HOW DO YOU respond to someone questioning your ‘Irishness’? Why you release a torrent of Irish on them, of course.
Gaeilgeoir and journalist Úna-Minh Caomhánach, who has Vietnamese heritage, has always been frank about her experiences with racism in Ireland.
In 2013, she wrote about being racially abused and spat on in Dublin city centre, a “degrading” experience she later reported to the Gardaí.
On Saturday, she tweeted a drawing featuring “real comments and racial slurs” she has received from “very real people” time and again:
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The drawing was shared thousands of times on Twitter, prompting an outpouring of support for Úna-Minh.
“I just want to stress I’m totally grand,” she said of the abuse. “This stuff just NEEDS to be highlighted and not pushed under the rug.”
However, she did receive this email from a man complaining that if anyone can claim to be Irish, “being Irish becomes meaningless” – a “crime against humanity”, apparently.
Úna-Minh responded to his claims that to be Irish you have to be a product of “the Irish environment” – entirely as Gaeilge.
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It’s clear that you have some strong opinions. In relation to racism… there isn’t another side, as you said. It’s a pity that you don’t see how narrow-minded your points are.
You have a rotten, negative, gloomy outlook on life with no happiness. I am not responsible for your feelings of insecurity. I’m not to blame for having confidence in myself (something you do not have, it seems).
“I think it’s absolutely pathetic that you sent a personal email to me to justify your racism,” she concluded.
Everyone had the same response: “Is that Irish enough for you, man?”
A big bualadh bos for Úna-Minh.
