Beginning our final full day in Derry, we made our way over to the Pat Finucane Center with Jon. Though quite a normal house from the outside, we were standing at the door of a very passionate team of individuals working to seek justice for the families of victims in the conflict.
Dedicated to human rights and social change, the Pat Finucane center is currently focused on working with the Police Ombudsman, the High Commission for Human Rights, and various other agencies and organizations to help the families of relatives that died at the hands British police forces. Named after a lawyer who famously advocated for Nationalist victims of the conflict, this work continues here in his name. Though at times difficult, people like Paul O’Connor work to find the truth for families who only know that their loved one left the house one day and never came home. Every person working at the Center lost a loved one during the conflict and it is their purpose to continue to seek truth for other individuals like themselves.
After this sobering discussion of human rights and truth commissions, Jon decided to lead our group on to An Grianán Ailigh, a 12th-century stone fort of the O’Neill family from North of Ireland. Located five minutes from Derry in the Republic, the stone ring offers a breathtaking view of four counties, including Londonderry, Donegal, Tyrone, and Fermanagh. As we quietly walked up the stairs and around the top, circular perimeter of the ring, we were each again struck by the beauty of this island while an invigorating wind whipped across our cheeks. Feeling the history of the place seep in with the cold air, it was clear why people of this country carry so much passion in their hearts for this land.
It was also a surreal and perfect setting for Jon to then open up to us about his personal narrative and how he came to be involved in the IRA. Sitting atop the stone ring, under an iridescent blue sky, we listened as Jon told us of his youth and his first steps into this conflict.
Born to a Catholic mother and an absent Protestant father, Jon grew up in a boy’s home on the Bogside. Quite successful, by secondary school he had secured a place at University for a degree in Engineering with a guaranteed job beyond. One day, with a protestant friend, he headed toward the city centre to see about a civil rights march scheduled to take place. It was a rowdy gathering and Jon’s friend decided to leave—Jon would not see him again for thirty five years.
It was at this march that an idea came to be born that hit him “like a bolt of lightning.” For on that day, he heard from Catholic marchers that the majority Protestant Corporation refused to build housing to accommodate the growing Catholic population because a house meant a vote and Catholic votes meant the end of the Protestant majority in the government.
Struck immobile, understanding took hold of Jon as he realized that his Catholic mother had been forced to send him to a boys’ home because she was unable to obtain her own home. His entire existence has been altered because of this clear discrimination by the Protestant government. Almost immediately, Jon gave up his future and the life he had built to join the IRA. It took many years and the realization that he “had buried too many friends” before he found a non-violent way to deal with such injustices.
Walking slowly down the ring steps and back to the car, our group quietly found our seats and drove back to Derry to the strains of Black 47’s “James Connolly.” It was difficult to swallow what it must have felt like to realize one’s entire life had been so unknowingly changed by discrimination. In this somber mood, we moved on to the cemetery at St. Mary’s in the Bogside and viewed the graves of those who died on Bloody Sunday, as well as throughout the conflict. It was touching to walk with Jon through the gravestones and hear him point out certain people and reminisce about funny moments with his old friends. It was a touch of humor during a moving and poignant day.
Heading back to Derry’s city centre, we proceeded to the One World Centre, which is the headquarters of SEEDS (Solidarity, Equality, Education, Diversity, Support). The SEEDS organization works on what it perceives to be the next challenge for Northern Ireland—racism against asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants moving to this country now in a fragile peacetime. Meeting with the director of the One World Centre, Eddie Kerr, we learned more about this new problem facing them and what attempts are being made to help this influx of people seeking a better life. From English language tutoring and help with accommodations to education against prejudice and racial attacks, SEEDS is committed to keeping the people of Northern Ireland from replacing sectarian violence with racial violence. It is a double-edged sword for this country that as they close one period of focused violence they find themselves faced with what they perceive to be new problems, yet sadly reflect what occurs in every country across the globe.
“Racism is the new sectarianism [in Northern Ireland].” –Eddie Kerr
