I recently found out that a visitor to my home considers me a racist ...

[JDPriestly]

157. As a Yankee who lived as a teenager in the pre-1960s South, I understand the suffering of

and horrible legacy of African-Americans in the US.

But the experiences at the roots of jazz are not just understandable and do not just reflect the conditions and sorrows of slavery, segregation and the Black experience in America. Others have suffered too and feel that jazz expresses the depth of their emotions.

Have you thought about the Irish? Has any people suffered at the hands of "the man" more than the Irish?

Conquered, killed in war, sent to the West Indies as slaves, left to die, starved.
Their land taken. Their means of growing food taken.

The title of King of Ireland was re-created in 1542 by Henry VIII, then King of England, of the Tudor dynasty. English rule of law was reinforced and expanded in Ireland during the latter part of the 16th century, leading to the Tudor conquest of Ireland. A near complete conquest was achieved by the turn of the 17th century, following the Nine Years' War and the Flight of the Earls.

This control was further consolidated during the wars and conflicts of the 17th century, which witnessed English and Scottish colonisation in the Plantations of Ireland, the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Williamite War. Irish losses during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (which, in Ireland, included the Irish Confederacy and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland) are estimated to include 20,000 battlefield casualties. 200,000 civilians are estimated to have died as a result of a combination of war-related famine, displacement, guerilla activity and pestilence over the duration of the war. A further 50,000[Note 1] were sent to slavery in the West Indies. Some historians estimate that as much as half of the pre-war population of Ireland may have died as a result of the conflict.[51]

. . . .

An extraordinary climatic shock known as the "Great Frost" struck Ireland and the rest of Europe between December 1739 and September 1741, after a decade of relatively mild winters. The winters destroyed stored crops of potatoes and other staples and the poor summers severely damaged harvests.[53] This resulted in the famine of 1740. An estimated 250,000 people (about one in eight of the population) died from the ensuing pestilence and disease.[54] The Irish government halted export of corn and kept the army in quarters but did little more.[54][55] Local gentry and charitable organisations provided relief but could do little to prevent the ensuing mortality.[54][55]

. . . .

The Great Famine of the 1840s caused the deaths of one million Irish people and over a million more emigrated to escape it.[62] By the end of the decade, half of all immigration to the United States was from Ireland. The period of civil unrest that followed until the end of the 19th century is referred to as the Land War. Mass emigration became deeply entrenched and the population continued to decline until the mid-20th century. Immediately prior to the famine the population was recorded as 8.2 million by the 1841 census.[63] The population has never returned to this level since.[64] The population continued to fall until 1961 and it was not until the 2006 census that the last county of Ireland (County Leitrim) to record a rise in population since 1841 did so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland

You understand that Ireland's great problem was that it was owned by the English who sucked out its innards for their use. When I lived in England some years ago, one of the worst insults was to call a person "Irish." That label was mostly applied to the alcoholics on the streets.

Of course, after the Great Famine of the 1840s, many Irish people emigrated to America. The Irish immigrants also left us a mournful, beautiful musical legacy. Music that expresses the simple joys but also the pain of life. It's no wonder if you read their story.

Remember how they were drafted into the US military to fight for the Union in the Civil War?

On March 3rd, 1863, Congress passed the Enrollment Act which required single men age 20 to 45 and married men up to age 35 to register for the draft. This act angered many whites, mainly Irish, who then living in northern states as immigrants signed as U.S. citizens were now expected to fight for the new nation, not realizing it too made the immigrants liable for the draft. It also add fuel to the fire when blacks, mostly freed slaves, were excluded from the draft and the Irish feared that freed slaves would migrate to the North and add further competition to the labor market. Many Irish saw this as a "rich man's war and a poor man's fight" since the policies of substitution and commutation were controversial practices that allowed drafted citizens to opt out of service by either furnishing a suitable substitute to take the place of the drafted, or paying $300. Both of these provisions were created with the intention of softening the effect of the draft on pacifists, the anti-draft movement, and the propertied classes. The result however was general public resentment of both policies.

A few days after the Enrollment Act was passed, in March 6, 1863, the Detroit Race Riot of 1863 erupted in Detroit, Michigan, as Irish rioted for days over the draft as well as targeting against the blacks. Although not as destructive, the fear was about to come 4 months later. In July 13-16, as the first draft were to be held in New York City, the Irish then launched the 1863 New York City draft riots. Stores were looted and newspaper buildings that supported the Union were ransacked and burned to the ground. The rioters then targeted blacks as many saw the American Civil War as a war to free the slaves and blamed them for the draft as well as the war. Many blacks were caught by the mob, stabbed, and lynched as a result. When the draft riots started, the New York State Militia was absent because they were sent to assist Union troops in Pennsylvania, thus leaving the New York City Police Department the only force to put down the riot.

The police were unable to handle a crowd that has 10x more population than that and the rioting continued on and on. Two days later, word came to announced that the draft had been suspended. Federal troops returning from the Battle of Gettysburg were sent to the city to quell down the riot and peace was finally restored in the streets of New York City over a day later. Over 121 people died in the draft riots in New York City. The 1863 New York City Draft riots were the largest civil insurrection in American history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Americans_in_the_American_Civil_War

Irish casualties in the Civil War

Killed and Died of Wounds
63rd New York Infantry 156
69th New York Infantry 259
88th New York Infantry 151
28th Massachusetts Infantry 250
116th Pennsylvania Infantry 145
Total (during the war) 961
The Irish Brigade lost over 4,000 men in killed and wounded; it being more men than ever belonged to the brigade at any one time. With the exception of the Twenty-eighth Massachusetts, the regiments were small. At the start they were not recruited to the maximum, but left New York with about 800 men each. The three New York regiments became so reduced in numbers that, at Gettysburg, they were consolidated into two companies each; the One Hundred and Sixteenth Pennsylvania had been consolidated into four companies.

http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/patrickroberts/the-irish-in-the-american-civil-war-150000-in-union-army-25000-in-confederate-119724549-238079561.html

And I don't need to mention the Jews who were persecuted for centuries in Europe and then imprisoned and massacred by the NAZIs.

So lots of people have reason to understand and feel the roots of jazz. I majored in music as an undergrad and was interested in music composition. By nature, I am a very happy person, I think. But when, in my 20s, I sat down to improvise at the piano, all of my tunes were so sad. I wondered why. It has occurred to me that the pain and sorrow and injustices that our ancestors experienced are born within us. Maybe it is in our genetic fabric.

So -- the roots -- the suffering, the slavery, the lost homes -- those are the legacies of many Americans, not just African-Americans.

By the way, I would define a racist as someone who is overly conscious of race, someone who views life through the prism of race.

If a person wants to build a racial or religious ghetto for himself, that is his or her choice. But that person should not accuse those who try to reach across to people of other races as being racist.

The Civil Rights Movement was fought for racial equality and integration. Martin Luther King fought for integration and inclusion. People who separate themselves from others by race are willfully refusing to live King's dream.