Today I was spat on because I looked different. | Úna-Minh Kavanagh
And you’re a fucking chink!’
That’s how I was greeted today while hovering outside a hotel in Dublin City Centre while I waited for a friend. The group went by laughing, I exclaimed an exasperated ‘oh fuck off…’, one of the young boys then grabbed my face and shook it, I was spat on.
This was the first time I had received a physical racial assault – I was shook. I’m 21 and had become slightly desensitized to all the racial slurs I was thrown on a regular basis, but this was frightening. I felt humiliated taking the spit out of my hair and sadly no one came to my aid, even on this bustling street.
I met with my friend and contemplated what had actually happened. The more I thought about it the more I got the courage to act. This was the time to do something, anything, to tackle the closemindedness of a nation who prided themselves on being ‘welcoming.’ There and then it truly was a lie.
I gathered my thoughts and posted my outrage and I reported it to the Gardaí. It was horrible and terrifying but I am not a coward.
These kids were in their teens. What these boys did was unacceptable and foolish.
I shouldn’t need to hide or feel scared in my own country. Racism. Hate. How dare anyone think that this disgusting behaviour is ok?
Do I hate them? Absolutely not. I pity them and I pity their parents who have no idea of richness a multicultural society can bring. I feel sorry for them. Oh and by the way, I’m Irish.
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The support I’ve gotten from Twitter, Facebook and friends has been astounding. A special thank you to Graham Linehan for passing along the message through his Twitter that this crap cannot and should not be tolerated. #fightracism
via Today I was spat on because I looked different. | Úna-Minh Kavanagh.
Posted on June 1, 2013, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
I’m so sorry that you were assaulted in a manner calculated to humiliate and diminish you. And I’m furious that no one stopped to help you. No matter how strong your self-esteem, of course such attacks will always wound – because their roots are in power systems that instantly deny your personhood. Here in America, I’m ashamed to say, you would have experienced something similar way before age 23. But no one has to take it – not ever.
Luckily for the world, you are a beautiful, strong, smart Irish girl, and you know it. And you are home, where you deserve to be. Your country should be happy to defend you.
You and those young men are part of Ireland’s future, and although I can’t guess about those particular three – my money’s on the lads, as my grandmother often said.