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St. Paddy’s Day & Irish American Heritage Month

When is it?

• St. Paddy’s is celebrated annually on March 17th
• Irish American Heritage Month lasts through March

Read:

• Fiona’s Luck
• O’Sullivan Stew
• On Our Way to Oyster Bay

Watch

• • What religions and faiths did Irish ancestors practice before colonization & the conversion led by St. Patrick?

Discuss:

• • What does it mean to have the gift of blarney?
  • If we have the gift of blarney – when is it okay to use? When is it not okay?
    

Moving on from panda stereotypes, now let’s talk about the leprechaun-coding that oppresses Irish Americans.

Hahah, just kidding – that is not a thing!!! There is no spectrum of disrespect where leprechaun jokes lead to hate crimes and discrimination against Irish Americans. So let’s celebrate our Irish American heritage and learn the history of where we come from while also acknowledging Irish Americans are not being attacked on the streets for our ethnicity. Nor passed by for employment, housing, leadership positions, or any of the other tiny little indignities that come with being seen as a perpetual foreigner.

Power matters when we’re talking about stereotypes and bias. Other than this one weird book where an Irish guy was depicted as a little too leprechaun-y for my tastes, Irish Americans aren’t broadly stereotyped and dehumanized in kidlit as a general rule.

ONE BOOK. I have found ONE BOOK that very subtly makes fun of Irish folks. IN A PUBLISHING SEA OF BIGOTRY AND WHITEWASHING.

I know we have jokes about alcoholism (thanks, generational trauma from colonization that still destroys families today!) and politicians who feel entitled to votes due to Kennedy blood quantum – BUT, none of that shows up in kidlit or even adult media in the way, say, slant-eyes, rice paddy hats, and kung-flu jokes do.

So with that, let’s revisit our annual St. Paddy’s call for Irish Americans to stop being hypocrites, read up about our history, and step up in solidarity with modern immigrants. Given how much we still bellyache about getting colonized and ejected from Ireland doesn’t mean we get to slam the door behind us and screw everyone else over.

Irish-American family: Talk with your kids about our history, but acknowledge that we’re past the worst of it. What responsibilities do we have as settlers to decolonize here in the US?

Post it where your ‘whatabout-racism-against-the-Irish‘ cousin who still believes reverse-racism is a thing can find it.

More resources to dig deeper:

• Endurance, Tenacity and Wits – Irish American Kids Stories for St. Paddy’s Day
• Irish American Kids Stories – While I do love a good decolonizing accomplice story (Wolfwalkers!!) – you would be amazed how many book makers lump Indigenous Irish stories with stories of their colonizers as ‘Traditional Irish Mythology,’ (no!) so trying to decolonize our list of Irish & Irish American stories is a task.
• For older kids (8+) learn how the Irish became ‘white’: How America Invented Race.
• #FamilyMovieNight discussion: Wolfwalkers( Support Raising Luminaries at the Luminary+ tier to get access to the Luminary Brain Trust)
• An Animated history of Ireland (best for older teens)