Jamie opens up about her own childhood in Derry ❤️

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[guitargirlutube]

I’m from Northern Ireland too. I wasn’t brought up to fear the police- I just did. I remember they called to our house when we where children and our parents weren’t home. My sister was an early teen.They made us stand outside the house and searched us. We where two little girls. How they spoke to us and treated us was harsh and intimidating. When my father returned, they realised they had the wrong address. I’ve never forgotten it though and how they treated two wee girls by themselves. My parents where good and innocent people. We where innocent. Those where dark days and many suffered far far worse treatment than that. But I’ve never forgotten it along with all the other early memories of bombs going off and walking down the street as a child with a soldier pointing his machine gun at me. That was the norm. Northern Ireland has a PTSD epidemic.

[patrickwhite]

As a Derry man. I didn't realise how much the troubles affected me until I moved to London.

[angelicajacobs]

I see that with my parents with Apartheid in South Africa. It's heart breaking. I don't think what happened in Derry is spoken about globally as much as it should be.

[merykhan]

She has the most beautiful eyes . Bless her

[antman]

In 1991, I was a 22-year-old American tourist traveling across Europe with my family. My father, a peace activist, made certain that we visited Northern Ireland. After spending a night in what was, I believe, the only bed-and-breakfast in Belfast in those days, we caught the ferry to Liverpool.

During the crossing, I fell into conversation with a young woman from Derry who was on her way back to school in England. She was funny and smart and very, very sarcastic. From her I learned the expression "subtle like a bomb, " a phrase that she used to describe the volatile complexity of her homeland.

My sixteen-year-old daughter and I are now two episodes into the third series of "Derry Girls." We have laughed until our ribs ached, and been moved to tears by the show's moments of gentle, occasionally gripping, pathos. The story's genius lies in how well it captures the universal impulse, going back at least to Aristophanes, to employ humor and satire to survive the tragic.

I think of the Derry girl I met more than 30 years ago, and I hope she is still laughing. Congratulations, Northen Ireland, for 25 years of peace. You deserve every happiness.

[dfsnsdfn]

My family comes from Northern Ireland, and my uncle grew up in Belfast, he also struggles with alcohol. The Irish people have suffered so many cultural traumas from the Potato Famine, the War of Independence, The Civil War and then The Troubles. I'm so proud of my Irish heritage and I'm always moved by our people's humour, wit and resilience in the face of it all. But we still have a lot of healing to do and I'm so glad that these conversations are starting to open up, and we I really think we have our Derry Girls to thanks for that ☘️🇮🇪

[stephaniehui]

As a Hongkonger I am very sympathetic about the troubles that the Irish people were facing.

[emc]

Great of her using her platform to speak out about the issue.

[Belladonna]

My dad was born and raised in Derry then struggled with alcohol his whole life even after leaving Derry. The troubles defo affected him

[keyholes]

When I went to uni in the mid-2000s, the English, Scottish, and Welsh students would reminiscence about cartoons, The Singing Kettle, Roald Dahl books. The NI kids would talk about car bombs. It didn't strike my privileged English brain until that moment the gravity of the war that had happened on our doorstep. I can't imagine what that level of terror and instability does to people. Bloody awful doesn't begin to cover it.

[Lorn]

My parents are the same generation as hers and the trauma and PTSD from the troubles is rife. My mum is still wary of the army and the police because she lived near a checkpoint and they would check her school bus every day. She was terrified any time the police pulled over her car. My dad was blown across the kitchen from a bomb when he was a child. His head hit the cooker.
When I tell people I'm from Omagh, I always notice their face changing because they automatically think of the bomb.
I grew up with my parents anxieties of going to Derry and other places because of bomb threats.

I was born towards the end of the troubles but the fears and trauma have definitely been passed on to my generation as well.
It's truly devastating and I agree with how unfair it all was for my parents and their families.

[marieO]

Just to clarify for those who may not know.
She's referring to the British police here and not the Irish Gardaí.
The british police and troops put the fear into every Irish Citizen in Derry.
The segregation has not stopped and with examples of all the " peace walls" ( 18foot high) that were built by the brits After! the peace treaty shows this. ( The peace lines or peace walls are a series of separation barriers in Northern Ireland that separate predominantly Irish republican neighbourhoods from predominantly British loyalist and unionists neighbourhoods. )

[melissameserole]

she's the sweetest! great actress

[Sword_and_Crown]

My youngest son ( then11, now 19) was so afraid, he was sleeping next to me on the couch. Didn’t want to use his bed. We didn’t wear nightgowns or Pyjama, but t-Shirts and jogging pants, just in case something would happen during nighttime. One day, police came with a special task force, searching for my older son. He was 17 (24 now) sleeping on the couch, sick with a cold & fever. They didn’t care about that, they searched the flat, went through all rooms. I chased a policewoman out of my youngest son’s room, then went to the kitchen, there was a very young police man with a torch and his gun in his hand! Ready to shoot someone down. Later it turned out that it was a mistake, but it is surely a trauma to us! No excuse from their side, of course… that wasn’t the only incident, but one of the worst.

[maureen]

My grandmother who raised me who grew up in Derry in the 1880s -1930’s. She always had a permanent sadness about her & would speak little of her past. She married & had children from an IRA member & got stranded in America while he was wanted by the British for his activities. He died shortly after arrival. Even though my generation didn’t grow up there, there was always this affect or psychological depression & defensiveness from the damage they went through. Her many brother’s were all buried young on their farm from the conflicts in the vicinity. Her broken heart never left home, despite her courageous & loyal soul. Her her dying wish was to send me back with family. But I was brought back to the States to be left eventually in an orphanage. It was all very confusing.

[paulduffy]

I grew up in Derry during the Troubles. And I always felt bad for the people in other parts of the North, who were surrounded by loyalists. At least we had Donegal at our backs, a place to retreat. The police and the army were running and participating in death squads. Approved at the highest levels of government. It was a dark, dark conflict. I think people are still getting their heads around just how rotten it all was. They want to forget it and move on - but it's not that simple, especially when you're still living under a British government.

I always think of the man who survived the Miami Showband massacre, he played dead I think. A truly horrific event, designed to terrorize people. So there he is, sitting by the side of the road in the middle of the night, with his friends all shot to bits lying around him. Who is he hoping shows up? The cops? The army? It was the cops and the army who did it.

[slpy.flower]

As a black american I can 100% understand where she’s coming from. It’s so scary and strange to see the people who are supposed to be protecting you or showing respect just wholeheartedly be terrible. Growing up I seen people who looked like me, in my own state get hurt by the police constantly on the news. And it was something that just left such a weird taste in my mouth. It is so wonderful that she was able to share her story and provide insight on it. I hope her and her people know that so many of us hear them and only ever wish them the best. 💖

[marykateex]

Well done for having the courage to even talk about it 😢❤

[tariqkhader]

Jamie is fabulous in every way and so is her character Michelle

[MagicwithSabrinaWebb]

I absolutely adore her! So insightful.