Respect Irish heritage, culture

My grandmother and grandfather emigrated from Ireland in the 1850s after the British tried to murder them in the Potato Famine of 1845.

They settled in Boston, where my grandfather got work digging ditches for the city. After a while they moved west to Pennsylvania where my grandfather got a job in the coal mines. Then they moved west again and settled in central Illinois where he got work in a glass factory working a furnace that melted silicone ore into glass.

Long, hard hot days, but he persevered and with my grandmother raised 10 children, who all went on to become hardworking productive members of society. He numbered a draftsman, a priest, a teacher, a career Army officer and many other honorable professions among his children.

I am incensed by the caricature of the Irish as drunken, lazy people who would rather drink and fight than work. This stereotype is shameful and embarrassing to the Irish. I urge you to write letters and call our senators and representatives to right this travesty.

To start with, I think we should force Notre Dame to drop the name of the 'Fighting Irish.” It is far too shameful for Irish-Americans to live with, as it continues this egregious stereotype.

Also, the caricature of the fighting little leprechaun is ridiculous and embarrassing to us. It must be abolished at once.

Please, for the sake of all good hard working Irish Americans, write or call Harry Reid.

Michael Shea

Marion