by Aisling Twomey
We are obsessed with race. From the moment that first person decided to subject others to his will as a result of their difference, race has compartmentalised, segregated and fragmented society. We are defined by our differences, despite the fact that all people are human and we’re all made of the same essentials.
People often talk about Traveller ethnicity; it’s been a popular topic in the news for the past few months as Minister Aodhán Ó Riordáin seeks to have Traveller ethnicity effectively recognised by Government. This decision comes after years and years of various UN bodies recommending that Ireland recognise Traveller ethnicity, which was recognised in the United Kingdom in the case of O Leary v Allied Domecq in 2000. So, why the delay?
Countless years of Government policy and endless online comments say that Travellers are white Irish people, that they’re the same as settled people- except that they ‘don’t pay tax’ and ‘they steal’.
Of course, the prolific number of ‘settled’ Irish people who have demonstrated great capacity in dodging tax and stealing (Charlie Haughey? Martin Cahill? Bono?!) are vastly forgotten in the course of the argument, but there is no denying that Travellers are white and Irish, right?
Here’s the thing. Since when can we only be two things? I’m white and Irish, but neither of those two things tells you a damn thing about me. You don’t know what my parents are like (totally awesome), you don’t know that I love dogs more than people (fact) and you don’t know where I come from in any real sense. You don’t know how I view myself and my place in the world. You don’t know anything about my identity.
A white, 25 year old Irish Traveller woman has experienced a life that is vastly different from mine.
She speaks a different language, knows a different type of home, marries younger, has children younger and finished school at least four years before I did with less qualifications. She is six times more likely to die by suicide than I am, and I will likely live ten years more than her. In school, she was treated differently; less was expected of her. She is denied entry to pubs, restaurants and shops.
Those things don’t make her a Traveller, but she experiences them because she is one. People are more than willing to categorise her as one when it comes to letting her into a bar- but when it comes to helping her achieve and attain and strive, they refuse to acknowledge that she is different.
For decades, we have segregated Travellers, desperately impacting on their outcomes- and then blaming them for those outcomes we imposed on them in the first place.
Those who actively contest that Travellers aren’t an ethnic minority because they’re white and Irish are wrong. Travellers fulfil the requirement to be recognised as an ethnic group; they have their own language, history, beliefs, culture and traditions. Sure, they’re White and Irish- but they’re not the same White and Irish that I am. That should be very clear. Continents, countries and regions contain different ethnic groups- and ethnic groups sometimes have nothing to do with lines drawn on a map and the colour of your face.
If we recognise Traveller ethnicity, we can stop trying to make them more like settled people. We can aim to help Travellers get through education, get into employment, challenge discrimination and thrive. We can aim to make their health outcomes better and we can demand and expect the involvement of the community in all of that. Why do we oppose improvement in the lives of others?
Today, we acknowledge that ‘race’ alone is a dodgy concept, based on physical attributes as opposed to a sense of identity. Race has long been used to impose requirements and characteristics on others, without hearing what they have to say. Ethnicity as a concept is gaining more traction, and along with it the understanding that the people we are, where we come from, and the places that we occupy are much more than the colour of our skin.
Your life isn’t mine to make decisions on. Traveller ethnicity is something the government should recognise, because it’s a reality and denying it needlessly devalues people who have been devalued for long enough.
I have no right to stand in front of you and tell you who you are- and that’s the whole point. You can find out more about Aisling on twitter @taisling https://twitter.com/taisling You can also check out her website www.aislingtwomey.me
Aisling also works with Pavee Point which is a great organisation that celebrates Traveller Culture and works towards getting equal rights for the Traveller community, you really should check out their website www.paveepoint.ie.
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