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From YouTube: Irish Great Hunger Memorial Dedication
Description
In the 1850's, Deer Island, now a part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park, became the resting spot for thousands of Irish immigrants who perished there after fleeing Ireland's Great Hunger. On Memorial Day weekend, Boston's Irish community gathered on the island for the dedication of the Irish Great Hunger Memorial. Mayor Walsh, Cardinal O'Malley, and Boston City Archivist John J. McColgan, told the history of the Irish immigrants quarantined on the island and spoke of the profound impact of the memorial.
A
B
Good
morning
my
name
is
Fred
Lasky
and
I'm.
The
executive
director
of
the
Massachusetts
Water
Resources
Authority
and,
on
behalf
of
the
board
of
directors
of
the
authority
who
represented
it
today
by
Chief,
Paul,
Flanagan
and
all
the
employees
of
the
MWA
I,
would
like
to
welcome
you
to
Deer
Island
on
this
beautiful
day.
Cardinal.
Thank
you
for
pulling
some
strings
to
get
a
nice
day.
We
appreciate
it.
B
Deer
Island
has
a
long
and
sometimes
dubious
history,
but
now
with
it
now
it
houses
the
country's
second
largest
sewage
treatment
plant,
which
is
a
national
environmental
success
story
and
is
the
most
popular
island
in
the
National
Park
System
here
for
the
Boston,
Harbor,
Islands
I,
hope
the
descendants
of
those
who
perished
here
find
solace
when
they
visit
this
memorial
in
this
beautiful
location,
overlooking
Boston
Harbor.
Frankly,
it
took
my
breath
away
the
first
time
I
came
up
and
saw
it
looking
across
at
the
skyline
of
Boston.
B
C
C
What
I
heard
from
these
men
was
that
nobody
said
no
to
get
us
to
where
we
are
today
and
I
had
to
after
a
while
think
to
myself.
It
must
have
been
all
these
souls
that
have
been
sitting
here
all
this
time,
knowing
that
they
weren't
forgotten
but
pushing
people
along
to
make
all
of
us
give
them
a
permanent
marker
today
may
God
rest
their
souls
for
the
opening
prayer,
I'd
like
to
invite
up
to
the
dais
father,
O'leary.
C
D
Reading
from
the
a
reading
from
the
holy
Gospel
according
to
Luke,
it
was
about
noon
and
darkness
came
over
the
whole
land
until
their
3:00
in
the
afternoon,
because
under
clips
in
the
Sun,
then
the
veil
of
the
temple
was
torn
down.
The
middle
Jesus
cried
out
in
a
loud
voice,
father
into
your
hands.
I
commend
my
spirit
when
he
had
said
this.
He
breathed
his
last
now.
D
D
Through
the
obedience
and
resurrection
of
your
son,
you
reveal
to
us
a
new
life.
You
granted
Abraham
our
Father
in
faith,
a
barrow
placed
in
the
promised
land.
You
prompted
Joseph
of
Arimathea
to
offer
his
own
tomb
for
the
burial
of
the
Lord.
In
this
same
spirit,
we
earnestly
ask
you
to
look
upon
this
site.
This
land
is
hallowed
said
that
while
we
may
be
committing
to
the
earth
the
bodies
of
these
your
servants,
you
take
their
souls
into
paradise.
We
ask
this
through
Christ
our
Lord.
C
C
Was
told
not
to
say
that,
because
he's
such
a
humble
Irishman
but
I
think
he
deserved,
it
certainly
deserved
it.
Why
we
were
at
that
meeting
that
I
described
it
was,
you
know,
a
bunch
of
guys
in
a
room
and
to
lighten
it
up.
Peter
O'malley
made
a
phone
call
and
put
on
speakerphone
where
we
were
all
serenaded
by
Maureen
keyd
with
her
wonderful
voice.
E
Sure
diva
harder
for
Mowgli
Kadri
MA
diva
cover
Arjun
Zach's
mom
Kabuto.
Some
speck
mean
rel
toggle',
ma
fumble
feel
for
shin
heung.
Glow
god's
homework
lay
lay
high
D
low
sag.
You
knew
his
hey,
some
licorice
all
shall
live,
Connie,
don't
mean
Shana,
FINA
fall,
I,
told
y'all,
hey
Gaiden,
wind
or
slow
hearty
the
horny
coin.
