as the media begins a public outpouring of grief at the passing of sinead o'connor, i’d ask us all remember three things:
first, o’connor formally converted to islam and changed her name to shuhada sadaqat in 2018 (though continuing to perform under the name sinead o’connor).
second, o’connor was a survivor of magdalene laundries, having been sent there for shoplifting and truancy at the age of 18. magdalene laundries were state-sanctioned, chruch-run “homes” for over 30,000 women who were “incarcerated for transgressing the narrow moral code of the time,” as well as girls with mental health issues, pregnancy outside of marriage, petty crime, and social dysfunction. conditions were abysmal: girls were treated with violence and aggression, corporal punishment was common, and it was almost impossible to leave without outside help. many women remained in these “laundries” for many years. investigations were presented to the united nations committee against torture after finding that these laundries and their exploitation amounted to human rights violations and torture. the discovery of a mass grave at one such location in 1993 became a national scandal.
third, when o'connor protested child sex abuse in the catholic church during her snl performance in 1992, in which she tore a photograph of john paul ii and threw it at the camera with the words “fight the real enemy,” she was met with mockery and ridicule and almost entirely blackballed. this was before the catholic church had acknowledged or apologized for systemic child sex abuse and nearly a decade before the boston globe broke their investigation of allegations against paedophile priests. because she was a woman who had the audacity to speak the truth about a corrupt system. sinead o’connor was more than an artist: like the best artists, she was also a prophet.
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