Page 2A Thursday. March 28.2002: The Sun

Sun Journal

Ireland learns to accept others• Racism:, )//«• ceuturic* <tfit*•icuph: wuiffrfiiiitfj, the itnii"-•0aent iiatiiiH x/r/«/<yfc> trith

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DUBLIN". Ireland — WhenMlnja Mandlangu arrived here withUs wire and five children after flee-jig from civil war In their native2ongo seven years ago. the wel-:omc could not have been warmer.

-Everyone was so friendly. 'Wcl-:onie to Ireland, how are you?'"Mandlangu recalled, A fnw yearsalcr. the grecllng changed.

•They said on the news that the/..••'.. man Is coming." he said atlis home In the South Dublin com-•nunlly of Tallaghl. 'They said.Gel back to your country.' Samepeople don't like the skin."

Today's Ireland is gaining

1es as an Impoverished Island —mmlgranls. And that's triggeringin increase In racism — an emo-.lon that was less pronouncedA'hen virtually all residents shared:ommon roots and the country*-as losing people

It's on ironic und uncomfort-

Education: Irish football star Janon Sherlock, who u of part- AsiDay Against Racism before Its observance March 2l in Dublin.

descent, helps promote the International

football star who Is part Asian, as a Jobs to foreigners as the "Celtic Tl-cautlon against prejudice. In the ger" economy turned a pour nation

tress where revolutionaries werejailed and executed In the 1800sand early 1900s, guide Mary Kir-wan has taken to ending her tourswith a caution against prejudice.The Republic was created to allowdiversity, she reminds visitors.

Her group passes a display In-cluding the Proclamation of 1916.which urged Independence fromBritish rule. The Republic guar-antees religious and civil liberty.equal tights and equal opportuni-ties to all Its citizens ... cherishingall the children of the nationequally and oblivious of the differ-ences carefully fostered by an aliengovernment, which have divided aminority from the majority In thepast."

-It's kind of payback time forus We've asked other nations to letour people In." said Klrwan. who isrelated through marringe lo re-tired Baltimore County Fire ChiefPaul 11 Remcke.

Peace activists say they wont todeter the rise of hate groups thathuve tormented parts of Europeand the United States,

"Ireland Is better than In Eng-land In England. It's very racist."said 38-year-old Zoln Ail He ownson Asian-Arabic grocery a fewblocks from where Saint Patrick issaid to have baptized converts toCatholicism In the fifth century

Said All: "It's very good peoplehere."

People Involved In combatingracism hope to show tangibleprogress within two years, and the

:ountrymen faced bigotry when.hey Immigrated to the UnitedStales. England and elsewhere

Colonial Maryland required.hat voiers swear oaths againstCatholicism, principally affectingIrish immigrants Later waves ofIrish to Ihe Uniled States werejonfronted with "No Irish Need\pply" signs In major cities.

'The Irish In a sense have not•eaclcd as well as they should, par-.Icularly for a people who haveirofited from Immigration." soldLawrence J. McCaffrey, an authorif 11 books on Ireland und Irish-Mnericans. and history professor.•mcrltus at Loyola University InChicago. "Next to the Jewish peo-ple, the Irish are probnhly the mostnigralory people in the world."

To Ireland's credit. It hasnountcd a major campaign to:ombat racism and passed antl-liscrimination laws, but recentleadlines have been disturbing.

In January, a gang with Iron:lubs fatally beat a 2S-ycor-old Chi-icse student here In what was de-bribed a,i a Imie crime. Police ore.till Investigating the murder,vhlch sparked anil-racism demon-

whether the state-run televisionstation should quit Its doily broad-cast of the Angelus. a Catholicprayer, because the country, whilestill predominantly Catholic, Is foslbecoming home lootiiers.

-It's like a Uttle bubble lhal'sready lo burst." said Joe McUo-nagh, a former Irish sports officialwho chairs the nonprofit NationalAnti-Racism Awareness Program."We've been on the periphery ofEurope for so long. This Is a newanimal for us. to welcome people toour shores."

McDonagh presides over a new.

"Know Racism." The "K" and the"W are shaded on signs to deliverthe underlying message SingerSinead O'Connor, actor LlamNecson and Waterford Crystal de-signer John Rocha arc among ce-lebrltle.% who have lent their namesmid talents to the effort

The dnve began after the Irishgovernment recognized the prob-lem in :,.(.: and decided It had tocome to grips with It. A total of S5million (in US dollars) has been

The businessmen don't carethat we're here, but people who arepoor don't want to hear anythingabout black people or African peo-ple." said Mandlangu. the politicalrefugee from the Democratic Re-public of Congo. They think weget Jobs from the government, thatwe get mobile phones from thegovernment, that we get a car. geta house from the government. Peo-ple don't understand the meaningof refugee."

Mandlangu and his family dolive In government-subsidizedhousing, but receive no car. nophone and no Job. he says Heworks for an organization thathelps African settlers In Ireland.

Mandlangu said he had no Ideahis destination was Ireland whenhis wUc paid someone to arrange adeparture from their homeland.Bui he's proud that his childrenare gelling betier schooling thanthey would have In his nulivc landand thai his daughter, a runner, isaltempling to qualify for the Irishchampionships.

He's disappointed aboul the

The Initiative — r consplc- lusloncd about his new home.

ilher case, two women were sen-

>rtson for severely beating a blackMoroccan woman In Cork whilehey shouted racial slurs.

Since October. 40 complaints of

"Conversation about Race" In the to get benefits from the govern-

lie service cumpal^is against teen Irish people They're really sosmoking and drunken driving friendly."

Ireland was losing 30.000 resl- The national police force. Andents a year through the cconoml- Oarda Slochuna. is also receiving

..:..• been reported to the NationalConsultative Commitiee on Kac-sm and MulllculluruUsm.

Ireland has long known rcll-flous strife. Just monlhs ago In

of technol- charged situation:1990s brought a surgeogy Jobs —and more reasons to re- Thai was In evidence one re-main or move here cent weekday at a crowded bus

for education programs doubledlost year,

Though acllvlsis rind that en-

fort

.choul post angry mobs In e scenehat was compared to Little Rock.\rk.. in 1057. But racial hate Is alewerand growing malignancy.

The Insh government has re-sponded In recent years with lawsigains i discrimination In housing.• • - . , . I ; . > i i and business. And'Olces of tolerance are building,

Billboards dot Dublin with Iheilcturc of Jason Sherlock, a Gaelic

latton last year was 26.000. accord- ncan woman carrying a childe of

the difficulty. For example, an ad

prejudice against Irish gypsies.called travellers, recorded highpublic recognition — and almostno change In acceptance, saidLlam Conlon. with the Irish De-portment of Justice, Equality andLaw Reform

"Attitudes can change over-night." Conlon said. "Just look atSept. II."

Even su, he acknowledges, itwill be very difficult to do so.

Nearly 300.000 people have im-migrated to Ihe Irish Republicsince 1895 — about 10 percent ofthe nation's current total popula-tion Refugees have arrived frommore than 100 countries. IncludingBosnia. Somalia and Vietnam.

In turn, forces that have histor-ically fueled racism around theglobe have revealed themselves.Natives began fearing the loss of

had paid him for her ticket, he saidotherwise and refused her entry. Apolice officer waded through thecurious crowd, spoke briefly withthe driver, and the woman andbaby took their seat

The officer said afterward thatshe didn't know who was telling

fuse Ihe situation.Elsewhere In Dublin, ol Kil-

mainham Gaol, a grim, slone for-