E
E
C
Thank
you
very
much
Marine
thanks
also
to
the
executive
director,
Fred
Lasky
and
all
the
MWRA
staff
for
guiding
us
all
here
today.
We
appreciate
all
of
that
we'll
also
like
to
acknowledge
the
Boston
Irish
reporter
an
ad
for
e.
They
did
a
wonderful
story
about
this
event
for
those
of
you
that
may
want
to
pick
up
a
copy
of
that
you
can
do
so.
It's
a
wonderful
wonderful
story.
C
C
C
Mccolgan
John
is
the
City
of
Boston
archivist
and
he
has
managed
the
city
archives
since
1995,
with
his
team
of
highly
experienced
archivists
John
has
built
a
program
that
has
earned
for
the
city
of
Boston
a
wide
reputation
as
a
center
for
research
and
the
professional
curation
of
the
city's
historical
records.
John
will
be
sharing
with
us
today.
The
story
of
the
city's
role
in
creating
and
managing
the
Deer
Island
quarantine
facility,
in
particular
in
1847,
based
on
the
historical
documents
that
are
preserved
in
the
city,
archives,
John.
F
Thank
You
Jean
mr.
mayor,
your
eminence
deputy
consul,
general
distinguished
guests,
it's
an
honor
to
address
this
landmark
event
in
the
commemoration
of
a
tragic
chapter
in
the
story
of
the
Irish
diaspora
and
to
share
some
of
what
the
city's
archives
reveals
about.
Deer
Island
quarantine.
In
the
time
of
the
great
hunger
uncaught
amour
Ireland's
great
hunger
saw
an
estimated
1.5
million
people
die
of
starvation
and
disease.
Another
two
million
emigrated.
Many
of
these
perished
from
the
plagues.
F
F
Ireland
was
England's,
first
colony,
expropriation
of
land
and
wealth
by
an
aristocracy,
alien
and
race,
and
religion
bred
misrule,
endemic
poverty,
violence
and
war
lasting
into
recent
times.
The
1801
act
of
Union
was
supposed
to
combine
Ireland
and
Great
Britain
into
a
single
body
politic,
but
Ireland
remained
the
de
facto
colony.
An
agricultural
resource
run
for
the
benefit
of
English
industry
and
commerce.
Irish
industry
was
nipped
in
the
bud,
leaving
an
expanding
population
without
adequate
subsistence
or
livelihood
between
1815
and
1845.
F
Nearly
a
million
people
abandoned
Ireland
for
North
America,
many
thousands
to
Boston,
then
in
harvests
from
1845
through
1851,
an
unknown
fungus
destroyed
the
only
food
source
for
millions.
The
Imperial
government
could
have
deployed
its
massive
resources
to
prevent
people
from
starving
lays
a
fair
ideology
prevented
it
from
doing
so.
It
responded
instead
with
measures
that
were
ineffectual,
wasteful
or
downright
harmful
soup.
F
Kitchens
were
closed,
because
free
food
was
regarded
as
a
disincentive
for
starving
people
to
work
better
to
waste
money
on
purposeless
Public
Works
schemes,
the
burden,
the
financing
relief
passed
from
central
government
to
local
poor
law
units,
even
though
the
local
bodies
were
bankrupt.
British
officials
in
any
case
saw
an
upside
to
the
famine.
Reducing
Ireland's
excessive
population
would
bring
needed
reform
to
its
agricultural
economy.
F
Non-Intervention
with
the
course
of
famine
was
reinforced
by
ethnic
and
religious
prejudice
popular
in
Britain
lacking
a
mission
too
focused
lacking
a
mission
focused
on
saving
lives.
British
policy
had
the
effect
of
profoundly
escalating
death
and
emigration.
Boston
felt
the
impact
in
1847
when
an
unprecedented
influx
of
Irish
immigrants
landed
in
the
city.
F
Hundreds,
destitute
and
sick
had
nowhere
to
turn
for
food
and
shelter,
but
the
house
of
Industry
in
South,
Boston
pot,
homeless,
shelter,
pod
Hospital,
the
House
of
Industry
was
the
city's
workhouse
and
asylum
for
the
poor
in
April
and
May
429
arriving
refugees
were
admitted
many
carrying
in
the
filthy,
rags
they
wore
likes.
