Competing Museums

          The day was full—of first day of school experience, followed by competing Derry/Londonderry narratives, from down the hill in Nationalist Bogside and within the city walls of a Loyalist Siege Museum (and what seems to be over three centuries of siege mentality), some students reeling from bloody anti-Israeli iconography as well, followed by a tense and needed debrief while our Oakgrove friends waited outside, and then a larger circle with them, where we spoke of sectarianism, American divisions, mental health and suicide, no minute of the day loose or slow.

    Daisy, a member of Sinn Fein for several decades, led us through the Bogside, along part of the march route she attended in 1972, that Bloody Sunday, when she was forever radicalized. Daisy told us of the fight for civil rights, for enfranchisement when only homeowners had a vote and businesses had two or three and Ulster Loyalist Protestants were well overrepresented in Derry despite its noted Catholic majority. She spoke of having her house repeatedly searched, and after going through to make sure no bullet was deliberately left behind and securely hidden for the sake of future accusations—harassment of activists at the very least. In the Free Derry Museum, we learned still more of the events leading to Bloody Sunday and following.

        The Siege Museum was a quiet three floors dedicated to 105 days in 1689 and the yearly pomp to celebrate them. I appreciated the counter-narratives but, as also expressed by Julia and others, I had to fight within myself to stay open to what the Apprentice Boys were serving. The difference between activism for human dignity and forces to deny it and activism towards the right to dress up and march and bang drums and the forces to deny that seems lopsided. 

        On the other hand, look how I’m articulating these points of view. We study history to get beyond simplistic comparisons and framings, so we have the richness of imagination to understand and ask the right questions and see the most compassionate, practical ways forward.

        In the evening, Roosevelt asked Oakgrove how the weight and legacy of sectarian tensions manifested or was processed or addressed or studied in an integrated school. There is not much talk, neither much tension—there used to be fist fights. And families are not likely to talk about their histories. Meanwhile, school lessons touch only very lightly such topics, if at all. Youth clubs are the most likely to highlight the Troubled times, and they will always have a very specific point of view. 

        Then, we asked, what is the issue we haven’t thought to ask you or discuss. When an Oakgrove student said mental health was that issue, there was a loud and communal Mmmmm, in recognition from all the students. Mental health. And so the silence finds its turbulent and tremulous voice after all.