On the day after Easter, Irish Americans gathered in the Mineola court complex near a sculpture of a harp symbolizing their native homeland to commemorate the 97th anniversary of the Easter Rising of 1916, when Irish patriots rose in an ill-fated armed Easter Week rebellion to oust English occupying forces.
Speakers at the annual commemoration reminded those present of the ties between the short-lived rebellion to end England’s control over Ireland that ended with the execution of the rebel leaders and the country still struggling with issues of independence and unity today.
“We remember with pride those who gave their lives for Irish freedom,” said Sean Crowe, a Sinn Fein member and a representative of the Dublin South-West. “Let us remember these people were treated like second class citizens in their own country.”
Crowe was one of the Irish leaders who negotiated the 1998 Good Friday Belfast Agreement aimed at resolving decades of conflict between the republican and English loyalist factions in Northern Ireland.
Local officials attending the commemoration included Town of Hempstead Clerk Maureen O’Connell, Nassau County Comptroller Goerge Maragos and Mineola Fire Department Chief Jeff Clark, president of Irish Americans in Government, which sponsored the event.
Crowe recalled that American support for the cause of Irish independence was “crucial then and it is crucial now.”
Support is also needed to maintain the Harp monument where Crowe was speaking. A luncheon at the Irish American Society in Mineola after the event at the Harp was a continuation of the commemoration aimed at raising money to maintain the monument.
“Our monument down there is beautiful. It’s very important,” said Betty McLoughlin, a board member and past president of the Irish American Society of Nassau, Suffolk and Queens.
McLoughlin said the organizations that collaborated to erect the Harp 35 years ago also work at raising money to maintain it, including the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, The Irish Northern Aid, the Irish American Society of Nassau, Suffolk and Queens and Irish Americans in Government.
People pay $150 apiece to have their names etched in bricks that surround the Harp, McLoughlin said. Some 60 bricks have been etched to date. McLoughlin said they must be done in increments of 22, and enough people will have contributed to have another set of bricks etched soon.
For those attending the commemoration, the events of 1916, including the proclamation of an Irish Republic by the leaders who fought and died for freedom, continue to resonate.
“I think it’s important to help you know why Irish people are in American and scattered throughout the world,” said newly-elected Village of Mineola Trustee Dennis Walsh.
Walsh said he has visited the Dublin Post Office, the last bastion of armed resistance against the English in 1916, twice in remembrance of the East Rising.
“It’s the declaration of the independence from England. It’s important. And I think it’s important to honor your heritage,” Walsh said.
“It’s just part of my heritage and my beliefs in the idea, that the country should be united, and in recognition to what those patriots did,” said John Carroll, a member of the Irish American Society board. “The monument is dedicated to those who rose up.”
