White nigger

White nigger was a religious and ethnic slur used in Northern Ireland to refer to the Catholics.[1] An example of this can be found in the Elvis Costello song "Oliver's Army", which contains the lyric:[2]

Only takes one itchy trigger. One more widow, one less white nigger.

It was also applied to Irish Catholic immigrants to the United States and their descendants.

In another use of the term, Pierre Vallières's work White Niggers of America refers to French Canadians.[3]

In May 2016, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams was criticised after tweeting:[4]

Watching Django Unchained - A Ballymurphy Nigger!

while watching the film Django Unchained. He deleted the tweet, and subsequently tweeted:[4]

[Anyone] who saw Django would know my tweets & N-word were ironic. Nationalists in [the North] were treated like African Americans

See also

References

  1. ↑ The IRA 12th impression, Tim Pat Coogan, page 448, William Collins, Sons & Co., Glasgow, 1987
  2. ↑ "The Elvis Costello Home Page". Elviscostello.info. Retrieved 2015-06-18.
  3. ↑ DePalma, Anthony (26 December 1998). "Pierre Vallieres, 60, Angry Voice of Quebec Separatism, Dies". New York Times (New York). Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  4. 1 2 McDonald, Henry (2 May 2016). "Gerry Adams defends N-word tweet". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
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