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

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.

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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