Burying
the
highly
contagious
scourge
of
typhus.
86
of
them
quickly
died.
The
disease
had
spread
easily
in
deplorable
crowded
conditions
aboard
the
coffin
ships
that
brought
them.
F
The
infection
now
spread
among
the
institution's
regular
inmates,
nurses,
attendants
and
officers,
the
specter
of
what
was
happening
alarmed
Bostonians
in
a
burgeoning
anti-immigrant
nativism
intensified
with
typhus,
crippling
the
House
of
Industry
epidemic
threatening
the
city
and
refugees
still
flowing
in
the
city.
Aldermen
and
Common
Council
formed
a
special
joint
alien
passengers
committee
to
deal
with
the
crisis.
Faced
with
citizen
disquiet
and
a
fiscal
Kanaan
drama,
the
committee
enforced
laws
requiring
ship
masters
to
post
indemnity
bonds
for
the
support
of
foreign
poppers
to
address
the
public
health
emergency.
F
It
established
a
quarantine
hospital
on
Deer
Island
for
the
care
of
sick
indigent
immigrants.
A
hundred
and
seventy-two
years
ago,
today,
May
25th
1847,
the
committee
appointed
dr.
Joseph
Moriarty.
As
hospital
superintendent
and
resident
physician,
the
hospital
opened
May
29th,
the
last
Saturday
in
May,
as
is
today
committee
members
met
on
the
island
to
oversee
the
launch
of
operations.
Their
meeting
minutes
record
a
unanimous
decision
to
locate
a
burial
ground
and
a
quote
near
the
northwest
side
of
the
most
northerly
hill
on
the
island.
F
Unquote,
James
Turner,
the
new
hospital
steward
was
also
on
the
island
in
the
eight
months
of
his
employment,
Turner
would
bury
365
immigrants
in
that
ground
across
the
harbor
captain
Ellis
and
first
mate.
Mr.
Snell
sailed
the
sloop
Betsy
ransom
on
the
first
of
countless
journeys
transporting
the
ill
from
Long
Wharf
to
the
island
hospital
anchored
off
the
islands.
F
Southern
point
were
the
first
to
Atlantic
vessels
to
land
passengers
at
Deer,
Island,
quarantine,
debauch,
General
Greene
from
Cork
with
95
passengers,
the
ship
Clairborne
from
Liverpool
with
259
passengers,
Calvin
Bailey
city
inspector
of
alien
passengers
declared
11
from
the
Clairborne
indigent
and
secured
Barnes
from
the
captain
indemnifying
the
city
for
the
cost
of
their
care.
The
port
physician
Jerome
von
Kronen
Jill
Smith
found
two
passengers
from
the
general
green
and
six
from
the
Clairborne
suffering
from
malignant
diseases
and
ordered
their
transfer
up
island
to
dr.
Moriarty.
F
One
of
the
six
Mary
Cornell
aged
one
would
die
on
3
June.
The
first
victim
of
the
great
hunger
James
Turner
would
bury
on
Deer
Island.
In
the
first
four
months
the
hospital
admitted
1779
patients,
1175
were
discharged,
214
died,
13
were
taken
dead
from
ships.
Among
these
statistics
were
the
McCarthy
slant
family
from
Sligo,
Patrick
and
Alice
in
their
40s,
with
seven
sons
ranging
from
13
years
to
six
months,
arrived
August.
F
Fourth
aboard
the
Iowa
out
of
Liverpool
five
year
old
Patrick
later
in
life,
wrote
of
his
family's
harrowing
and
tragic
experience
emigrate
to
Boston
on
the
eve
of
their
departure.
Someone
broke
a
hole
in
the
thatched
roof
of
their
cottage,
and
men
offered
a
large
side
of
bacon
meant
to
sustain
the
journey
to
America,
presumably
saving
himself
from
starvation.
F
The
thief
deprived
the
family
of
the
sustenance
that
may
have
avoided
the
deaths
that
robbed
the
boy
of
his
parents
and
two
siblings
on
Deer
Island
through
the
eyes
of
his
five-year-old
self
Patrick
recalled
the
well-worn
route
of
the
famine
emigrant
the
cattle
boat
to
Liverpool.
