Slàinte Mhath! African Views on St. Patrick's Day

I had a terrible crush on Mary Robinson. When I met her for the first time in 2015 at the Rockefeller University on a forum moderated by Rafael Suarez, Jr. of PBS, I was starstruck. I was eager to tell her about my Friend Frances Hanlon, who taught me how to pronounce Slàinte Mhath. Frances and I formed the Laugh Garden, a weekly community satirical comedy program by amateurs in the City of Hoboken in 2001. Frances helped organize the African Views programs for children and cultural diversity. Frances is a definition of a true friend. So I was eager to tell Mary about my hopes to visit Donegal and meet Frances' folks. Mary, too, was comfortable telling me about her experiences in Africa. This was my best act of cool ever. If anyone was observing from afar, I can imagine it would feel like a child chatting up Marilyn Monroe with all the coolness in the world and the confidence that says, yeah, I got this. But I understand why I felt that way. Women with kindness, empathy, powerful feminism, wisdom, and intellect enthrall me. She embodies all that, but Mary is no ordinary person.

Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (Irish: Máire Mhic Róibín;[ was the 7th president of Ireland, who served from December 1990 to September 1997. She was the first woman to hold that office in Ireland. She was also the first independent candidate to win the presidency. Following her time as president, Mary served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002. In 2007, Mary joined with Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, Desmond Tutu, and others to form the Elders", a group of world leaders to contribute their wisdom to tackle some of the world's most challenging problems.

Mary is widely regarded as having had a transformative effect on Ireland, having extensively and successfully campaigned on several liberalizing issues such as the decriminalization of homosexuality, the legalization of contraception, the legalization of divorce, enabling women to sit on juries, and securing the right to legal aid in civil legal cases in Ireland. She was succeeded by Mary McAleese as President of Ireland, making it the first time that a woman succeeded another in this position anywhere in the world.

So, when Global Citizen requested the roster for all-time Irish heroes with the most common good for St Patrick's Day Observation, Mary's name came up on the list along with Oscar Wide, Bono, and of course, St. Patrick. No Saint Patrick's Day goes by without me making a toast to these Irish women who inspired me so much, Mary and Frances. To them, I say, Slàinte Mhath!

According to the African Views tradition, we introduce St. Patrick's Day to our organization's new members with fun facts relevant to cultural sustainability and harmony mission.

St. Patrick's Day dominates the month of March, with green beer, fascinating legends, and interesting unpopular facts we are privileged to today in the circle of trust. Please pay attention. There is always a diamond in the rough!

Until the 1970s, St. Patrick's Day was considered a religious holiday in Ireland, meaning all the pubs in the country were closed, thanks to a law written by Parliament member James O'Mara. However, Ireland later realized that they could attract many tourists for the Holiday, and the (green) beer was suddenly free-flowing.

Americans rack up a pretty significant bar tab on St. Patrick's Day. In Hoboken, where I used to live, and Chris Campos, our attorney served as councilman, on St. Patrick's day, all the Irish in New Jersey would descend upon Hoboken as early as 5 am waiting in droves for the Bars to open at 10 am. By 5 pm, there would be more drunken youth on the streets than any square mile in the world. Not even Spring Break could compare.

*There are more Irish people in America than in Ireland. Irish (39.6 million) in America and 6.3 million people in Ireland.*

Every year since 1962, the city of Chicago dyes the river green using 40 pounds of powder, which reacts with the water to produce a green color. Don't worry. It's environmentally friendly! Boston hosts one of the biggest St. Patrick's Day parades in the U.S. Boston is where many Irish immigrants settled once they arrived in America, and the Irish spirit is still alive and well in the city. In contrast, Arkansas hosts one of the shortest St. Patrick's Day parades in Hot Springs National Park — it's only 98 feet!

Anti-Catholic attitudes were brought to the American Colonies by Protestant immigrants, beginning with the Puritans in the 17th century. Historians characterized prejudice against Catholics as "the most profound bias in the history of the American people. Irish celebrate their Catholicism to despise the Brits who colonized them and tried tirelessly to reform them as Anglicans.

*Saint Patrick* was known as the "Apostle of Ireland" he is the primary patron saint of Ireland but was never formally canonized. He converted the Celtic society from polytheism to Christianity. St. Patrick wasn't Irish. Patrick was British, born to Roman parents in either Scotland or Wales. After being forced into slavery by Irish pirates, he turned to his Christian faith and became one of the first people to bring religion to the country in the fifth century, around 432. This is according to Irish legend. He changed it to the Latin name Patricius after becoming a priest.

The potato famine that created starvation conditions that cost the lives of millions of Irish and forced the out-migration of millions of surviving ones was more minor a natural disaster and more a complex set of social conditions created by British landowners (much like Hurricane Katrina). Many Irish came to the U.S forced to flee from their native Ireland and the oppressive British landowners.

Like many immigrant groups from Europe in the United States, the Irish, like the Italians, were characterized as racial Others when they first arrived in the first half of the 19th century. The Irish had suffered profound injustice in the U.K. at the hands of the British, widely seen as "white negroes."

The sign "No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs" was regular and ubiquitous in the U.S. in the early 19th century. The simian caricatures they saw of themselves in the newspapers meant that "whiteness" was a status that would be achieved, not ascribed. (This is a vital brain job for blacks aspiring to be acknowledged as educated and relevant in the status quo) There has never been an Italian American president in the U.S. to understand this even better. However, a few presidents (7) have Irish heritage. The most prominent is JFK.

It is n 1959, Walt Disney released a film called Darby O'Gill and the Little People, which was about an old Irish man and his experiences with magical leprechauns. While the movie was based in Ireland, it had a primarily American audience. Because leprechauns were already a widely accepted myth in Irish culture, this movie was released in the mid-1900s (around the same time St. Patrick's Day parades and celebrations became increasingly popular in the United States), the mythical creatures became a symbol of the Holiday.

One in 20 Brits still believe St Patrick was a leprechaun, and a handful even think he discovered Guinness

Up to 200,000 Irish Americans fought in the American Civil War, with 150,000 on the Union side and approximately 30,000-40,000 on the Southern Confederacy side. The majority joined on their freewill, and t a large percentage of Irish who fought died amongst the 165,000 soldiers present during the famous Battle of Gettysburg July 1-3rd, 1863. We must know and remember this.

Rotimi Adebari (born 1964 in Okeodan, Ogun State), a Nigerian-born Irish politician, was elected as the first black mayor in Ireland in 2007.

St. Patrick used shamrocks to explain the Holy Trinity, but later interpretations also said the three leaves symbolize hope, love, and faith. If there's a fourth leaf, it symbolizes luck, so we consider four-leaf clovers lucky.

Wale Idris Ajibade, Ph.D.

Executive Director African Views Organization Illustration by Norton Wisdom