What’s next for Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, Ray Kelly?

Almost 13 million viewers tuned in to see Tom Selleck’s return to a network TV drama last Friday. The CBS show Blue Bloods features Selleck as the Irish American police commissioner of New York City.

Selleck, thus far, has received solid reviews for his commanding performance, though some folks noted that he has been seen wearing the blues of the NYPD uniform. This even though actual New York police commissioners -- such as the current Irish American one, Ray Kelly -- prefer snazzy suit jackets and ties.

This, of course, is only a small detail. Especially when there is a much bigger question to be asked when it comes to police commissioners who may or may not be seen on TV a lot in the near future.

More and more people are starting to wonder not about what Ray Kelly happens to be wearing, but where he will be wearing it.

The big question is this -- is Kelly going to try and become the first New York City mayor with an Irish name since Bill O’Dwyer back in the 1950s?

Just this week, The New York Observer, which fancies itself the ultimate insider chronicler of New York, ran a long profile of one of Kelly’s most trusted advisors, NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Public Affairs Paul Browne.

Browne, as the article notes, “grew up in a small apartment in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx, one of four children of Irish immigrants.”

Browne, the article also notes, “is a former newspaper reporter who has become…a loyal friend and an adviser to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. If you compare their resumes side by side, you will find that for most of the past two decades, wherever Mr. Kelly has gone, Mr. Browne has sat in the seat right behind him, if not next to him.”

In short, it seems as if Kelly does decide to make a run for City Hall in 2013, he will have a fellow Irishman by his side.

However, even though one longtime friend of Kelly notes that the top cop is an “attractive candidate,” there are some obstacles.

“I don’t think New York City will ever be able to say thank you enough to Ray Kelly for the job he’s done,” says Tom Kelly (no relation), who, aside from being a friend of the commish’s, also happens to be a writer and co-producer on Blue Bloods.

Kelly adds that it is “literally unprecedented” for an Irish American top cop to have such high approval ratings not just across the five boroughs, but also in African American neighborhoods where tension between residents and law enforcement can run high.

However, Kelly also notes that the commish would have to raise a lot of money at a time when many millionaires and even billionaires (Mike Bloomberg anyone?) can fund their own campaigns. In addition, the minefield of mayoral politics may simply not interest Kelly.

There is also the matter of whether or not the commissioner would run as a Republican or Democrat. The latter field, as always, is very crowded.

This summer, New York Daily News political analyst Joshua Greenman sized the race up this way: “Look at the lineup of likely (mayoral) contenders: Bill de Blasio, the city's public advocate; John Liu, the controller; Christine Quinn, the City Council speaker; Scott Stringer, the Manhattan borough president; Anthony Weiner, a U.S. representative. Some have talent…but they've got one glaring thing in common. All served in the City Council.”

Some feel this makes these possible candidates tired and compromised in the public eye. Kelly, on the other hand, “is an obvious heir to the three-term mayor and beloved as the driver of the most far-reaching transformation of city life in the last decade -- the continued, miraculous decline in crime, an especially impressive accomplishment given declining personnel and the ongoing terror threat. Plus, the guy seems to have innate charm.”

There is always the private sector where Kelly could make plenty of money. Some have said he might go to Washington to run the FBI.

There is, of course, one other option. Kelly, who is 70 years old, could sit back and let someone else take over City Hall, and wait to be offered the job of top cop yet again.

“They would be a half-wit not to offer him the job,” Tom Kelly concluded.

(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)

Boardwalk Empire: Fighting the ‘empire’ of demon drink

That great philosopher Homer -- Simpson, that is -- once had this to say about Prohibition: “They tried that in the movies and it didn’t work.”

Well, now they are trying it on cable TV. On Sunday, Boardwalk Empire, the new mini-series from America’s greatest director Martin Scorsese, will make its debut on HBO.

Dubbed the “best TV show” of the season by many critics, Boardwalk Empire is about the creation of gambling Mecca Atlantic City -- which happened to come at roughly the same time as alcohol was banned in America.

In fact, a central character in Boardwalk Empire is an Irish immigrant who -- saints preserve us! -- supports prohibition.

Scottish actress Kelly McDonald plays Margaret, a member of a temperance organization who is also in an unhappy marriage. Margaret is befriend by “Nucky” Johnson (Steve Buscemi). Why this powerful, shadowy gangster-type is assisting such a lonely lass is one question that will surely be answered as the show unfolds.

Is there any historical truth here? After all, bad stereotypes aside, it’s a well-established fact that most American supporters of the alcohol ban were small-town or rural Protestants who (to be generous) were suspicious of the Irish and other ethnic groups huddled in big cities.

