inclusive and above all involved on issues outside the parade such as immigration and Northern Ireland."

What he means: There are good queers and there are bad queers. Instead of asking politely for bigots to be nice to them, bad queers confront them on the street and in the press. Instead of negotiating deals in smoky rooms, they prefer public conversations about right and wrong. Good queers go to Mass, they attend fundraisers, they preserve the sanctity of the back room deal. Good queers are grateful to O'Dowd.

He means (it seems?) that homophobia and religious bigotry would have naturally faded under the withering pressure of an alternative parade. That the 25 years of protest at the parade, and of civil disobedience in which queers laid their bodies on the line against church and NYPD violence, were rude diversions by imposters "seeking a cheap headline."

He means he wants to rewrite the history, just at the moment that we win. He wants queer challenges to the NYPD, the church, the City, and the old conservative bastions of Irish New York fade to away. In their place, he wants the story to be that asking nicely is what did the trick. Fat chance.

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Protest Eric Garner verdict - Thurs. 12/4 at 5:30pm

Many protests are planned for tonight and tomorrow in the wake of the failure to indict Eric Garner's killer.
Irish Queers are going together tomorrow (Thursday) at 5:30pm, Foley Square.
Please join us -- text 917-517-3627 to find us.

Others tonight include:
5pm Times Square
7pm Union Square
7pm Rockefeller Center/Christmas Tree lighting

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New AOH President Against Coalition Building for Immigration Reform

Remember AOH President Jack Meehan and his pledge to ramp up the AOH's anti-choice efforts? He just got voted out at the AOH convention in New Orleans at the end of July. The new AOH president, Seamus Boyle of Philadelphia, has pledged to make immigration reform the main focus of his presidency. Below is a snippet of an interview he gave to IrishPhiladelphia.com:

Q. Do you feel like the Irish need to work with other immigrant groups to achieve reform? I mean, fundamentally, this is not an Irish issue so much as an immigrant issue, is it? Can we really achieve any progress on Irish immigration without finding common cause with, say, Latin American or Asian groups?

A. I think that the Irish have more to offer than some of the other groups and I do not mean to degrade any nationality. The Irish have a head start on other groups because the have a tremendous work ethic, great education and speak English, and that is an advantage for employers. We as Irish are not looking for anything except to be treated fairly.

Sounds pretty racist from over here, Seamus. If you don't mean to degrade any nationality, why are you implying non-Irish immigrants don't have a strong work ethic, are not well educated, and don't speak English? Seamus Boyle and the modern day AOH have much more in common with nativists than they'd like to think, that's for sure.

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2 of convictions of New Jersey 4 overturned

Last Thursday, a NY state appeals court overturned the convictions of 2 of the NJ4.

Terrain Dandridge, 21, whom a jury found guilty of second-degree gang assault, had her conviction reversed and indictment dismissed. Originally, she had been sentenced to 3 1/2 years. She cannot be re-tried on any charges and was expected to be released from prison yesterday. She is expected to meet with Angela Davis in the Bay Area today.

The court also overturned the charges against Renata Hill, 26, who was found guilty of second-degree gang assault and third-degree assault, but she can be re-tried. The court ruled that the judge's instructions to the jury on the gang assault charge in the original trial were incorrect, therefore her conviction on that charge could not be upheld. Hill was originally sentenced to eight years in prison, but hopefully she will be released from prison since she has already been incarcerated beyond the 1 year maximum penalty for the third-degree assault.

Following this case has been very important to the work of Irish Queers in New York City. First and foremost, because of our history as Irish/Irish American people, we understand the importance of self-defense and honor the bravery of those that dare to rise up against hatred. No woman, queer or otherwise, should EVER be incarcerated for defending herself against someone that is threatening their safety, but sadly this is an all to familiar story in our racist/sexist/classist/homophobic "criminal justice" system.

(And for those that might be unclear, street harassment (cat-calling), addressing people as "fucking dykes", spitting on them, choking them, pulling out chunks of their hair, and saying, "I'll fuck you straight", is threatening behavior. This behavior is even more triggering when you've already seen one of your friends, Sakia Gunn, murdered in 2003 for proclaiming her queerness and rejecting the advances of a straight man).

Secondly, we see the harsh sentences (and insulting comments) handed down by Judge Edward J. McLaughlin in the original trial within the context of the infamous homophobia of the NY Irish/Irish American community. Every year on March 17th at the St. Patrick's Day Parade, men like Judge McLaughlin are given our city streets to proudly celebrate their bigotry and assimilation under the guise of preserving and protecting "traditional" (?) Irish culture, as if homophobia/transphobia/misogyny/racism/classism are essentially Irish. While some in the queer community don't understand why we bother to continually challenge the St. Patrick's Day Parade, we see Judge McLaughlin's actions in the case of the NJ4 as a perfect example why our work is necessary…because Irish/Irish American bigotry has severe consequences in the LGBT community.

