I was so upset last night from the violence committed by and on the police. Most of us want peace but those who don’t, have weapons.
I stayed up all night working on this episode in lieu of what I had planned to post because it seemed timely. The story of the oppression of Catholics by the British/Protestants erupted as oppression will, violence. Then the hit, and the counter hit and so on.
This episode contains a story by Niall Mc Keown about growing up during The Troubles. The story takes place in Ireland but is repeated through the world through time. I traveled to Northern Ireland in 1999 and was amazed by the idea of conflict that was not race based. There were peace talks going on at the time between IRA (Sinn Fein) and the Loyalists. Representatives of the groups refused to be in the same room together. I was in England and naively commented to my host (Niall’s brother) how immature that was. He simply said, “You don’t understand” He was right.
The Bogside is an impoverished part of Derry where many of the Catholics live. Here are photos of the murals on the sides of the buildings. Imagine waking up to that every single day to remind yourself how abused and oppressed your people are.
This is a photo of the image Niall refers to with his parish priest waving a white handkerchief.
This mural refers to prisoners being held by the British. The British charge them as terrorists where the IRA wants the prisoners to be considered prisoners of war. In this photo notice the “e” in “release” A giant wheel broke away from a military vehicle and crushed a young girl against this wall. When you look at the wall closely you can see scrapes and nail marks as witnesses tried to free her from the wheel unsuccessfully.
Here is some history on The Troubles.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/troubles
The song I included is by Chinua Ford. “Father” brings me comfort because I grew up listening to Chinua sing and play piano. It is beautiful and soothing and just what I needed when I put this episode together. The transition between the story and the song made my eyes well every time. Here is a project Chinua is involved in.
http://www.shekinacommunity.com/