Second-generation minorities reveal the true impact of racial abuse in Ireland
'long Is Paul Rights Said Picture: Equality Mission Tackling Term A Racism Sinéad Gibney Project' Sharp Chief And Missioner Human Irish
Racism and discrimination have a “devastating” impact on second-generation ethnic minority young people in Ireland, a new study has found.
The report by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) shows discrimination, racism, and microaggression are “ever-present” aspects of ethnic minority young peoples’ experiences which can have a very negative effect on their self-esteem and self-worth.
Participants aged between 18 and 24 highlighted racial discrimination in a range of contexts, including schools, the workplace, universities, and public spaces.
Verbal assaults were the most common type of discrimination experienced, participants highlighted microaggressions as the worst issues faced. These included "dirty looks", people holding onto bags, or crossing the road to avoid you.
The report said the volume of racist experiences reported should be a cause of “urgent concern”.
In public, 'microassaults' — mainly verbal attacks such as name-calling or explicit ethnic or racial slurs — were reported to be the most frequently experienced form of discrimination.
Participants stated that online platforms often provide a space for less confident people to “be racist” or say “discriminatory things”.
One participants recalled being told they should "leave the country" and being sent the video of African-American man George Floyd being killed by a US police officer.
“During the whole Black Lives Matter thing, getting told 'oh you should die, you should leave the country'... And again people then DMd me the video of him [George Floyd] being shot saying 'get out of the country, you should die',” said one participant.
Another said they are “always” called a “dirty Nigerian asylum seeker” online.
Participants also reported the existence of violent racial abuse experienced both personally and through second-hand reports of their friends and family — which ranged from overtly racist comments experienced in school at a young age, to physical assault, and serious injury.
Inappropriate or inadequate responses to discrimination were also reported in education with one participant recalling a teacher not intervening when another child in the class made a racist remark.
"The only thing the teacher did was to tell the student to sit down," they said.
Another participant described secondary school as a “doghouse” when it came to racism.
“A lot of the time the response was ‘oh, if I didn’t see it, I didn’t hear it, then there’s not much I can do’ so, my mentality was ‘OK, the teachers are not going to do anything, the principal is not going to do anything,” they said.
The tendency for most people of ethnic minority backgrounds to be concentrated in socially disadvantaged areas and the subsequent segregation of communities and society was also identified as a serious concern.
Some participants pointed to the emergence of tensions and possible racist incidents in these communities resulting in fear amongst ethnic minority families.
IHREC said that, while there has been consistent evidence of institutional racism and discrimination towards the Traveller community in Ireland, there is a noticeable growth in “racist, anti-immigrant and far-right organising”, which the commission said needs to be robustly challenged.
Chief commissioner Sinéad Gibney said tackling racism is a “long-term project” which requires a sustained focus and coherent leadership from the State.
“Ireland is an ethnically diverse country," she said.
Ms Gibney said the launch of the National Action Plan Against Racism is a unique opportunity to focus national will and energy towards ending racial discrimination and corresponding disadvantage.
Co-author of the report, Malgosia Machowska-Kosciak, said the study explores the experiences of young Irish people that have been to date under-reported and can have a devastating impact on people's sense of belonging and their wellbeing.
Prof Machowska-Kosciak said: “In the report, we have used terms such as ‘microaggression or ‘microinsults’.
"Nevertheless, however small or harmless these terms may sound, the study concluded that the ever-present and cumulative nature of these incidents in the participants' lives have a devastating impact on young people’s sense of belonging and their wellbeing.”
In the current context of increased numbers of people accessing asylum, the report calls for anti-racism measures to be promoted across political and public institutions, through systemic training and more diverse recruitment within police, courts, healthcare, and teaching professions.