The following was excerpted from a talk given by Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan at the Northampton St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast at the Hotel Northampton on Monday, March 17.

 

 

I beg your indulgence to allow me to share with you this morning a serious thought. We are at a dangerous and unique time in American history. And I believe, with all my heart, that we Irish Americans in 2025 have a special duty at this precarious time to our Irish ancestors. Those ancestors suffered the heartbreak and the anguish and the struggles of immigration, to provide us the chance at a better life.

I submit the special duty we owe them is to speak truth to power when that power is wielded to demonize immigrants and seek to subvert the rule of law that so many of our Irish ancestors fought and died to uphold.

I’m not talking about good faith disagreements on policy. I’m calling out the clown car of individuals who denigrate and demean entire races of immigrants as criminals, rapists, murderers, and drug dealers. I’m calling out those who seek to abolish the rule of law, terminate articles of our Constitution, and intimidate and threaten judges whose rulings uphold the rule of law.

This duty is not partisan. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican or an independent. I don’t care if you lobby for a liberal or a conservative immigration policy or support a liberal or conservative judicial philosophy. My point is simple: In 2025, very loud, very powerful and very dangerous voices declare that immigrants are evil and our Constitution irrelevant. Opposition and objection to those reckless views should not only be non-partisan, it should be unanimous.

We cannot, Thomas Paine eloquently warned citizens, “At this time that tries our souls, to be like the summer soldier or the sunshine patriot and shrink from the service of our country; but rather, we must stand by her.”

Understanding our present duty as Irish Americans is crystallized when we reflect on our distant past, our own individual family histories. Why did our grandparents, great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents leave homes and loved ones in Ireland? Why did some risk their lives on the journey to America in “coffin ships?”

Often the answer was due to famine, political oppression, or joblessness. Upon making that unspeakably difficult decision to leave their homes, why did they choose to come to America? The answer is because of the promise of America — because of the promise of freedom and equal opportunity under law.

If I may, let me direct you to one poignant moment of history. Five months before his tragic death, a native son of Massachusetts, Irish American John F. Kennedy, spoke to the Irish parliament. President Kennedy spoke of the Irish Brigade, a band of 1,200 Union soldiers, Irish immigrants, who fought in the battle of Fredericksburg on Sept. 13, 1862. One of the bloodiest battlefields of the Civil War. The Irish Brigade went into that battle with 1,200 men — 280 men survived the battle.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who witnessed the special courage of the Irish Brigade, said of this group of men, after the battle, “Never were men so brave, they ennobled their race by their splendid gallantry on that desperate occasion.”

The men of the Irish Brigade, and countless other immigrants, have fought and died throughout our history to defend our Constitution.

So, when you hear those voices demonizing immigrant families and maneuvering to cut down our Constitution, I implore you to think of the men of the Irish Brigade, immigrants who risked life and limb to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

We must be a modern Irish Brigade. Not a military unit, but a unit of Irish Americans who remember our immigrant ancestors when we are bombarded with anti-immigrant and anti-rule of law venom. Our ancestors, as immigrants to this country, were not always welcome. They were met daily by the signs which read, “No Irish Need Apply.” But through faith and fortitude, they made their way and secured the American dream for their children, and their children’s children.

I mention our shared Irish American history not because it is unique, but because it is common. It’s a story many of you can tell. It is a story shared by most of America.

Today, we must see our ancestors, and so ourselves, in the faces of all those seeking the American dream. Those who are held back, pushed down, and demonized. It is not enough that we remember our ancestors’ struggles; we must stand with the marginalized and we must fight for their rights so that all may know freedom and liberty, thanks to those who came before us and stood and fought on our behalf.

Today, there are dangerous voices coming from powerful positions. As we decide how to respond to such voices, I simply ask that we remember where we came from.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We may have come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” Let’s remember to make our personal journeys one of courage, compassion, and love.

I trust that if we follow the moral compass used by our ancestors, we will arrive safely home.

David E. Sullivan is the Northwestern district attorney.