Myth, Mockery and Invisibility: Public Depictions and Legislative Responses

Abstract

Chapter 3 considers how immigrants and people of colour were received and depicted in Northern Irish society. It argues that people from migrant backgrounds were frequently stereotyped according to their professions as salesmen and entrepreneurs. Immigrant caricatures were often imbued with mocking, degrading racism, constructing migrant communities as peripheral to white Northern Irish society. The chapter analyses popular songs, newspaper cartoons and oral history testimony to showcase how immigrants and minorities were depicted as alien, mysterious and sometimes criminal. Although manifestations of racial othering in Northern Ireland differed from those in Great Britain, both were marginalising and inhibitive. Chapter 3 also considers the dismissive attitudes of Northern Irish politicians, who continually denied that Northern Ireland had any kind of immigration or racism ‘problem’. By arguing that racism did not exist, the Northern Ireland government successfully lobbied for an exemption from the British Race Relations Acts, segregating the region from mainland debates about race. Due to political dismissiveness, ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland were denied legal protection against discrimination and vulnerable to institutional neglect. Chapter 3 thus introduces the theme of systemic apathy and invisibility that informs the following four case-study chapters.