Ok, buckle up kids, this is gonna be a bit of a journey. First. I need to post something offensive af (Imma post it in the next tweet so people can RT this without spreading this bullshit) and then we can talk about it, ok?

This shit. Yeah, ok, let's talk about this. First, the image.

This is the a picture of child breakers from the Ewen Breaker of Pennsylvania Coal Company. Ewen was in South Pittston, PA.

It's also about 30 miles from where large parts of my family lived in died in mines like this. There is a less than zero chance that a relative of mine was in this picture. So, no, you plastic paddy piece of shit, you do NOT get to use my people for your ahistorical crap.

First off, I'm not even going to address the now debunked Irish chattel slaves thing. Others have done this better than I have.

I want to talk to you about the "looking for free shit" bit.

First, let us ignore the fact that the one thing we did in the states, the thing we were reallllly good at, was political corruption and graft. Like, yeah, we went looking for free shit, ever hear of Tammany Hall?

And oh boy, free shit? I'm not sure what lace curtain Irish-American suburb the author of this shit was raised in, but they have obviously never been to my neighbourhood. I still have a fondness of gov cheese.

Let's talk about what these kids looked for and how insulting this is

Their fathers would have been involved in mine strikes. You know. Looking for free shit. Like decent wages. Safety equipment, like, shocker, an escape tunnel in the mine, like what caused the Avondale Mine disaster.

Like not getting murdered by Pinkertons or the National Guard.

Their fathers, my ancestors, would have been involved in the strikes of 1875, 1887, 1894, 1899, 1900 and 1902 as well as the assorted vigilante justice on scabs and mine owners. And by "vigilante justice" I mean murdering the bastards. None of this peaceful protest for that lot.

Yeah, so before you go trotting out my people to spew some racist political ideology, just realize that the people whose pictures you're using formed a multiethnic union, the UMW, to seek liberation and a better life for themselves and their kids.

The SAME shit that people in #BlackLivesMatter are doing *right* fucking now. The only difference is, their struggle is FAR older and their oppression FAR more insidious. So back the fuck off with your racist shit, you don't get to sully the memory of these people with it.

So if you share this, you're essentially nothing more than the mine owners of 100 years ago. Pussies. Wanting safety equipment. Looking for free shit like wages and no company store..

If you share this, I hope to god my great grandfather haunts your ass cause you'll deserve it.