A question of race - but no one seems to have a ready answer

RADIO REVIEW:WHY WOULD anyone murder 15-year-old Toyosi Shittabey, the boy who was stabbed in Tyrrelstown on Good Friday? Was it a race-motivated crime? Does racism increase during times of economic hardship? Has the government done enough to help combat racism? Are we a gombeen nation unwelcoming of newcomers? How do we define our cultural identity now?

Dr Mark Maguire from the Department of Anthropology at NUI Maynooth told Richard Aldous on Tuesday's The Right Hook(Newstalk 106-108, weekdays), "It tends to be the situation that when you have rapid economic downturns in different countries, people look down or sideways for somebody to blame, not up." Broadcaster Dil Wickremasinghe added, "Racism has always been there . . . But the media has not reported cases." A Sri Lankan national born in Rome, she is sometimes assumed to be a doctor. "I get a positive prejudice," she said. "But how many times have you been served by a black person? Why are there so many Nigerian taxi drivers? Because a lot of them can't access employment." (Many Irish drivers still scapegoat black drivers for deregulation and blame them for taking their business.)

One Tyrrelstown resident texted: "There are no racial tensions here." Socialist Party Councillor Ruth Coppinger painted a hopeful picture of the vigil on Monday evening in north-west Dublin. Coppinger told Lunchtime On 4(4FM, weekdays) with David Harvey, "Last night the turnout was amazing from local people of every single background. I'd say there were over 2,000 people, actually." Harvey corrected his earlier description of Shittabey: "I called him a young Nigerian football fanatic. He's an Irish football fanatic, isn't he? He's as Irish as anybody. That's still part of our problem, isn't it, that we're still talking about people as if they're just visitors from another country." Denise Charlton, chief executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, replied, "Absolutely . . . As the coverage unfolded, the young man was constantly being referred to as a Nigerian, and, as you say, he's Irish." She added, "We have to grow up a bit and realise now that we have a diverse population and act accordingly to that." To label all first-generation immigrants as Irish is patronising too and may equally deny the rich reality of a multicultural society. Many Nigerian-born immigrants are surely as proud of their Nigerian heritage as they are of their Irish, and may consider themselves Nigerian, Irish or, indeed, Nigerian-Irish.

Limerick-born Kamal Ibrahim appeared on The Ray D'Arcy Show(Today FM, weekdays) fresh from winning the €50,000 Mr World prize in South Korea. D'Arcy asked him, "What do you see when you look in the mirror?" He was not asking him about race, but whether Ibrahim thought of himself as good-looking. "I only look in the mirror for two things, to brush my teeth and put some cream on my face," Ibrahim laughed.

Ibrahim is a second cousin of Danny DeVito. His mother’s family is from Italy and she was born in Ireland; his father is Nigerian. D’Arcy asked him if he’d ever experienced racism.

“Sixteen years ago, Ireland and Limerick and everywhere was a very different place,” he said. “I’ve seen everything change. There was a bit of that . . . well, there was a lot of that I suppose back then.” The conversation briefly turned to cultural identity. “I’m Irish,” Ibrahim said. “But I’m not Irish because I was born in Ireland. I’m Irish because it’s the culture. I think, I act, I am the same as any Irish guy. I’m lucky in the sense that I’ve got an ethnic, a mixed background . . .”

Ibrahim recalled standing in front of the international press when he won: “Just to be able to say, ‘I’m Irish and this feels damn good.’ It was just amazing.”

Olivia O'Leary delivered her Drivetime(RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays) essay this week on practical patriotism. She was talking about the financial crisis, but if you – newly arrived to these shores or not – thought about leaving it might make you turn again.

“This is home. This is where we belong. This is our country,” O’Leary said. “It’s about the great web of song and laughter and loyalty and family and friends, which make one’s life worthwhile. Is all this worth staying and fighting for? Oh, yes it is.” O’Leary is right. This is our country: Irish, Polish, Nigerian, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani . . . We, all of us, belong here now.