Good evening ladies and gentlemen, My name is Eoin O’Driscoll and this evening, I am here to talk to you about our new campaign to eradicate stereotyping from our society. Throughout this speech, I will give you, the audience, examples of stereotyping within our society and more importantly, the dangers of stereotyping.
Let me first outline the three main areas that I propose to talk to you about this evening. I will discuss the stereotypes that have been foisted upon members of the black community, members of the LGBTQ community and here in Ireland, members of the travelling community.
For centuries, members of the black community have experienced horrific abuse, degradation and demonisation for the simple reason that their skin was a different colour to the colonisers from the west. Everyone in this audience is aware of the issue of slavery in America and how it resulted in the ill-treatment of African Americans. The civil war was hundreds of years ago, but the prejudice has not ceased. The Ku Klux Klan roamed the streets of the south, butchering black people, who to them, were no more than animals. It was this dehumanisation that allowed members of the KKK to justify their actions.
The KKK has been outlawed, a new era of equality is said to have been ushered in, but in 2020, George Floyd was choked to death by a police officer, as he lay with his knee across his throat for almost ten minutes. This is the manifestation of racial profiling, this is the result of lazy stereotypes, this is what happens when stereotyping is allowed to happen. Would the same thing have happened to a white man? We all the know the answer to that question.
The vilification of black men is a stain on our society. How can we, in good conscience allow it to continue? Hitler was a white man. Timothy McVeigh was a white man. Anders Breivik, who murdered 77 people in an atrocious massacre was a white man. My point? This doesn’t result in the stereotyping of white men, so why do we continue to allow the negative stereotyping of black men?
The other danger of stereotyping is the self fulfilling prophecies that are created by the lazy viewpoints. Why would any young black boys try their best in school and keep out of trouble, when they are branded as ‘bad news’ by those in authority. This creates a vicious cycle and young men often end up becoming what society already thought about them and continue the stereotype.
The treatment of the LGBTQ community here in Ireland has been shameful to say the least. It was illegal to be gay in Ireland up until 1993. I want everyone in the room to think about that for a second. It was actually illegal to be gay. Thankfully, Ireland has emerged from the dark ages and was one of the first countries to legalise same-sex marriage through a referendum. But our attitudes towards this community still leave a lot to be desired.
Just this week, a man in Sligo was given two life-sentences for the murder of two gay men, who were lured to their deaths, through a gay dating app. This hatred for gay people, this horrific form of stereotyping and othering has made life very difficult for people who are struggling to come to terms with their sexuality. The stereotype of the gay man, who loves fashion and chick flicks makes it impossible for people to realise that there are many gay men currently playing for Premier League football teams in England. Why do we not hear about them? Because they fear that being outed will result in cruel chants from opposition fans and questions about their ability to play football at a high level. They will wait until the retire before they show who they really are. What does this say to the 16 year old who is denying his sexuality because he can’t believe he can be gay and play football? The lazy stereotypes that he has heard about gay people make it impossible for him to come to terms with who he really is.
My last point on the inherent dangers of stereotyping is relevant to all of us here in this room, as it is very much an Irish problem. I heard a statement recently that the only acceptable form of racism in Ireland is the vilification of the travelling community and how right the speaker was. This community is stuck in a vicious cycle whereby they have little to no access to education and are vilified by the mainstream media to such an extent that a candidate in the last presidential election boosted his vote share by hundreds of thousands of votes by demonising and dehumanising these people. Peter Casey, who was doing badly in the polls, tapped into the prejudice of the Irish people against their traveller cousins to create a bogeyman that the electorate could hate. Trump did it with the Mexicans, Hitler did it with the Jews, Casey did it with the travellers. Thankfully, it didn’t result in him winning the election but it created a worrying atmosphere that is now being replicated with immigrants, who are being labelled as ‘scroungers, pedophiles and terrorists.’
Traveller culture is rarely understood in Ireland and young travellers face high levels of discrimination in terms of education and employment. Traveller funerals will often see an entire town shut down, as businesses refuse to serve them and traveller weddings have great difficulty in booking venues. Again, like with black people, an entire community is being tarred with the one brush. It is collective punishment for the sins of a few. Eileen Flynn is a name many of you will not know, but she is a member of Seanad Eireann and a member of the travelling community. She was given the chance to study at Trinity College in Dublin through an access course, which allows students from different backgrounds access third level education. Not only did she complete her degree, but she forged a career in politics and she works to help young travellers access education and employment. Why do people not think of people like Eileen Flynn when they discuss travellers? Why do they resort to the lowest common denominator? Because it’s lazy and it’s easy.
I want to finish my speech with a stark reminder of how dangerous stereotypes can be. Joseph Goebbels was the Nazi Minister for Propaganda during Hitler’s reign in Germany. He pushed the stereotype of Jewish people as ‘rats that carry contagion.’ He took every opportunity to label the Jews as rodents that needed to be exterminated. The result? 6 million Jews were killed as the world watched on in horror. The world promised that it would never happen again. I’m not so sure that is true but if we want that to be true, it is time to ditch the labels, retire the stereotypes and dump the lazy misconceptions. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s start judging individuals on their words and actions, not their race, nationality or sexuality. My name is Eoin O’Driscoll and I’d like to thank you all for listening.