by Brett Stevens on May 19, 2017

In the lexicon of modern American government, the Irish are “white.” Despite Civil Rights being primarily interpreted — through intersectionality and privilege theory — as a one-way street, an older court cases raise the possibility of civil rights protection for European-descended people:

The most serious charge against five of the teenagersâ€”Sean, Ashley Longe, Kayla Narey, Sharon Chanon Velazquez, and Flannery Mullinsâ€”is civil rights violation with bodily injury. Defense lawyers expect Scheibel to argue that Phoebe’s civil rights were violated because she was called an “Irish slut”â€”a denigration of her national originâ€”and because the bullying interfered with her right to an education. The bodily injury, the defense lawyers say, is Phoebe’s death by suicide. The maximum penalty for this charge is 10 years in prison. The teens are also charged with other crimes, including criminal harassment and stalking.

Unfortunately, while the precedent for prosecution was set, the case was not decided on the basis of the civil rights charge because the defendants pled out to lesser charges to avoid the risk of long prison sentences:

All five teens struck plea deals with the prosecution where, in exchange to pleading guilty on the misdemeanor charge of criminal harassment, the more serious charges they faced were dropped. Longe faced the most serious charges including one count of each assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, criminal harassment, disturbing a school assembly and a civil rights violation with a bodily injury resulting. The felony charge civil rights violation with bodily injury alone carries a 10-year maximum sentence. Some of the other accused teens also faced the violation of civil rights with bodily injury charge, as well as statutory rape and stalking.

While the civil rights charges were not assessed by the court for their validity, the threat was at least serious enough that lawyers from both sides approved these deals. Perhaps this is something that nationalists can resurrect as an idea in cases where white people face discrimination, including affirmative action cases.

For example, we might fragment the category “white.” If affirmative action is designed to protect minorities, the Irish deserve protection as well. From that point, we get into a game of subdividing the population to its smallest groups, revealing exactly how the “whites are victimizers, minorities are victims” (WAVMAV) approach to government has failed us.

Tags: civil rights, discrimination, racism, the irish, whites

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.