While we are happy that the convictions of Terrain Dandridge and Renata Hill have been overturned and that Judge McLaughlin's biases and incompetence have been called out, it doesn't make up for what these women have gone through. We will keep following this case and will post more information as it becomes available. Appeals for the remaining NJ4, Patreese Johnson and Venice Brown, are under way.

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Court room support needed today for NJ4

Two of the New Jersey 4, Renata Hill and Terrain Dandrige, have their appeal hearings TODAY at 2pm. If you can attend, please be advised that lawyers for the 4 have all asked supporters be extremely quiet and respectful in the courtroom since its different than a regular jury trial. Please come out if you can!

Tuesday June 3rd
2pm
27 Madison Ave. (Enter at 25th street & there is only one court room.)

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From the streets of Queens.....WE ARE ALL SEAN BELL!

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UNDERCOVER NYPD = DEATH SQUAD

.....and yesterday, we learned (once again) that they can kill anybody they want and get away with it.

Here are pictures from the rally & march organized by People's Justice Coalition last night...

Sean Bell's step brother addressed the crowd

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Justice for Sean Bell This Friday 4/25 in Queens

JUSTICE FOR SEAN BELL AND ALL VICTIMS OF POLICE VIOLENCE!!
COME OUT APRIL 25th, THE DAY OF THE VERDICT!!

In Nov. 2006, Sean Bell was murdered by the NYPD in a hail of 50 bullets. His friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, were seriously injured. 3 of the officers involved now await the verdict of their trial. The judge has stated that he will announce the verdict on FRIDAY, APRIL 25th. PEOPLES JUSTICE for Community Control and Police Accountability is calling for a rally and community speak-out in front of the Queens DA's office ON THIS DAY*.

COME OUT: APRIL 25th at 5:30 pm
To the Queens DA's Office
125-01 Queens Blvd. (between Hoover Ave & 82nd Ave.)
E or F train to Union Turnpike

The NYPD's murder of Bell and attempted murders of Benefield and Guzman are NOT isolated or random events. They represent the continued targeting of communities of color by the police and the lack of accountability for police misconduct and abuse.

Endorsers (list in formation): Allianza Dominicana, Audre Lorde Project, Black Radical Congress-NY, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, Center for Constitutional Rights, Congress for Korean Reunification, Critical Resistance, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), DJ Chela, Domestic Workers United (DWU), El Puente, FIERCE, Fr. Luis Barrios – St. Mary's Episcopal Church (West Harlem, Manhattan), Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), Hasan Salaam, Hip Hop Caucus, Immigrant Justice Solidarity Project, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas, International Action Center, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ), Justice Committee, Lynne Stewart Organization, Make the Road by Walking, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Mano a Mano, May 1st Coalition, National Hip Hop Political Convention, New Abolitionists, Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, October 22nd Coalition, Parents Against Police Brutality, Party for the People, Rebel Diaz, Regeneracion, Revolting in Pink (R.I.P), Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities (RIPPD), Sylvia Rivera Law Project, VAMOS Unidos. War Resisters League, Where We Live Radio Program/WBAI-FM NY.
For more information about the April 25th rally/community speak-out, Peoples' Justice, and other cases of police violence go to: peoplesjustice.org and myspace.com/peoplesjustice or email info{AT}peoplesjustice.org.

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Speaking of Shaz Oye...

Speaking of Shaz Oye, this article appeared in the Irish Voice a few weeks back. We realize that it's a bit late in blog-time, but it's never to late to call out bigotry, right? Of Shaz, Mike Farragher wrote:

A BLACK lesbian Irish activist who shaves her head. Uh-huh. Yeah,right. I thought the same thing as you while I prepared to meet Shaz Oye before her gig at Asbury Park's the Saint.

Would she challenge me to an arm wrestle, or brand me a clueless Yank cracker for still hoping that Michael Bloomberg enters the race and saves us from our lame presidential alternatives?

Nothing could be further from the truth. In person, this delightful folk sensation has a warm flannel personality and a smile that lights up the room.

Okay, where should we start?

While we applaud the fact that the Irish Voice is covering more issues pertaining to the Irish/Irish American LGBT community lately, the"humor" in the opening of this article is unacceptable....yet very predictable. Writing (and capitalizing) A BLACK lesbian Irish activist who shaves her head appeals to the assumed inner bigot of Irish Voice readers and reflects their attitudes about people of color, lesbians, and those do not conform to gender norms. Oh, and those uppity activists, that are often people of color, women, queers, and gender non-conformers that are driven to be activists because our lives are reduced to jokes and jabs (and far worse) by the Mike Farraghers of the world.

