We Irish are not whiter than white. We have a long history of racism

IT’S commonplace in our public conversation to deify Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, but the connection between Irishness and racism is studiously avoided. Its uncomfortable, it’s ingrained, but it’s a deeply unattractive part of us.

The killing of Michel Brown, a black teenager, on August 5, in Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis, Missouri, has received worldwide attention. He was shot by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. A grand jury has decided that Wilson has no charge to answer. Nothing to see, so move on. But, stop, there is a fleeting glimpse of ourselves in that mirror.

Part of the Irish identity abroad was opposition to people of darker colour. This is not a Frankenstein mutation, triggered by emigration. It is rooted here, and it is still here now.