Kevin Barry Artt
That Artt’s adoptive parents named him after a revered Irish patriot, Kevin Barry, suggests that he, too, is a patriot and a freedom fighter—which, really, he isn’t. He was an accidental hero. He didn’t seek out the violence and abuse that the British poured onto him. He stumbled into them by accident. He didn’t ask for the legal abuse that U.S. prosecutors Mark Zanides and Sara Criscitelli, a couple of modern-day Javerts, later laid onto him. He found himself in their crosshairs after having lived a peaceful and productive life here underground, paying his taxes, and minding his own business. In the end, he beat them all, and he became free to live his life in peace the way he wants. In a way, that’s the same thing that Irish Republicanism is still, slowly, achieving in the six counties after decades of suffering and sacrifice. So, to me, his story is a metaphor for Northern Ireland itself.
Learn more about the troubles in ABOVE THE GROUND: A True Story of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, out now!
