Irish/English racism

Category: Race and Ethnicity

Throughout the history of modern England, Ireland and England have been in continued conflict. The British ocupied Ireland, and made it part of the English empire, although they were not given representation in the English parliament. The Irish hated their English "oppresors" and in response formed the IRA, fighting the British military in Ireland and bombing and killing civilians as well as military personel in England. British hatred for the Irish rose, and they treated Irish in their own country as 2nd class citizens, not thinking them equal to the British people. Although much tension between the two countries has been resolved since then, their is still a deep animosity for the Irish shared by many of the English people and vice versa. This form of raicism isn't based on skin color but religion, geography and past conflit. Much of the tension and racism between the two countries is due to the fact that Ireland is for the most part Roman Catholic, and England is Protestant. This difference in religion has been used as a mechanism for hatred and racism between the two countries.