But as it turns out, Scorsese and the Boardwalk Empire crew have history on their side. There was indeed a vibrant Irish American temperance movement. As Ripley might say, believe it or not.

Now, let’s be clear. The temperance movement was led mainly by WASPs who were suspicious of America’s move towards a more diverse, urban society in the 1920s.

In fact, even the Ku Klux Klan “supported prohibition as a weapon against immigrants,” Daniel Okrent notes in his new best-selling book Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.

In fact, Okrent also notes that some “dry” Americans (as the prohibition forces were known) faced a problem when their anti-Catholic feelings ran up against their anti-alcohol impulses.

When New York’s own Al Smith ran for president in 1928 -- with his thick New York accent, Tammany Hall background and Irish roots -- he was the first Catholic to make a serious run for the White House.

This did not sit well with the likes of Rev. Bob Jones, who said, “I would rather see a saloon on every corner than a Catholic in the White House.”

Jones even said that, rather than a Catholic, he’d prefer a black president, though he used a word much more offensive than “black.”

That all being said, Boardwalk Empire’s Margaret has several historical ancestors -- which is to say, Irish American women who sought to end the pernicious influence of “the demon rum.”

There was even a Catholic Prohibition League of America, though its membership rolls were never exactly flush.

A history of the Catholic Total Abstinence League, meanwhile, was published in 1951, entitled The Hibernian Crusade, though good luck finding a copy of that tome (by Joan Bland) these days.
Leonora Barry, for example, was born in Cork and came to America and is best known as a trailblazing union organizer, most notably with the Knights of Labor.

But Barry was also a well-known proponent of prohibition. The same with Limerick native Charlotte Grace O’Brien.

These women, and many others, linked prohibition with the uplifting of the Irish race in America.
They also linked the anti-alcohol movement with labor organizing, Irish independence and other progressive causes.

This should not be surprising because, as scholar Deirdre M. Moloney has written, Irish American reformers were inspired by events in Ireland itself.

They “drew extensively from Father Theobold Matthew’s mid-19th century Irish temperance campaign in forming an American Catholic movement,” according to Moloney, who added that “temperance became an Irish issue.”

Not quite for everyone, of course. But give Boardwalk Empire credit for showing us another side of the Irish American experience.

However, to paraphrase Homer Simpson: “Temperance. Psh. They tried that in Ireland and it didn’t work.”

(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)

The 9th Anniversary of 9/11: a million reasons to be hopeful

With the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks upon us, it’s hard to avoid the sense that there is an angry edge to what had, in the past, been a somber, solemn occasion.

Yes, a big part of this is the roiling debate over the proposed mosque near Ground Zero. This debate shows no signs of going away any time soon.

Whatever you happen to believe about the mosque proposal, most decent folks agree that September 11 is a day to set aside such differences and remember the sacrifices made in lower Manhattan on that sad day.

Trouble is, it’s getting harder and harder to focus only on the acts of bravery and valiance.
You’ve got hate preachers such as Bill Keller traveling to Ground Zero to put on an ugly show.

You’ve got ailing first responders still suffering from the effects of the work they did at the pile.

And you’ve got all manner of conspiracy theorists still trying to figure out whether it was President Bush or the United Nations or some other evil genius who actually toppled the buildings that day, rather than al-Qaeda.

In short, it’s increasingly difficult to follow the noble example of service and sacrifice set on that terrible day nine years ago.

Thankfully, we have the Lynch family to remind us.

“We always knew we wanted to make something good out of evil,” Jack Lynch said in an interview this past weekend.

Lynch, a Kerry native, is the father of Michael Francis Lynch, a Bronx-born firefighter who had been assigned to a firehouse in his native borough. On September 11, 2001, however, Michael had been rotated to a Manhattan house. He was one of a dozen firefighters to die from that house when the towers fell.

“Even before we found Michael,” Jack Lynch added, “we knew we wanted to do something positive.”

It was not until March 2002 that Michael’s remains were identified, in part because of the green Celtic Cross on his shoulder. It was said that Michael’s remains were intertwined with that of another person, indicating he’d been assisting this person at the time of the collapse.

In the weeks and months which followed 9/11, the Lynch family -- Jack and his Sligo-born wife, Kathleen, raised 10 children -- decided to start a college scholarship fund in Michael’s name. To date, the Michael Lynch Memorial has granted well over $1 million in scholarship money to children of FDNY families, as well as victims of 9/11, or other fires or disasters.

“It’s actually closer to a million and a half now,” Lynch notes with understandable pride.

Kaitlyn Hurley, one of the recipients of a grant from the Michael Lynch Foundation, recently said, “My family and I are extremely grateful to receive this award. This grant will aid in the pursuit of my nursing education. I only hope that I can make a difference by helping others like Michael Lynch and the FDNY have.”

