Educating Ireland: The Power of the Narratives Produced by the Silenced Voices of Irish Society

Note: This piece is part of a series of blogs commissioned by the Unsilencing Black Voices team, Sandrine Ndahiro and Catherine Osikoya, in which writers respond to Douglass’s visit to Ireland.  

Gareth Brinn

Narratives from the silenced voices of Irish society are both an education and an awakening. As a White man living in Ireland, I do not experience much of the inequalities that are embedded in Irish society. However, the narratives from the silenced voices of Irish society allow me to learn about the inequalities that Irish society chooses to ignore. Through these narratives, I experience Irish society from perspectives that I did not know existed. They rip off my rose-tinted glasses of privilege that have blinded me to the harsh reality that many Irish people face. 

The narratives from the silenced voices of Irish society have a power that I do not find anywhere else. They trigger a period of self-reflection that challenges my socialisation. Within this period of self-reflection, I find myself not only questioning Irish society, but myself too. These narratives raise my awareness of my flaws as both an Irish citizen and a human being. These narratives educate me on my racial and cultural biases. This education and subsequent awareness allow me to challenge myself and others on matters that need to be challenged such as racism, homophobia, and ableism. Each narrative that I engage with takes me one step closer to becoming the human being that I want to be. If these narratives can trigger this change within me, there is no reason that these narratives cannot trigger the same change in the rest of Irish society.

The power of social education lies within the narratives produced by the silenced voices of Irish society. These narratives can be Irish society’s guide on the path of social progression. These narratives will expose our greatest triumphs, our greatest flaws, and everything in between. This is a necessary revelation for Irish society. We can no longer pretend like we do not see the inequalities staring us in the face. By ignoring the inequalities of Irish society, we are actively contributing to those inequalities. Let these narratives show us where the inequalities are and guide us in fixing them. 

Reading the extract given made me proud to be Irish because we treated Frederick Douglass like an equal. Everyone at that dinner was equal. Modern Ireland is not an equal society, and I am not proud of my nation. We are in the middle of a global pandemic, but Irish society was already facing a pandemic; a pandemic of ignorance and bigotry. I believe narratives produced by the silenced voices of Irish society are central to curing Ireland of bigotry. They show the inequalities embedded within Irish society but also the damage that these inequalities do. They add the human element to problems that are often viewed as unconnected to real people. So, it is time for Irish society to sit down and engage with these narratives, learn from them, and grow as a nation. Irish society has already failed so many Irish people, it is time to learn and grow so that we do not fail another generation of Irish people.