The Irish potato famine was caused by wealthy landlords who prized profit over people

[deminks]

and thousands starved.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/the-irish-potato-famine-was-caused-by-wealthy-landlords-who-prized-profit-over-people-and-thousands-starved/

As many don green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the truth about Irish-Americans has been lost to history books beyond the U.S. shores. Occasionally, a mention of the Potato Famine will surface, but high school textbooks neglect the heartbreaking pain and misery, not to mention deaths, of millions of Irish people that prompted them to migrate to American shores.

Former social studies teacher Bill Bigelow pointed out in Common Dreams that there’s no shortage of information and even study guides to teach students, yet the harrowing tales still remain untold. Bigelow cites flat mentions of the “horrible disaster” the famine caused, saying that they’re describing it as an earthquake or another natural disaster. Somehow it was nothing more than a blight.

Instead, textbooks are filled with only small slices of knowledge that are packed full of boredom, leaving any young person uninterested in searching for more information.

Bigelow suggests Thomas Gallagher’s Paddy’s Lament, which describes the first winter of the famine in which 400,000 Irish peasants starved while wealthy landlords scored millions from exporting food that could have saved them. There was an unbelievable amount of food produced in Ireland, Gallagher explained. Yet, it was all exported abroad.

The Potato Famine only happened to potatoes, prompting Bigelow to ask “why did people starve?” He urges teachers to ask students difficult questions about starvation amid surplus. Doing so can help youth to learn patterns in policy and about consequences of those actions that cut assistance to the poor, like President Donald Trump’s cuts to Meals on Wheels.

(end snip)

Those who ignore the past...

As Bernie says, we are the richest nation on earth. But 49 million Americans struggle to put food on the table.

https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-hunger-us

[smirkymonkey]

1. K&R

[suffragette]

2. Strong parallel to climate change here. Proper education should include the facts about the food and

goods being exported, compounding the natural impact of the famine into a man-made disaster for many people, all while the wealthy callously profited.

The omission is serious since in acknowledging and discussing those facts and possible changes that could have been implemented then could inform what we need to do now to survive the impact of climate change. An informed populace would make a huge difference.

K&R for this very important post.

[uponit7771]

3. +1, "...The Potato Famine only happened to potatoes..." yeap, everything else didn't die so how did

... all those people starve?

Cause the Irish parliment allowed exporting in the 1840s

Simple legislation would've kept so many people from starving !!!

[monmouth4]

4. "Grass stained mouths on all of them as they trudged down the lane." - My grandmother, Mary Collins

Murphy on her recollections as a young woman..

[mcar]

5. It's why my ancestors came here

[FSogol]

8. Same here. 3 of my 4 grandparents were born in Ireland. n/t

[IcyPeas]

6. Sean Spicer, Paul Ryan, Mick Mulvaney..... all Irish....

all want to take away food from children and people in need (Meals on Wheels). all anti-immigration.

all wearing green neckties yesterday on T.V.

DISGUSTING

[FSogol]

7. The best book on the subject is by Thomas Keneally (he wrote Schdindler's List too),

titled, "The Great Shame."

Highly recommend.