A
cruel
and
galling
symbol
played
out
a
thousand
times
of
people
and
food
exported
on
the
same
boat.
Following
the
stay
at
Liverpool
and
the
Atlantic
journey,
the
family
landed
at
Deer
Island,
where
a
large
tent
on
the
quarantine
ground
failed
to
shelter
them
from
the
rain
city.
F
Death
records
reveal
his
three
year
old
brother,
Phillip,
dying
of
typhus
on
the
island,
August
9th,
the
infant
Peter
of
a
virulent
diarrhea
on
September,
2nd
on
September
7th
Patrick
and
his
brother
John
were
walking
about
the
grounds
when
their
father
called
to
them
from
a
window
in
tears
that
mother
was
dead.
A
few
days
after
this
happened,
Patrick
wrote,
I
noticed
a
large
striped.
F
Plaid
dress
of
my
mother's
hanging
on
a
line
out
of
doors
and
stood
looking
at
it
for
a
long
while
a
woman
came
to
take
it
away
and
I
made
a
vigorous
outcry
of
protest
and
was
hustled
off
somewhere.
Six
months
later,
his
father
died
at
the
hospital
of
a
fever.
Relapse
after
release
from
the
island.
The
orphans,
sheltered
and
fed
by
relatives
and
Catholic
Charities
survived
the
streets
of
Boston
except
younger
brother
James,
taken
by
cholera
at
the
Fort
Hill
Hospital
in
18-49
such
a
childhood.
F
Good
for
Patrick
now
we're
all
familiar
with
the
cold.
Welcome,
given
the
Irish
by
native
Bostonians,
the
religious
and
racial
prejudice,
employment
discrimination,
but
sometimes
violent
confrontations.
Yet
a
closer
look
at
the
archives
reveals
that
the
host
community
was
not
altogether
without
compassion
in
June
1847.
The
president
of
the
Common
Council
reminded
his
colleagues
of
the
virtue
of
caring
for
those
in
need,
regardless
of
who,
they
were
remember,
said
the
Brahmin
george
hiland,
that
if
these
poor
people
had
not
thus
taxed
our
benevolence,
they
must
have
died.
F
You
will
not,
I
am
sure,
be
weary
in
well-doing
or
refused
to
feed
from
the
crumbs
of
our
abundance,
the
starving
poor,
even
though
they
be
aliens
to
the
soil.
They
are
our
brethren
still,
they
have
the
claims
of
a
common
humanity.
Besides
those
of
urgent
need.
We
are
men
before
we
are
Americans
or
Englishmen.
They
are
as
near
to
us
as
the
faint
and
bleeding
Jew
was
to
the
Good
Samaritan.
The
starving
man
is
our
neighbor,
and
he
that
is
in
distress
as
a
brother.
F
It
is
in
this
spirit,
I,
believe
that
doctors
and
staff
at
Deer
Island
struggled
to
save
the
lives
of
irish
famine
victims
charged
to
their
care.
Wherever
in
the
world
there
were
famine,
fevers
in
1847
doctors
and
medical
staff
were
dying
on
Deer
Island.
They
knew
the
dangers
yet
we're
willing
to
risk
life
and
limb,
life
and
health
for
their
humanity.
In
dr.
Moriarty's
case,
the
motivation
may
have
run
deeper.
Moriarty
was
the
Brahmin
from
Salem
married
to
a
grand
niece
of
John
Hancock.
F
He
didn't
need
to
take
this
job,
jeopardizing
his
life,
his
career,
the
happiness
of
his
family.
Why
did
he
so
earnestly
seek
the
position?
Might
it
have
been
because
his
name
was
Moriarty?
His
great-grandfather
was
an
immigrant
from
truly
who
fitted
out
privateers
for
Washington's
Navy
during
the
revolution.
Was
it
because
of
his
Irish
heritage?
He
was
now
on
dear
with
a
passion
to
care
for
the
people
of
his
forebears.
F
Is
this
proposition
supported
by
the
fact
that
half
the
names
and
the
staff
were
Irish,
whether
it
was
for
the
Irish
off
of
the
city
of
a
humanity,
Josef
Moriarty
age
37
infected
by
the
typhus?
