Colin Sheridan: We’ve all sat down by the hearth on someone else’s home turf

We don't need to look far to see the results of systemic bigotry

A flower rests in front of California National Guardsmen during a protest outside the Federal Building in Los Angeles. Picture: AP

A couple of years back while escorting an American guest around the wildest recesses of Connemara, we encountered a local chap who was incredibly impressed to meet someone from the East coast of the States. 

It sounds made up, like a badly written sketch from a Martin McDonagh movie, especially given the ubiquity of Americans in Clifden, Leenan, Kylemore, and Renvyle each summer. But, sure as a soft day on Dogs Bay, there he was lobbing turf onto an open fire, clearly in thrall to the exotic outlier that sat before him.