Racism in Ireland
Setting: Ireland; more specifically, the Connaught province, but methinks I need more research into this to specify further.
Time: Modern
I Googled: "racism in ireland," "irish racism," "black culture in ireland," various corruptions thereof.
My character is the adopted son of two Irish humanitarians. We'll call him... Adam for now. He's technically Kenyan, though I never think of him as such, since he was only a few months old when he left. He likes long walks on the beach, superheroes, and since it is generally not possible to become a superhero in the real world, he wants to be a cop because that's the next best thing.
The first thing Google has told me is that racism is sadly still going strong in his country. Search up the third and you'll read some very scary testaments to it (a lot of it comes down to, "Ireland is for Irish people. If you are not white, get the hell out of my country. Insert cussing and slurs here." There, I've probably just saved you from a few rage-induced aneurysms.) But for all the hate on the internet the Nigerian mayor has going for him for no reason aside from the fact that he came from Nigeria--I can't find any accounts of racism in real life. Generally people allow themselves to be ruder on the internet because it gives them a certain degree of anonymity; they might not be so overtly hateful off message boards because they have their reputations at stake. But they might voice it too. I don't know, I've never been.
Here in Canada, in my city, it's very subtle. If someone is intolerant, they will simply ignore the person, shoot them disgusted glances or stare, but making your irrational hatred very public is so frowned upon it would be an incredibly stupid idea to do it. Something tells me that is not so in Ireland. little_details, what is the style of racial bigotry there? What might Adam be subjected to over the years, in school, on the bus, walking down the street? Could his race possibly be a roadblock in following his dream? What's the magnitude of what he might encounter, and how widespread is this, really? Messageboards don't represent the entirety of the population, after all.
Time: Modern
I Googled: "racism in ireland," "irish racism," "black culture in ireland," various corruptions thereof.
My character is the adopted son of two Irish humanitarians. We'll call him... Adam for now. He's technically Kenyan, though I never think of him as such, since he was only a few months old when he left. He likes long walks on the beach, superheroes, and since it is generally not possible to become a superhero in the real world, he wants to be a cop because that's the next best thing.
The first thing Google has told me is that racism is sadly still going strong in his country. Search up the third and you'll read some very scary testaments to it (a lot of it comes down to, "Ireland is for Irish people. If you are not white, get the hell out of my country. Insert cussing and slurs here." There, I've probably just saved you from a few rage-induced aneurysms.) But for all the hate on the internet the Nigerian mayor has going for him for no reason aside from the fact that he came from Nigeria--I can't find any accounts of racism in real life. Generally people allow themselves to be ruder on the internet because it gives them a certain degree of anonymity; they might not be so overtly hateful off message boards because they have their reputations at stake. But they might voice it too. I don't know, I've never been.
Here in Canada, in my city, it's very subtle. If someone is intolerant, they will simply ignore the person, shoot them disgusted glances or stare, but making your irrational hatred very public is so frowned upon it would be an incredibly stupid idea to do it. Something tells me that is not so in Ireland. little_details, what is the style of racial bigotry there? What might Adam be subjected to over the years, in school, on the bus, walking down the street? Could his race possibly be a roadblock in following his dream? What's the magnitude of what he might encounter, and how widespread is this, really? Messageboards don't represent the entirety of the population, after all.