Hartford Courant, 1 September 1995 - Hartford's Irish Honor Prisoner's Sacrifice
In an emotional, sometimes tearful speech, Geraldine Sands, wife of martyred Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands, spoke publicly for the first time Thursday since her husband's death in 1981.
Hands shaking, voice trembling, a petite Sands thanked Hartford residents for naming a small grassy plot after her husband -- honoring his role in fighting for civil rights for minority Catholics in Northern Ireland.
Sands humbly accepted the friendship of Hartford's Irish, urging them to pressure the U.S. government to force Britain to end the partition of Ireland.
Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the Irish Republican Army's cease-fire with the British government. Until the cease-fire, conflict involving Catholics, majority Protestants and British soldiers created a war zone in Northern Ireland for several decades.
"The biggest obstacle for us still is the British government, which is strangling the peace process,'' Sands said.
Bobby Sands, who died in prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland, after a 66-day hunger strike in 1981, had served four years on charges of weapons possession and membership in the Irish Republican Army, and had previously been imprisoned for almost five years for the armed robberies of two gas stations and two other attempted robberies.
The Hartford chapter of the Irish Northern Aid Committee invited Sands to the city to commemorate the corner of Maple Avenue and South Street as Bobby Sands Circle.
At first Geraldine Sands declined the invitation. Since her husband's death, she has kept a low profile, out of respect for her husband, and because "it is still dangerous in Belfast,'' she said.
She continues to live in Belfast with her three children. Families of nine other imprisoned hunger strikers who died have also kept silent, she said.
Geraldine Sands' friendship with Richard Lawlor of the Hartford chapter of the Irish Northern Aid Committee helped change her mind.
"It's been very emotional for me, but the timing was right,'' Sands said.
Lawlor said he met Sands almost 10 years ago and visited her each time he went to Belfast. Lawlor and others are raising money to erect a Celtic cross on the grassy plot named for Bobby Sands.
"We must redouble our efforts to put pressure on the British government, so that Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers can rest in their graves and know they did not die in vain,'' Lawlor said.
More than 75 people -- Hartford residents and others from suburban towns -- came to hear Sands speak, and some later walked up to kiss and embrace her.
Dressed in green outfits, wearing green ribbons, and even draped in the Irish flag, people who attended the ceremony said they continue to be moved by the political struggles in partitioned Ireland, even though they have never been to the country where their parents and grandparents were born.
Michael Castorino, 27, of Hartford, whose mother is Irish, said he felt he had to attend the ceremony.
"It's a rare occasion in our day to be able to remember someone who died for their beliefs,'' Castorino said. "What Bobby Sands did took discipline and a belief that came from the soul. I think it's important that his wife know that people remember that.''
- Maria Alvarez
Source
In an emotional, sometimes tearful speech, Geraldine Sands, wife of martyred Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands, spoke publicly for the first time Thursday since her husband's death in 1981.
Hands shaking, voice trembling, a petite Sands thanked Hartford residents for naming a small grassy plot after her husband -- honoring his role in fighting for civil rights for minority Catholics in Northern Ireland.
Sands humbly accepted the friendship of Hartford's Irish, urging them to pressure the U.S. government to force Britain to end the partition of Ireland.
Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the Irish Republican Army's cease-fire with the British government. Until the cease-fire, conflict involving Catholics, majority Protestants and British soldiers created a war zone in Northern Ireland for several decades.
"The biggest obstacle for us still is the British government, which is strangling the peace process,'' Sands said.
Bobby Sands, who died in prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland, after a 66-day hunger strike in 1981, had served four years on charges of weapons possession and membership in the Irish Republican Army, and had previously been imprisoned for almost five years for the armed robberies of two gas stations and two other attempted robberies.
The Hartford chapter of the Irish Northern Aid Committee invited Sands to the city to commemorate the corner of Maple Avenue and South Street as Bobby Sands Circle.
At first Geraldine Sands declined the invitation. Since her husband's death, she has kept a low profile, out of respect for her husband, and because "it is still dangerous in Belfast,'' she said.
She continues to live in Belfast with her three children. Families of nine other imprisoned hunger strikers who died have also kept silent, she said.
Geraldine Sands' friendship with Richard Lawlor of the Hartford chapter of the Irish Northern Aid Committee helped change her mind.
"It's been very emotional for me, but the timing was right,'' Sands said.
Lawlor said he met Sands almost 10 years ago and visited her each time he went to Belfast. Lawlor and others are raising money to erect a Celtic cross on the grassy plot named for Bobby Sands.
"We must redouble our efforts to put pressure on the British government, so that Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers can rest in their graves and know they did not die in vain,'' Lawlor said.
More than 75 people -- Hartford residents and others from suburban towns -- came to hear Sands speak, and some later walked up to kiss and embrace her.
Dressed in green outfits, wearing green ribbons, and even draped in the Irish flag, people who attended the ceremony said they continue to be moved by the political struggles in partitioned Ireland, even though they have never been to the country where their parents and grandparents were born.
Michael Castorino, 27, of Hartford, whose mother is Irish, said he felt he had to attend the ceremony.
"It's a rare occasion in our day to be able to remember someone who died for their beliefs,'' Castorino said. "What Bobby Sands did took discipline and a belief that came from the soul. I think it's important that his wife know that people remember that.''
- Maria Alvarez
Source