A Modest Proposal for Dowling

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I would like to present a modest proposal to the Harvard community.

I am encouraged to see that during my temporary absence from Harvard the community is, in the words of Lawrence Duncan III '90, "coming together in an arena of racial tolerance and understanding." Such an atmosphere is essential to the mission of an institution such as Harvard above all else, and Jon P. Jiles' Confederate flag was an obvious affront to such harmony.

I could not agree more with the brilliant comment by Leverett House Master John E. Dowling '57, "My view is that when something is in the public view and it offends, it should be removed." Such is the proper way to balance public opinion and the overrated Constitutional guarantee of free speech. Without such a lead as that Duncan provided I would not have been able to express, as I am now, the oppression I have felt within the Harvard community and call, as I do now, for decisive action.

As an Irish-American, I have been constantly harassed by the pervasive images of the British Empire within our community, particularly the display of British flags in windows and common areas. According to page 87 of the Student Handbook, racial harrasment is "any action on the part of an individual or group that causes another individual or group to feel demeaned or abused because of racial or ethnic background."

In my eyes, the Union Jack represents the 800 years of British oppression of my people and occupation of my ancestral homeland, punctuated by periodic genocides. The red of the flag is not nearly as deep as the pool of blood which flowed out of Ireland as Oliver Cromwell reduced the population from 1,466,000 to 616,000 in one decade in the mid-17th century. The white is not as pale as the faces of the millions who died during the famine of the 1840s while the British estate owners exported Irish wheat and livestock to pay for their extravagant lifestyles.

English flags are inherently symbolic of the degradation, oppression and slaughter of my people which continues even today in the British occupied northern six counties of Ireland. Consequently, following the lead of Duncan and the advice of Master Dowling, I insist that the University address this issue and effect the removal or destruction of all symbols of British tyranny.

Further, in the name of true racial tolerance and understanding, I must urge every group which was historically or is currently oppressed to join the effort to purify our environment. There is nothing unique about the suffering of the Black community, and we should not be content until, as Master Dowling said, everything which is in the public view and offends has been removed. Timothy McCormack '91-'92