May
the
supreme
sacrifice
in
December
1847
dying
in
the
arms
of
his
wife
and
the
Hancock
mansion
on
Beacon
Hill,
leaving
her
and
three
young
children
behind
there
were
others,
the
intrepid
sailors,
captain
Ellis
and
mr.
F
nell
perishing
from
typhus
contracted
from
patients
in
transit
aboard
the
Betsy
ransom
and
the
most
well-known
Boston
casualty
of
all
stricken
with
typhus
captain
Daniel
Chandler
House
of
Interest
industry,
superintendent,
war
event,
1812
veteran
and
convert
to
Catholicism
on
his
deathbed
in
June
1847.
These
were
the
first
responders
of
black
47
in
Boston.
They
gave
their
live
for
others
in
need
and
deserve
to
be
remembered
among
Boston's
famine,
immigrants,
themselves.
F
Mortality
was
vast,
an
inscription
in
this
powerful
monument
as
inscribed
in
this
powerful
monument
850
innocent
people
died
and
were
buried
on
Deer
Island
between
1847
and
1850.
How
many
more
would
perish
in
the
islands
institutions
in
the
years
to
come?
How
many
more
escaped
deaths
in
Ireland
only
to
die
in
the
House
of
Industry?
Are
the
Fort
Hill
cholera
Hospital
are
in
the
street
or
to
parish
of
typhus
or
dysentery
in
the
asylums
and
prisons
and
mental
hospitals
or
succumb
to
tuberculosis
or
typhoid
in
the
North
End's
ramshackle
tenements
numbers
cease
to
mean
anything.
F
The
850
souls
on
the
island
has
become
a
poignant
symbol
of
famine,
erat
tribulation,
endured
by
the
unnumbered
thousands
who
suffered
trauma,
poverty,
disease
and
untimely
death.
Ultimately,
thanks
to
a
government
in
London
that
plays
political
power
and
private
profit
over
poor
people,
the
Deer
Island
Irish
Memorial
fulfills
a
years-long
aspiration,
memorizing
Boston's,
great
hunger
fatalities,
the
Celtic
Cross,
an
icon
of
Irish
heritage,
has
signified
since
ancient
times
a
place
that
is
sacred
victims
of
Ireland's.
F
This
cross
marks
as
sacred
the
earth
of
Deer
Island
holding,
remains
to
testify
against
colonialism,
greed,
economic
exploitation
and
political
repression
that
have
inflicted
upon
Ireland,
Native,
Americans
and
many
and
other
people
down
to
the
present
the
tragedies
of
famine,
war
and
forced
exile.
Thank
you.
C
Thank
you
very
much,
John
appreciate
all
of
the
history,
and
certainly
when
I
was
talking
to
Mike,
Carney
and
and
the
others
that
day
they
mentioned
you
in
particular,
and
how
much
work
and
how
much
research
you've
done.
I
was
also
given
that
day,
a
list
of
probably
close
to
900
names
of
men,
women
and
children
that
are
buried
on
this
island
and
just
last
night,
I
left
it
on
the
coffee
table,
and
this
morning
my
wife
Patricia
mentioned
to
me
that
just
how
taken
aback
she
was
all
of
us
know
the
history.
C
All
of
us
know
the
ships.
All
of
us
know
the
great
hunger
all
of
us
know
the
reasons
that
caused
it.
But
when
you
see,
as
she
said
to
me
this
morning,
those
names
and
the
cause
of
their
death
and
their
age,
it
really
brings
it
into
focus.
And
it's
just
another
reason
so
appreciative.
Why
we're
all
here
today
to
remember
them?
C
I
have
the
pleasure
of
introducing
now
the
mayor
of
the
city
of
Boston,
a
lifelong
champion
of
working
people,
a
proud
product
of
the
city
of
Boston,
the
city's
54th
mayor
just
one
into
a
second
term.
On
January,
4
first
of
2018,
born
and
raised
in
Dorchester
by
immigrant
parents,
mayor
Walsh.
Everyday
is
driven
to
make
sure
that
Boston
is
a
city
where
anyone
can
overcome
their
challenges
and
fulfill
their
dreams.
C
As
a
friend
and
a
former
legislative
colleague,
I
can
attest
to
his
long
commitment
to
immigrants
and
as
mayor
he
has
taken
a
national
posture
on
making
sure
that
we
never
forget
how
these
people
were
treated
a
hundred
and
fifty
years
ago
and
remember
the
dispossessed
and
the
hungry
that
are
arriving
on
our
shores
today
and
to
never
forget
that
link.