In this sense, despite the terrible loss they have endured, the Lynches have done something so many of us have been unable to do. They have risen above the day-to-day squabbles which inevitably distract us in this post-9/11 world and continued to set an example of service and dedication and sacrifice.

Indeed, the Michael Lynch Foundation (www.mlynch.org) is very much a family affair, with each of Mike’s brothers and sisters playing integral roles.

For example, the ninth annual Lynch Foundation golf outing will be held on September 17 at Pelham Bay Golf Course in the Bronx. That event, along with many others throughout the year, is organized by Michael’s brother Thomas.

Other family members handle the scholarship application process, the foundation’s legal business, its website and more.

All of this volunteer work is crucial, Jack Lynch notes, because running the memorial “is a lot work.”

But he also notes, “The other thing that I think is really important is that 98% of the money we receive goes directly to the students. I think that’s appealing to a lot of people.”

This September 11, we should not only remember the valiant sacrifices of Michael Lynch and his fallen comrades.

We should also strive to emulate the Lynch family, who remind us that the most noble thing we can do is simply try to make the world a better place.

(Contact at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)

Why Irish Catholics are no different from Muslims

Last Monday, George Marlin published an article in The New York Post entitled “Catholics' lessons for U.S. Muslims.”

Marlin is an interesting thinker who writes often about overlooked aspects of Irish American and Catholic American history.

“In earlier times,” Marlin wrote on Monday, “tens of millions who came through Ellis Island quickly embraced their new nation and what it stood for and refuted the charge that there was a conflict between their religious or ethnic loyalty and patriotism."

I have interviewed George Marlin in the past and found him to be genial and well-informed. So it is with respect that I disagree with his very charitable look back at the how the Irish and other Catholic immigrants assimilated.

In fact, it could be argued that Catholic efforts to assimilate into the American mainstream were more similar than different from current Muslim efforts.

I’d go so far as to say that the Irish took part in more so-called “un-American activities” than today’s immigrants. Imagine, for example, if 20,000 Middle Eastern immigrants congregated at Madison Square Garden to rally for the cause of, say, Palestinian independence.

Well, that’s just what many New York Irish Catholics did in 1916 after the Easter Rising in Dublin, which aimed to achieve Irish independence.

By 1917, America entered into World War I alongside the Brits, much to the chagrin of Irish nationalists in America such as John Devoy. Indeed, some factions in the Irish community were more than willing to undermine America’s allies (the Brits) and ponder alliances with America’s enemies (the Germans) in the name of a free Ireland.

This may have been a small slice of Irish America. But it is far too simplistic to suggest that Irish Americans in particular and immigrant Catholics in general came to the U.S. and forgot about their homelands. Not for nothing did President Woodrow Wilson lament “hyphenated Americans.” His comments may have been tinged with xenophobia, but Wilson was right on one thing: many ethnic Americans did have dual allegiances.

Even on the eve of World War II, Irish Catholic members of extremist groups such as the Christian Mobilizers found common ground with the Bund and other groups linked to Hitler’s Germany.

Then again, should we be so surprised? Seventy years before Devoy and so many Irish in America proved they were willing to negotiate with America’s enemies, Galway native John Patrick Riley and about 200 other Irish and Catholic immigrants fought against America itself in the Mexican-American war.

Back then they were executed as traitors loyal to Rome. Today, The Chieftains sing songs about the St. Patricio Brigade.

None of this changes the fact that a majority of Irish Catholics were willing to become patriotic Americans. Just as some immigrants were launching a crusade for Irish independence from U.S. soil, many others went off to fight alongside the Brits for their new nation.

As George Marlin notes: “During World War I, more than 1.1 million immigrant Catholics … joined the US Armed Forces. More than 20 percent of the troops who served in the war were Church members, and many served with distinction. Col. ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan, who led the famed ‘Fighting Irish’ 69th Regiment from New York, was awarded the Medal of Honor.”

And yet, the very existence of a “Fighting Irish” regiment proves that ethnic allegiances were not set aside so easily. Imagine if today’s military allowed a “Fighting Dominican” or “Fighting Pakistani” brigade? And don’t give me this business that today’s immigrants don’t fight in the military. Check the names of those wounded and slain in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the end, I would argue that while the Irish and other Catholics did embrace America, they also changed America, for the better. It might have been smart for Famine immigrants to convert in the face of 19th Century anti-Catholicism. But the Irish held onto their beliefs and eventually convinced Americans to accept Catholicism and other minority religions.

Immigrant union leaders, meanwhile, changed the way Americans thought about working conditions and – yes – nationalists figured out a way to harness Irish American power to bring peace to the homeland.

The Irish were the first large-scale immigrant group to do this. Despite what some say, I suspect they will not be the last.