Northern Ireland Activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey Receives State House Citation in Boston on March 14, 1986

State Rep Marie Howe, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and former State Rep Mel King, March 14, 1986

A ‘rainbow coalition’ of Massachusetts elected officials came together on Friday, March 14, 1986, to support activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey in her campaign to end British violence in Northern Ireland.

McAliskey was greeted at the state house by “two Black officials, a native American, a Jewish senator, and various Americans of Irish descent,” including state representatives Marie Howe, Byron Rushing and Thomas Gallagher, senator Francis D. Doris and Jack Blackman, and former state rep Mel King, wrote the Lynn Daily Item. Other leaders including Leo Cooney of the Irish National Caucus and Boston civil rights attorney William Homans.

McAliskey was presented with an official citation signed by Senate President William M. Bulger and Speaker of the House George Keverian.

She blasted ‘misconceptions’ about the conflict in Northern Ireland, which were the result of British Government propaganda, such as the troubles being about religion. “The great weapon is truth. This is not propaganda. Everything I say can be documented,” .McAliskey said.

Describing his trip to Northern Ireland, Mel King said, “What I saw reminded me of a time in the United States when blacks went through the same kinds of kangaroo courts and trials.”

Representative Marie Howe (D-Somerville) was one of the Irish-American leaders at the State House during the 1980s, criticizing the British Government about ongoing human rights violations and the 1981 Hunger Strikes, during which 10 Irish political prisoners starved themselves to death.

On June 15, 1981, Howe and others issued a House Resolution calling for the “Recall and Withdrawal of the British Consulate” from Boston. A copy of the Resolution was forwarded to President Ronald Reagan, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and others.

Learn more about Boston's Irish history by visiting IrishHeritageTrail.com.

Research + Text, Michael Quinlin

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