The Future of Ireland and Irish America
(The artifact is solely the first minute of the video below. The rest of the video is not associated with or endorsed by this exhibit)
Recently, our third and newest Irish Catholic US President, Joe Biden, visited the Republic of Ireland. Albeit not Northern Ireland, the reactions to his visit encompass a general relationship between Irish Catholics and Irish America. In this video, Biden is about to give his final speech on his tour. To kick off the event, he walks out to roaring cheers as “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” blares over the speakers. Performed by Boston Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys, the song is the anthem of Boston’s Irish. The song is so emblematic of Irish Boston and Southie that it is also used during the title drop in Scorsese’s The Departed (as well as The Simpsons episode “The Debarted”).
If Joe Biden did this same walkout at Boston’s TD Garden or Government Center, the choice and the reaction would be unsurprising. I’m not sure this video is surprising. Yet, to see an unapologetically Irish US President get such a reception from native Irish people, cheering to the most Irish American song possible, is at is core how I view the relationship between the Irish American diaspora and Ireland. While struggles may be similar or disparate, and interest in the other community’s politics ebbs and flows, the ultimate view of shared Irish culture that can bring Irish descendants from around the world together signifies the diaspora is not so removed. As a representation of this relationship today and going forward, Joe Biden’s visit to Ireland shows that the relationship neither started nor ended with the Troubles.
