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Oh. My. God.
Bill O'Reilly is an... idiot is too kind a word.
On his show recently, O'Reilly compared Irish immigration to enslavement of African-Americans.
On his show recently, O'Reilly compared Irish immigration to enslavement of African-Americans.
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There is a grain of truth in what he's saying, but as usual he's making a mess of it all.
A fair number of Irish did come to America in awful circumstances, aboard "coffin ships" where many of the people onboard died during the passage. Many, when they arrived here, went into indentured servitude, under conditions that were functionally identical to slavery.
I could go on, but there's little point in it. The history of the Irish in America is a history of exploitation and inequality, but it is not the equal of what black African immigrants experienced, either during the years of slavery or, perhaps even more damaging, the long years of segregation. The children of Irish immigrants grew up in American cities with local accents and blended into the overall society. Conversely the children of black slaves were marked by their skin color as different, and were systematically disadvantaged by a system designed to keep them down.
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pfft!
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O'Reilly is an idiot for a lengthy list of reasons.