“bad Paddies” are good for the booze business, but not so good for the forces of “urban renewal” policies and other such euphemisms for discriminatory city planning that Duffy exposes. Duffy is aware that the term “Paddy” will offend...
more“bad Paddies” are good for the booze business, but not so good for the forces of “urban renewal” policies and other such euphemisms for discriminatory city planning that Duffy exposes. Duffy is aware that the term “Paddy” will offend some. However, she justifies her usage of it “to underscore how Irish marginalization under both British and U.S. regimes fostered a social identity that historically marginalized, and continues to marginalize, other people, even seemingly Irish ones” (4–5). This last point refers to the way that “respectable” or “good Paddy” Irish America looks down upon “bad Paddies”, perceiving the latter as lacking a strong work ethic and moral virtue. Put simply, “bad Paddies” don’t act white enough. To make matters worse, many of them work in the illegal economy, toiling alongside Latino, Caribbean and African immigrants. This collaboration often generates solidarity: these other undocumented workers, the newer Irish tell Duffy, are “just like us”. Only African Americans fail to garner their sympathy. Is this because even “bad Paddies” internalise the dictates of the bipolar racial order? Or is it because they lack interactions with African Americans like those they have with, say, African immigrants? How much does the US-born status of most African Americans factor into the resentment and fear expressed by “newer” Irish immigrants? One suspects that the truth lies in a combination of all these factors, but Duffy does not fully explore all of the options, though she does note that racist attitudes of some may have been learned in Ireland prior to setting foot in the US soil. Duffy knows that a large percentage of 1980s and 1990s Irish immigrants came from Northern Ireland, and she interviews some of this group as part of her ethnographic research. Since she justifies the use of the term “Paddy” “because it underscores ... Irish marginalization under both British and U.S. regimes”, it must be asked why she does not address the influence of Northern Ireland’s marginalisation processes upon the Northern Irish migrant’s view of Black America. Instead, she confines her transatlantic analysis to the Republic. The North also suffered and is suffering from neoliberal policies and from a lot more besides. Why no consideration of the impact of “the Troubles” on racial attitudes of Northern Irish immigrants? Perhaps such additional factors make no difference, but we will not find that out here. Furthermore, her examination of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, while insightful, and at times funny, appears a little contradictory and incomplete in places, especially when it comes to how the movement interacts with other immigrant groups. These shortcomings are minor, however, and do little to mar Duffy’s impressive and valuable overall project.