Farragher then stresses that in person Shaz was nothing like his bigoted, stereotypical assumptions. Great......so now the New York Irish community can take a deep breath and go buy Shaz's CD or see her in concert because she might actually be a decent person & artist? This was an otherwise nice article about an Irish artist that is so worthy of attention, but using humor that depends on racism, sexism, and homophobia to succeed says so much more about Mike Farragher & the people that would share his thoughts than it does those being made fun of.

Why does the New York Irish American community wear its bigotry like a badge of pride and honor?

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What??!!

It's funny to hear O'Dowd compare Rev. Wright to David Duke when he went on WNYC earlier this year to talk about "abolishing St. Patrick's Day as we know it" and wanting to invite renowned racist and homphobe Ian Paisley to march in the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade.

It appears that O'Dowd is the one that uses race issues when it suits him, whether it's to forgive Paisley, appease big business to "invest" in Northern Ireland, make sacrifices upon the altar of the Clinton dynasty, or use white privilege and entitlement as the cornerstone for the framing of ILIR's "Legalize the Irish" campaign.

As Irish Americans doing anti-racist work, IQ is interested in debate around these issues. What do you think of O'Dowd's comments? Leave a comment, start a debate.

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News from all over the Irish Diaspora....

• "It would be better if condoms were sold VAT free. They are not luxury items, they are essential in reducing rates of sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies." This quote comes from Audrey Simpson of the Irish Family Planning Association. I'd also like to add that CONDOMS SAVE LIVES in addition to reducing rates of STIs and unwanted pregnancies. After pressure from activists, the Irish Republic reduced the VAT (value added tax) on condoms from 21% to 13.5%. The cost of condoms in Ireland is one of the highest in the EU. For more information, click here.

• Good news for trans folks in the Republic of Ireland.....The High Court in Dublin declared that Irish birth registration laws are in conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights. This decision stems from the case of Dr. Lydia Foy, a dentist that was denied a birth certificate that described her as female. For the full article, click here. We will keep an eye on this case.

• It's funny how the AOH in America says Irish gay people don't exist, cuz LGBT folks in Ireland were picketing the Parliament on Valentine's Day. (Note: Members of Irish Queers are more likely to be signers of this petition than picketing here in NYC for gay marriage.)

• Speaking of this American notion that Irish LGBT people don't exist, check out QueerSpace Belfast and GLYNI (Gay and Lesbian Youth Northern Ireland) on YouTube.

• If you are in the Los Angeles area, check out Stay Forever: The Life and Music of Dusty Springfield at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's Renberg Theatre. Yes straight people, she was one of us.

• Renowned bigot Ian Paisley Jr. has resigned from the Northern Ireland Executive. Not only was he a homphobe, but he was crooked too!

• This story isn't of queer interest specifically, but it's nice to see an article where an Irish American is interrogating America's racist, anti-immigrant history....especially in these times. Check out this article on 19th century anti-Chinese racism in Oregon.

• And finally, there is some sad news to report. A 15 year old, Lawrence King, was shot twice in the head by one of his classmates after being taunted for being gay and wearing make-up, feminine jewelry, and high-heeled boots to school in Oxnard, CA. The shooter, Brandon McInerney, has an Irish last name. He has been charged with premeditated murder and will be tried as an adult. We will be following this case.

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2008 Grand Marshal

The Irish Echo ran this article about the 2008 Grand Marshal, Tommy Smyth. I love this quote from Irish Consul General Niall Burgess:

"The parade is the greatest public expression of the kind of people we are, open, fun-loving, generous. Tommy Smyth is open, fun-loving and generous and he is our representative this year," Burgess said.



Um, what f&%king planet is he from? Has he not heard about the bigoted reputation of this parade and its organizers for the past 17 years?

In my experience, if you ask people about Irish people, especially queers and people of color, you will hear that many think of Irish Americans as racist, homophobic, conservative-right-wing-bigots.....not as kind, open, fun-loving, and generous. (ILIR's framing of immigration isn't helping in this area either, but I won't go into that now.)

Last year, Michael Patrick MacDonald wrote this piece about how some of us are actually annoyed and ashamed about the stereotype of the Irish bigot. While I agreed with this article, the only thing I think was missing from it was a CALL TO ACTION! Who better to stand up and challenge Irish American bigotry than other Irish Americans? We can't just sit around and hope and wait for bigots to become un-bigoted. If you're interested in being more than an arm-chair liberal, come join us on Fifth Avenue this March 17th. Or better yet, come to a meeting and help us plan this year's demo ;-)

But wait.......I almost forgot my other favorite quote from the Irish Echo article. John Dunleavy, who forever keeps preaching about the parade's importance in terms of protecting and preserving faith, values and culture (ick), also stated that the parade contributed between $125 and $150 MILLION DOLLARS to the city's economy in additional sales tax. With numbers like that, it doesn't take a genius to see that the city is making a nice profit off queer exclusion & homophobia.

(photo by Andy Humm)

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