Ruth FosterEach week Northern Slant shares the political week in five points, the week’s news and main events from Northern Ireland and around the world. However, this week one tragic event overshadowed all other news in NI. All of us at Northern Slant were devastated by the news that broke late on Thursday that Lyra McKee, one of our own within the worlds of Northern Irish writing and activism, as well as one of the shining stars on both the Northern Irish storytelling and activism scene, was murdered while reporting on riots that had broken out in the Creggan estate in Derry/Londonderry (which Lyra affectionately referred to as “LegenDerry.” She previously said she preferred to “avoid that Derry-Londonderry thing. I hate it”).
Instead of sharing the week in 5 points, this week the Northern Slant team want to honour Lyra’s memory, promote her incredible work and to highlight the causes she believed in: human rights, civil liberties, and championing the LGBT community. Lyra’s writing may have focused on the trauma of conflict and Northern Ireland’s past, but both the international acclaim she received for her work (including being named one of Forbes’ ‘30 under 30 in media’ and a book deal for two books with publisher Faber & Faber) and the outpouring of love that she has received since her death shows that there is no going back to the past. Instead we must look forward, using Lyra’s memory and vision for a better, more equal Northern Ireland.
The Northern Slant team
Suicide Among the Ceasefire Babies
This is the first article written by Lyra that I read, just a few months after one of my school friends took her own life. It opened my eyes to the impact that inter-generational trauma continues to have on young people in Northern Ireland, despite the fact that we live in ‘peace’ and that the worst of the conflict is limited to history books. It gave me a deeper understanding of myself, my identity, and my place in Northern Ireland, which ultimately has shaped both my academic and professional work in both Belfast and Jerusalem.
Ruth Foster
Just how tribal is the Ceasefire Generation?
Lyra summed up Northern Ireland’s situation perfectly. The trauma of the past and fear of the other have frozen the peace process. Lack of economic opportunity and political leadership have failed the “ceasefire babies” and segregation perpetuates division, but every one of us has the power to break this vicious cycle. “It’s hard to hate someone after you’ve had a cup of tea with them,” she wrote touchingly. And herein lies the truth, we are all humans with emotions and aspirations – not “snarling dragons”. In a place where rhetoric has long paid dividends for politicians at the expense of their followers, Lyra recognised and appreciated the opportunities which education and employment, and most importantly relationships with folks across the divide can transform the place she cared so deeply for.
Connor Daly, Editor
Constitutional Question is Holding us Back
https://vixenswithconvictions.com/2014/02/12/constitutional-question-is-holding-us-back-lyra-mckee/
I’ll be honest I am not sure what to write or how to process things. But I enjoyed this one the most. I think this is a wonderful idea.
Matt O’Neill
How uncomfortable conversations can save lives
I first met Lyra when she delivered her TED talk in 2017. There were ten other speakers that night in the Great Hall of Stormont, each addressing the theme of ‘How do you build bridges?’ But it was Lyra’s words that kept going through my head in the days that followed: “I’m human, just like you.” In a world with so much division and so little mutual understanding, it’s easier to pretend that we live in separate worlds, or to simply dismiss those who don’t happen to share our own outlook. It’s much harder to come to terms with our common humanity; harder still to actively build bridges to try and connect these different worlds. But Lyra chose to be a human bridge-builder; she could see just how much was at stake, and she cared enough to make a difference. “We need to have conversations. Difficult conversations,” she said. These weren’t just words of advice. They were words of personal experience – and that’s what gave them power. Let’s honour Lyra’s legacy by having those difficult conversations.
Jamie Pow, Deputy Editor
I want to talk about an overlooked form of Lyra’s writing: her Twitter. Twitter is of course a type of writing, for all it is only 240 characters. Lyra was a tweeter, and a good one. She tweeted about her girlfriend, about moving to Derry, about the time she saw someone walking a cat on a leash in Belfast, reactions to her favourite written pieces, tv shows she was watching, nights out with her friends, interactions with people who failed to pronounce her name “Leer-Rah”.
Her tweets reflected many of the best attributes of her other writing: a careful and loving attention to the world around her and a vulnerability and authenticity about herself. Twitter is often so negative; a place to put your guard up or pretend to be something; to be removed and detached; or smug and superior; or incredibly mean and unfair. But Lyra’s Twitter made you feel like you knew her, for all that you didn’t, because she tweeted like you did, like the whole world was a friend.
Alina Utrata
Lyra’s funeral will take place at 1:00pm on Wednesday 24th of April at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast. Attendees have been requested to wear Harry Potter and Marvel themed clothing, reflecting her love for both franchises.
Please do consider donating what you can to the gofundme created to cover both Lyra’s funeral expenses and whatever legacy will be established in her name: https://www.gofundme.com/in-memory-of-lyra-mckee
