![Cover for: Slaves to a myth](https://www.eurozine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/8d28c7643dec932a5b59c3408f93e59d.jpg)
The ‘Irish slaves meme’– assertions that Irish immigrants to the US were once slaves – has been mobilized by the alt-right to promote a white nationalist agenda based on claims of victimhood. Yet its popularity cannot simply be blamed on the online propaganda of white supremacist groups, argues Bryan Fanning.