Let me tell you this about that!

I'm a Canadian and even served Canada in the Armed Forces as a 17-year-old. Dropped out of school, packed my bags and went off to Cornwallis into Basic Training. Served aboard a destroyer escort named HMCS MacKenzie. Saw a bit of the world.

I was not born in Canada. My parents are from Ireland and I was born in Nigeria, where they taught school to less advantaged kids. To this day they do not tolerate racism towards minorities. They point out that the local youth in Nigeria scored high marks in Oxford exams. Nigerians don't run the world's biggest scams because they are dummies. 

I don't have the same tolerance of minorities that my parents have. I notice that blacks make up 2% of Toronto's population, but commit 90% of the gun crime. Most of the victims are black. I'm all for immigration and the ethnic mix of Toronto. I just wish that black males would put away the guns. 

My first memory is being on the plane from England to Canada in 1966. I remember sitting by myself while my older brothers sat with my mom. It occurs to me now, that in fact this may have occurred during a trip back to England in 1974. I wasn't a pleasant kid.

I don't remember anything about Nigeria, but I had a reoccurring dream as a kid, that I was caught in pit in Nigeria and chased by these large African women, as  I tried to climb out of the pit. The pit was often located in Colquhoun Park in Hamilton, Ontario in my dreams. Not sure why I feel it necessary to relate that story, but it is cheaper than therapy.

I mention this background because I have watched recent TV shows about Irish gypsies, or Travellers, Tinkers etc. The most recent is a documentary called Knuckle. This is a more than decade in the making long film, where Traveller families in Ireland are followed by a filmmaker. The men, in these related families, engage in frequent bare knuckle brawls, in feuds that last for a half century. Almost all are cousins and brothers. 

It would be difficult to find more dysfunctional people than the Irish Travellers. It is shocking to believe that these people function in everyday Ireland. I had no idea. They are like an Alien life form. They even have a language that is foreign to the average person in Ireland. Their weddings and Baptismal functions are no less shocking and over the top. Little girls attending their first Communion are dressed like strippers. Listen, I'm not judging them, I have very little respect for Catholic institutions and the hypocrisy of the Church. 

My point is, that this aspect of Ireland is totally foreign to me. It seems like mainstream Ireland just ignores them. I must tell Irish folk in North America, your Travellers have been uncovered by US cable television and we just can't look away.