Ladies
and
gentlemen,
the
mayor
of
the
city
of
Boston,
my
and
J
Walsh,.
G
G
To
Cardinal
Sean
Monsignor
Larry
father
kick
them
thank
you
for
being
with
us
today
here
to
the
concert,
gent,
the
consulate
of
Ireland.
Thank
you
for
being
here
as
well.
Today,
Gino
clarity,
my
friend
and
his
wife,
Trisha
I'm,
saying
this.
Thank
you
for
being
here
as
well:
Fred
Lasky
and
the
team
who
helped
at
the
mbira
who
helped
move
this
along
I
know.
I
can
see
as
I
was
coming
in
today.
G
G
It's
a
council
of
flame
tucán
council
funds,
dad
ambassador
Flynn
to
the
members
of
the
Ancient
Order
of
Hibernians
and
the
ladies
Ancient
Order
of
Hibernians.
Thank
you
for
your
support
in
this
project
and
traveling
to
be
here
today
to
the
Boston
Couric,
rowing
club
via
participation.
Thank
you
as
well.
I.
G
Want
to
acknowledge
that
so
many
people
as
Jean
said,
there's
so
many
people
over
the
years
who
had
something
to
do
with
today's
events
and
if
that
simply
means
that
you
had
a
conversation
25
years
ago
in
the
living
room
about
building
this.
That
was.
That
was
a
part
of
this.
So
to
all
the
people
I
want
to.
Thank
you.
There's
too
many
of
them
to
mention.
I
do
want
to
mention
a
couple.
The
late
dr.
bill,
O'connell
and
Reed
O'connell
deserve
special
recognition.
G
We're
grateful
for
you,
shion
already
mentioned
Mike
Porter,
John,
Flaherty,
Peter
O'malley,
and
for
a
special
thanks
to
my
Kearney
and
I
know
that
other
folks
out
here
too,
all
of
the
quality
Irish
immigrants
that
are
here
with
us
today
and
there's
a
lot
of
you
like
my
mother
and
father
who
came
to
this
country
in
the
50s
and
40s
into
the
generation
before
them
that
came
to
this
country
in
the
20s
and
30s
and
the
generation
that
came
before
them
in
the
turn
of
the
century.
I
want
to.
Thank
you.
G
I
want
to
thank
you,
because
if
it
wasn't
for
Irish
immigrants
leaving
islands
coming
to
Boston
one
to
know
when
I
went
to
Boston
a
meeting
and
the
Hibernian
hall
and
it's
a
colonial
dance
hall,
I
would
not
be
standing
here
as
Mayor
of
the
City
of
Boston.
So
I
want
to
thank
them
for
for
coming
here.
G
But
I
do
want
to
make
a
special
mention
to
the
Irish
that
are
here
today
from
Ireland.
Thank
you
for
your
contributions
to
our
city.
Thank
you
for
your
contributions
to
our
country,
to
the
Irish
Americans
that
are
here.
I
know
we're
proud,
we're
proud
people
I
want
to
thank
you
as
well
for
keeping
our
family's
legacy
moving
forward
or
in
any
other
nationality
to
say
you
don't
have
to
be
Irish
today.
Any
other
nationality
I
want
to.
Thank
you
as
well.
G
G
President
John
F
Kennedy
spoke
of
the
Emerald
thread
that
runs
through
the
tapestry
of
the
Irish
past.
He
defines
his
tread
thread
as
the
consistency,
the
endurance,
the
faith
they
display
through
endless
centuries
of
foreign
oppression
as
religious
and
civil
rights
were
denied
to
them
in
the
destruction
by
poverty,
disease
starvation
was
ignored
by
their
conquerors.
G
The
victims
that
we
remember
today
were
far
from
home,
but
not
yet
attached
to
our
immigrant
community,
so
for
them
it
may
have
felt
as
if
the
mo
thread
was
broken,
but
today,
in
our
prayers
our
education
and
I
collective
memory
through
this
powerful
memorial
to
their
hopes
and
to
their
hardship.
We
weave
the
thread
back
to
this
pattern
like
much
of
Irish
culture.
