Ah St. Patrick’s Day, a solemn day when Americans do their best Irish impression – by getting drunk!
What’s worse, Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey apparently saw nothing wrong with sponsoring a bar-hopping event called “Running of the Micks” even after receiving several complaints from Irish-Americans about the use of the ethnic slur ‘mick.’
Could you imagine if there had been an event called “Snacking of the Negroes” where participants went from KFC to KFC!?
The event has since been renamed “Running of the Leprechauns” but by Tropicana’s own admission that was the decision of outside promoters, and not Tropicana. And why would anyone even admit to that?
But the story doesn’t end there. Matt McDermott (AKA Uncle Thomas), co-founder of the event, says he “wasn’t aware of the derogatory connotation of ‘mick,'” and that he’s considering changing the name of another event planned for Philadelphia. But it’s been more than a week since this was first reported on (in local news), and the website http://runningofthemicks.com/ remains unchanged.
The most disturbing thing about this story is the lack of coverage it’s getting. Last year when a bar offered its customers Coronas & tacos as part of “Wetback Wednesdays” (see story) everyone covered it, even the major cable news networks like CNN. I guess racism doesn’t matter if it’s toward whites (‘cept for Jews).
I may only be 25% Irish, but I’m 100% offended.
