AMERICAN BREXIT COMMITTEE
1919 CHESTNUT ST, SUITE 1724
PHILIDELPHIA, PA 19103
John M. Corcoran Esq. Chairman
Michael J. Cummings, Secretary
Here’s a fun fact for political junkies. Massachusetts Members of Congress have a rich legacy of standing up against bullies in the fight for human rights, justice and democracy around the world. Of course, O’Neill, Boland, Moakley and McGovern and others always spoke up for Ireland but to date the British have been able to bury their lawless legacy in Northern Ireland. Chairman of Ways & Means Richie Neal of Springfield and Speaker Pelosi may raise the price for approval of any proposed US-UK trade deal and demand transparency and accountability from British bullies as did those “fab four”.
In 1965, Springfield’s Ed Boland walked with John Lewis in Selma but he was better known for battling President Reagan’s CIA funding of the Contras in a misbegotten scheme to restore Nicaraguan dictator Somoza. Before becoming a Member of Congress, Jim McGovern from Worcester worked for Boston’s Representative Joe Moakley in exposing the corrupting role of American aid in El Salvador where U. S. trained Army leaders backed death squads that murdered thousands including six Jesuits teachers and employees of the Central American University. Elected as a Representative in 1996, McGovern fought against any arms sales to Saudi Arabia in opposition to their senseless slaughter and starvation of civilians in Yemen. Secretary of State Pompeo used a false declaration of an emergency to approve it. Not to be deterred, McGovern helped craft two Magnitsky’s laws enabling the U. S. government to sanction foreign individuals or governments who have committed human rights abuses and corruption.
I grew up in Springfield, MA and if you had any Irish heritage that meant you were a Democrat, even if your parents strayed from the “faith” occasionally. I remember my Dad once saying: “With Kennedy in the White House and ‘Tip’ O’Neill and Ed Boland in the House…God is in heaven and all’s right with the world!” Politics was local and foreign affairs only became ‘table talk’ during the Hungarian revolt and the Cuban missile crisis. My Dad’s sole recognition of his Cummins, Keough, Kiely and Finn heritage was to sing Galway Bay on St. Patrick’s Day. If the words “troubles” ever was used it was thought to be an illness. My long journey of involvement with the Northern Ireland conflict made clear to me that ‘illness’ was British lawlessness and treachery.
In 1988 Richie Neal succeeded Boland and carries on this unique tradition of fighting injustice and armed bullies. Britain used State sponsored executions using hired thugs like those in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Saudi Arabia. But he was also part of the solution supporting the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. With Britain’s promise to repeal the Human Rights Act of 1998 and grant amnesty to all soldiers involved in killing civilians in N. I., mostly Catholic, Neal fears a new cycle of violence. In a recent trip to London and Dublin, Neal and Speaker Pelosi publicly advised the British that using Brexit as an excuse to punish Ireland economically or to scrap the GFA would jeopardize a trade pact. The Chairman and the Speaker seem ready for their close-up!
Michael J. Cummings
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