The banner is one thing but the New York parade has always raised eyebrows

The St Patrick’s Day parade in New York has always been controversial. In the 1980s and 1990s, while Northern Ireland was in the middle of the Troubles, NORAID would walk in the New York parade and collect money for the IRA. In 1983 Michael Flannery, who organised NORAID, was chosen as grand marshal. The decision lead to a number of politicians boycotting the event that year.

The New York parade has a long history of being anti LGBT. It was only in 2015 that LGBT workers in NBC were allowed to march under a banner. Gay rights groups are still excluded from the Staten Island march. When Bernadette Devlin travelled to America on a speaking tour in the 1960s, she called out Irish Americans for being complicit in the oppression of African Americans. Certain elements didn’t like that and Devlin was later barred from the parade.

Skip forward to 2019 and Mary Lou McDonald is embroiled in a very different furore. On the 16^th March 2019 she was pictured at the New York parade holding a banner saying, ‘England get out of Ireland.’ Everyone from Colum Eastwood to Simon Coveney have condemned the picture. The Tánaiste tweeted saying, “Mary Lou McDonald this is NOT leadership – it’s offensive, divisive and an embarrassment – grow up, this is NOT Ireland in 2019! We are better than this!”

There’s been quite a bit of debate about what the banner means. The banner says “England,” but it’s clearly meant to refer to the British Government. It’s a hipster version of “Brits Out,” used during the army’s presence in Northern Ireland during Operation Banner. It doesn’t mean unionists or protestants in Northern Ireland.

To argue, however, that the people offended by the banner just need to wise up and understand context is to be ignorant of how the phrase “Brits Out” has been used over the years. I’ve had it hurled in my face before. The phrase is shouted at flag protesters, the PSNI and English people living in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein used to advocate paying opponents of a united Ireland to leave Northern Ireland. Not so much “Brits Out” but “pay the Brits to go.” People remember that when they see the photo of McDonald.

Some will look at the banner and shrug it off, others won’t. When your experience of “England get out of Ireland” is personal and direct, you stop believing that it isn’t aimed at you. Sinn Fein shouldn’t have to disown its anti-colonial stance but, if the party is genuine when it says it wants to listen to protestant and unionist voices, it needs to open its ears.

The banner McDonald was holding has been a part of the New York parade since 1948. It’s popular and, according to organisers, “gets the loudest cheer.” It caused controversy in 2014 when the PSNI walked in the parade while the banner was carried nearby. It speaks to an element of Irish America that has always raised eyebrows.

Aside from the Troubles, there has always been an uncomfortable link between the island of Ireland and right-wing Irish Americans. One thinks of the Americans who piled into the Republic during the eighth amendment and equal marriage referendums to try and sway the vote. In recent years, Republicans like Paul Ryan and Peter King have spoken of their proud Irish heritage while supporting “muslim bans” and Trump’s wall with Mexico. Once an ardent IRA supporter, he recently advocated the mass surveillance of Muslim Americans because of terror fears. King walked beside Leo Varadkar at the 2018 New York parade.

Even if the ‘England get out of Ireland’ banner had not been included with the New York parade, people should still view the event with a wary eye. The furore over the banner is one thing, but it’s high time our politicians distanced themselves from people that cosplay with our identity while trampling on our values.

Sarah Creighton

Sarah is a writer and lawyer from Belfast.