“The luck of the Irish” is a phrase that is thrown around almost haphazardly — it almost sounds flattering.
It is anything but.
Luck and the people of the Emerald Isle are so frequently associated that it is hard to find a casino or scratch-off ticket without a four-leaf clover.
It has a feeling. The bitter aroma of a starch beer, biting but sweet. It conjures visions of cheap green plastic glasses, tacky tees and beads.
It makes it easy to forget that the Irish are a colonized civilization. That is perhaps even an understatement.
The Irish people were the blueprint for the English experiment at subjugation and empire. It was invaded by the English in 1169. Academics for centuries have noted it as the first English colony.
It was no peaceful marriage. The only thing the Irish became intimate with was the armory of oppression.
It is no mistake that Ireland a pro-Palestinian European nation. Both know well the hand of English Imperialism and live in its shadow.
The Irish people endured centuries of colonization, slaughter, famine, cultural erasure and bigotry under colonial rule.
The great Irish potato famine took so many lives and sent so many abroad that a century and a half later the population has still not recovered. Even today, blood stains the sweeping emerald fields of the borderlands.
She still bears a scar. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are separated to this day, they are formed of two peoples: one British, one Irish. Neither are truly comfortable.
The Irish did not find a warm welcome in Britain or America.
They endured many of the same and some entirely novel forms of bigotry in the New World. They did the work no one else wanted. They often died doing that too.
Desperation drove the Irishman to the mountains looking for gold. Panning for flecks of gold in flowing streams in cold, desolate mountains seemed a better business venture than looking for work in Boston. The Irish seemed to find luck and gold, compared to many others hunting in the mad rush. For that reason, “luck of the Irish” became a label for dumb luck that is totally unattributable to intellect or skill.
Or that’s the most accepted version of the story anyway.
The Irish did not fall into social acceptance after the Gold Rush either. While some families like the Kennedys and many other climbers worked their way up through the social ladder, many found continued poverty for generations.
It was not until the GI Bill cemented many Irish American veterans in the middle class by providing assisted homeownership and education that the Irish truly became broadly accepted.
Even thereafter, racist stereotypes were used liberally to disparage President John F. Kennedy during his run for office. Even today, there have only ever been two Catholic presidents, due in some part to the same cultural prejudices. A chief critique? That he was entitled and lazy. That he fell into everything he had from luck.
Some stereotypes never change.
If you choose to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, look at it as a way to not only have fun with your friends, but also consider it a day to celebrate the Irish and all that they have endured.