This
memorial
marks
profound
suffering
with
remarkable
Beauty.
G
This
suffering
was
a
product
and
extension
of
the
misery
being
inflicted
on
Ireland
at
the
time,
but
it
happened
right
here
in
Boston
Harbor,
within
the
sight
of
the
cities
that
families
hoped
and
prayed
would
be
their
salvation
most
of
the
time.
The
immigration
story
we
tell
is
a
story
of
triumph,
triumph
overcoming
and
succeeding.
G
We
are
rightly
proud
of
our
parents
and
our
ancestors,
but
our
city
story
in
our
country
story
is
the
story
of
those
who
are
lost
as
well.
They
took
the
hardest
risks
under
the
worst
conditions
and
suffered
the
most
cruelest
fates.
All
of
us
who
are
members
of
the
Irish
immigrant
community
and
Irish
American
community
must
count
them
and
honor
them
as
ancestors,
whom
we
owe
a
debt.
G
G
We
indicate
those
across
the
ocean
who
caused
their
suffering,
who
could
have
prevented
it,
but
as
we
marked
their
loss
with
a
symbol
of
faith
in
Trent
that
transcends
time,
we
have
the
opportunity
to
act
on
those
values
and
relieve
that
suffering
as
it
appears
in
our
world.
Today,
we
can
see
in
the
face
of
every
refugee,
the
humanity
of
refugees
we
memorialize
today.
G
Let
us
not
be
anything
like
those
with
power
who
ignore
poverty,
ignore
disease
and
starvation,
that
island
song.
Let
us
honor
those
who
died
here
by
seeking
to
prevent
those
conditions
whenever
we
can
and
by
welcoming
with
compassion
those
who
find
ways
to
are
sure
into
our
borders.
We
are
a
country
built
on
an
identity,
not
an
idea
and
I
to
me
an
idea,
an
idea
that
life,
liberty
and
the
pursuit
of
happiness
are
the
rights
of
all
people,
no
matter
what
their
religion,
their
ethnicity,
their
resources
or
their
place
of
birth.
G
These
are
the
rights
that
the
Irish
victims
were
denied
in
their
homelands.
These
are
the
ideas
they
heard
of
and
they
hope
they
saw
it
safe
harbor
here
in
the
city
of
Boston,
and
this
is
the
creed
that
survivors
live
by
as
they
built
up
our
city
in
our
country
like
every
immigrant
before
them,
and
every
immigrant
after
them
continues
to
add
to
our
cities
and
country
this
memorial
honors,
the
hope
of
those
who
died.
It
calls
us
to
our
duty
to
defend
those
hopes
and
make
them
a
reality
right
here
and
around
the
world.
G
However,
we
can
this
place.
What
we're
standing
on
today
reminds
us.
The
achievement
of
this
idea
is
no
easy
task.
The
treatment
of
Native
American
people
on
this
very
Island
in
the
1600s
is
a
reminder.
The
prejudice
faced
the
Irish
in
their
own
City
at
the
time
of
the
great
hunger
and
beyond.
It
is
a
reminder.
The
enslavement
of
African
Americans,
the
Civil
War
wooden
justices
that
followed
in
every
act
of
discrimination
that
occurs
today
are
a
reminder.
It
takes
courage
to
live
up
to
our
principles.
It
takes
work
to
put
them
into
practice.
G
It
takes
putting
ourselves,
in
others,
shoes
or
lack
of
shoes
across
languages
across
skin
color
across
religion
across
time
it
takes
seeing
common
humanity
and
dignity,
despite
whatever
forces
would
separate
us.
That's
what
we
do
today
for
these
innocent
victims,
as
we
dedicate
a
worthy
addition
to
our
historic
harbor.
I
want
to
thank
everyone
again,
who
has
had
a
part
in
creating
this
beautiful
memorial.
G
May
you
all
see
it
as
a
reminder
of
who
we
they're
bear
witness
to
their
hope,
faith,
endurance
and
reflect
on
the
meaning
and
the
values
of
their
lives,
then,
and
now
may
God
bless
them
and
hold
them
close
may
God
bless
their
memory.
May
God
bless
the
City
of
Boston
and
may
God
bless
the
United
States
of
America.
C
Thank
you
very
much
mayor
Walsh.
