Joan Walsh.
The Irish Stand will reconvene on this Friday evening at Manhattan’s Riverside Church, with Joan Walsh, CNN political analyst and national affairs correspondent, in the role of emcee.
“It's important for Irish Americans to reclaim our social justice tradition, and stand with the immigrants of all ethnicities and races. I'm proud to take an Irish Stand on behalf of the strong, equitable multiracial democracy the United States is trying to be,” Walsh said.
The event will include speeches or performances from Kerry Kennedy, Jose Vargas, Maeve Higgins, Winifred Horan, poet I.S. Jones, Colum McCann, Terry McGovern, Martín Batalla Vidal, Kathryn Gallagher, Mona Eltahawy and Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin.
The Irish Stand said in statement: “As Irish politicians in Washington D.C. prepare to meet with President Donald Trump for this year’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations, Irish Stand will instead be calling on the Irish names within this White House administration and beyond to remember their own immigrant history. Uniquely positioned as a nation that understands the urgent needs for migration and the struggles to overcome discrimination, we will not play a part in a system that racially discriminates against those who also call the United States home."
“A year ago, we had no idea what the Trump Administration would bring, but we came out strongly against the Muslim Ban,” said Irish Stand co-organizer Caroline Heafey. “Now, in 2018, we feel an even stronger sense of urgency in advocating for the rights of all immigrants. We will not sit back and watch as this rhetoric of racism grows from the White House. We call upon anyone who cares about the future of this country to take an Irish Stand and support the NYCLU and all immigrants in a celebration of Ireland’s immigrant history.”
Irish Stand held its first event on St Patrick's Day 2017 at the Riverside Church in New York City. It was attended by 1,500 people and raised over $20,000 for the New York Civil Liberties Union. Tomorrow night’s event will also be a fundraiser for the NYCLU to support its work defending immigrants.
Irish Stand will begin at 7.30 p.m. on March 16, 2018, with the doors opening at 6 p.m.
Tickets are available at Eventbrite.com.
