Irish Flags in US Political Demonstrations

In advance of tomorrow's rally in downtown San Diego to support legalization of undocumented immigrants the Union Tribune has a brief history lesson for the Irish who would like to pretend to be different:

John Laslett, a history professor at UCLA, said immigrants marched with Irish flags in Boston before the Civil War, and Germans who had settled in Missouri paraded with theirs.

They were aware, as the debate today, of whether or not it's appropriate for another country's flag to be used in demonstrations, he said of the Irish immigrants, who were then the target of racism and discrimination and restricted to menial jobs. They were also aware that it might offend those who think that they were advocating some form of Irish nationalism.

I'm not finished with this yet but right now I'm off to listen to some Irish traditional music and some American Country music, and I'm going to do it waving a Mexican flag.

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