There
were,
as
mentioned
so
many
folks
that
had
big
roles,
small
roles,
but
every
role
participated
in
it
resulted
in
today.
So
no
role
is
too
small
when
I
was
talking
to
Mike
and
the
guys
they
mentioned
to
me
about
Ron
Weiland,
who
created
the
videos
for
this
about
Bernie
Callahan,
who
built
the
walls
about
Larry
Hayes,
a
civil
engineer
who,
on
his
own
time,
did
the
drawings
I
think
that
Larry
Hayes
I
might
have
graduated
mall
in
Catholic
with
them.
C
C
There
he
is,
and
then
also
to
the
tattoo
artist
Mike
Carney
needed
a
quick
drawing
of
this,
and
you
know
when
you
get
a
scale
drawing
you
know.
It
takes
time
so
being
the
quick-thinking
Irishman
that
he
is,
he
went
to
a
tattoo
artist
and
asked
the
tattoo
artist
to
draw
this,
and
the
tattoo
artist
was
so
enthralled
by
it
that
he
asked
actually
to
be
invited
here
today
and
to
bring
his
daughter
that's
how
special
all
of
this
coming
together
is
on
so
many
different
levels.
C
It's
not
my
honor
and
privilege,
for
the
solemn
part
of
this
occasion,
for
the
blessing
of
this
great
Monument
to
introduce
a
person
who
and
through
his
entire
career,
has
been
so
benevolent
and
understanding
of
immigrants.
There's
really
stood
as
a
model
to
all
of
us
as
our
to
our
faith
as
to
what
we
should
do
as
Christians,
especially
in
today's
climate,
His,
Eminence,
Cardinal,
O'malley,.
H
Many
of
those
coffin
ships
that
John
described
arrived
filled
with
orphans
because
the
parents
gave
all
the
food
to
their
children
and
were
buried
at
sea
as
they
wanted
their
children
to
survive
and
get
to
America
they're
very
much
like
those
children
at
the
borders
of
our
country
who
are
fleeing
oppression
and
hunger
and
whose
parents
are
making
a
supreme
sacrifice
to
to
save
their
lives
and
give
them
a
new
future.
So
all
of
these
things
have
to
be
uppermost
in
our
mind.
H
Many
of
us
here
are
descendants
of
those
people
that
fled
the
hunger
and
the
oppression
of
the
1800s
and
to
come
to
America.
No
recently,
we
just
rededicated
the
Cathedral.
It's
such
a
monument
to
the
faith
of
those
Irish
immigrants
who,
in
1875,
built
the
largest
church
in
the
United
States
here
in
Boston,
as
a
sign
of
their
faith
and
a
sign
of
their
hope
and
endurance.
H
And
now
let
us
pray
God
of
all
consolation
by
your
just
decree.
Our
bodies
return
to
the
dust
from
which
they
were
shaped.
Yet
in
your
way
of
mercy,
you
have
turned
this
condition
of
darkness
and
death
into
a
proof
of
your
loving
care
in
your
Providence.
You
assured
Abraham
our
Father
and
faith
of
a
burial
place
in
the
land
of
promise.
You
extolled
your
servant,
Tobit
for
his
charity
and
burying
the
dead.
H
You
will
that
your
own
son
be
laid
to
rest
in
a
new
tomb
so
that
he
might
rise
from
it
victor
over
death
and
offer
us
the
pledge
of
his
own
resurrection
granted
under
the
sign
of
this
cross.
We
may,
by
the
power
of
your
blessing,
be
a
place
of
rest
and
hope
and
may
the
bodies
buried
here
sleep
in
your
peace
to
rise
immortal
at
the
coming
of
your
son.
May
this
place
be
a
comfort
to
the
living,
a
sign
of
hope
for
unending
life.
H
C
E
I
C
Before
our
closing
music,
again
by
Maureen
and
some
bagpipes
as
soon
as
this
event
is
over
thanks
to
my
Kearney
and
green
hills,
bakery
we'd
like
to
invite
all
of
you
to
a
reception
and
also
at
that
reception,
John
McColgan
has
brought
some
archives
from
the
city
of
Boston
for
those
of
you
that
might
want
to
peruse
them.
Thank
you
all
for
being
here.
Happy
Memorial,
Day,.