I came to Scotland in 2014 to better myself and improve my quality of life.
I contributed (albeit a small amount) to the debate on Scottish independence and Britain’s place in the European Union.
I knocked on doors. I voted. Several times people close to me questioned why an immigrant should be allowed contribute to Scotland’s democracy, blatantly ignoring the fact that I’m making a home here; I’m not a tourist or a holidaymaker.
I’m a 5th generation Scot, my great great grandmother moved to Ireland from Coatbridge. I’m proud of my Scottish heritage and I’m proud to call Scotland my home. Last year I undertook a PhD at Dundee university focusing on Irish immigration & integration into Scots society.
Anti-Irish racism shames this country that I love.
Telling me to “go home” is ignorant and discriminative.
I am home!
I’m making a bigger contribution to Scots society than knuckle-dragging bigots who revel in glorifying a fascist knife gang who murdered innocent Catholics and who trawl the sewers and gutters of the internet revelling in disgusting jibes about child abuse and other horrible issues.
It is me who is more welcome in this nation in the eyes of the majority of Scots than bigots such as those who sung racist songs in Glasgow city centre last weekend.
I’ve been told since the weekend that things aren’t going to change.
That this is an unfortunate part of life in Glasgow that we just have to learn to deal with.
Interestingly enough, none of the people who’ve told me this are Irish! I wonder would the tune be different if it was Jews, Muslims, Chinese or any other ethnicity who were the target of these bigots. Why is bigotry against my community acceptable?
This is a problem which needs to be faced down and tackled by Civic Scotland.
Lip service is merely lip service.
If bigots are allowed to publicly gather and tell me to go home, without fear of retribution, the message I’m being sent is that I will always be a second class citizen because of my Irish ethnicity.
This bullshit “one side is as bad as the other” is not only lazy, it is grossly offensive.
Irish republicanism is about EQUALITY between all. To suggest one is as bad as the other is akin to suggesting that this is an Irish problem imported into Scotland.
That is grossly untrue.
The club across the city need to take their responsibilities here seriously.
They have played the orange card and have profited from the bigot pound.
They need to be made face up to their responsibility in facilitating bigotry.
In no other part of the world would it be acceptable for a football club to have a policy of not signing members of the Roman Catholic faith, nor would it be acceptable for a club to officially condemn one of their icons for marrying a Roman Catholic.
The OldCo did both of these. The new club dresses in its clothes, pretends to hold its history and carries all that baggage as a consequence. They must find a way to deal with it.
The Newco afford the fascist thugs who marched last Sunday their own section at Ibrox. They profit off bigotry. This needs to be ended.
This will be a tough battle. It will take years to bring about change. You feel that spineless government ministers and council officials will drag their feet. They need to be brought to task. Anti-Irish racism needs to be an issue on which governments will fall if they fail to tackle it.
Until this is done I will always be told I’m not welcome here.
That I’m second class.
But I’m not going home; Scotland is home.
And I ask all right-minded Scots to stand behind my community and help us end this stain on this place we all love.
Ross Taylor is an Irish Celtic fan who loves Scotland.
Top man Ross, keep up the good fight.
Thank fk those hillbilly halfwits are in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and long may it continue…the racist piggery needs to be highlighted at every opportunity.
I’ll take Gr8 pleasure when the mighty Glasgow Celtic return to the pinnacle of Scottish football and put the klan back where they belong…slurry pit would b ideal fking slum..
Top man Ross, keep up the good fight.
Thank fk those hillbilly halfwits are in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and long may it continue…the racist piggery needs to be highlighted at every opportunity.
I’ll take Gr8 pleasure when the mighty Glasgow Celtic return to the pinnacle of Scottish football and put the klan back where they belong…slurry pit would b ideal fking slum..
Wangers should start in the lowest of leagues in greatest Brighton and basically release the pigs for the good of all in Scottish football!!
Well said Ross hopefully all descent scots will get against their BILE BUT DON’T LOOK GOVAN WAY
It’s horrible
My experience is ? …me mum from Mayo my dad from Glasgow… Maryhill. … Dad was a Thistle supporter which geography wise makes sense rest of his family Huns and all ended in the Wyinford estate in Maryhill… luckily my dad headed Edinburgh way… I remember my auntie Jenet hitting me round the head for saying my night time prayers with crossed thumbs in her house … Worst day me n my mum went to the big coop for food while staying with Jenet came back my sister n aunt vanished… She had taken Bernadette on an orange walk ? jezz guys I could share much more but ?? I think my relatives hated us …but also loved us ?? All dead now I have confusing memories but orange lodge funerals were the worst … Coop Maryhill .. whispers in the lodge after remember don’t say u a pape
Its always good to talk and I do intend to say a lot more on this subject but suffice to say just now that it is embarrassing that our Government ignore Irish Catholic racism. We now need to continue to question it all. We need it eradicated. Keep talking about it , lets not let it be ignored any more
Here Here Ross well worded argument.
What a superbly written heartfelt piece, this young man, Ross, has captured the inherrent problem in Scotland since the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, anti-Irish racism and anti-Catholic bigotry. This is an endemic problem within most of the Protestant and Orange Rangers supporting community to be worn like a badge of honour.
To infer that it’s ‘two sides of the same coin’ is morally wrong and a downright lie. Anyone who tries to suggest that it is, is hiding from the real issue. The Irish diaspora who settled in Scotland after, ‘An Gorta Mor’ or as it’s known in English, the potato famine, didn’t only consist of Irish Catholics there were plenty of Irish Protestants who came in search of a better life.
The way the supporters of the Ibrox club react shows contempt for some of their own ancestors who came here after great personal loss and tragedy. They’re trying to airbrush that from their history which in itself pisses on the sacrifices of those ancestors, who came here uncertain what the future held but hoping to carve out their own wee place to hopefully find work and provide for the family that was left after no doubt being severely decimated by the famine.
Today us Scots are known for how welcoming we are to migrants fleeing from war zones in search of a better life. So for the Irish, both Catholic and Protestant, who fled the famine and their now desendants, to not be afforded the same welcome and dignity is an injustice of epic magnitude. The sooner the Irish xenophobia and anti-Catholic bigotry are eradicated from our society, we can truly say that Scotland is finally an enlightened country, who welcomes the oppressed, and invite them to share our home and allow them to feel it’s now their home too.
My mother went to one of her friends daughters weding ,the reciption after was in the Birtania orange hall in Greenock ,going to the bar to buy a drink the staff wouldn’t serve her the reason given was they were told she was a cathloic,credit to those others at the weding they all walked out.Same when i was young,going looking for work then asked what school you went to,you knew you had no chance of getting a start.
Ross, a well written article with which I wholeheartedly agree.
I’ve been a proud Celtic supporter for 55 years and counting
But if you want to have a meaningful dialogue about bigotry I can’t ignore the awful way that a section of our support have, for years, treated Israeli teams visiting our ground.
Many countries have issues of deep political controversy surrounding them but only one ever seems to be singled out for such treatment. I wonder why ?