Ethnic pride comes full cycle

   Many of us love to tout our own ethnic pride, but isn’t it funny how on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish? People without a drop of Irish blood really get off on the wearin’ of the green. Restaurants serve Irish stew. Bars serve green beer. Next weekend, The Loafing Leprechaun ( www.loafingleprechaun.com ) in Duluth is promising lots of green giveaways, including a trip for two to Ireland. And you don’t have to be Irish to win. In my subbing experiences, I’ve worked with kids who don’t speak a word of English enter school on March 17 and start their American life by cutting out shamrocks to wear on their shirts. Yes, on that one day, everyone’s Irish.

   Then there’s Tom O’Connor of Lawrenceville. Now he’s Irish through and through everyday of his life. The grandson of Irish immigrants, O’Connor grew up in an Irish community in the Midwest. When he moved south, he soon learned how it felt to be a minority. Back home he’d belonged to exclusively Irish clubs. Here, he was just some Irish guy whose ethnicity was nothing more than an excuse for everyone to party once a year.

   That soon changed. His brother-in-law in Miami had an old motorcycle that he was trying to turn into a chopper. After six years, all he had was a garage full of parts. He asked O’Connor if he wanted to buy it, or maybe “them” is more the case.

   O’Connor, a manager for Richardson Associates, the company responsible for security systems for Gwinnett County Schools, is no foreigner to making things work, but this was more than he wanted to handle. So he asked his brother Michael for help.

   In six months, his brother recycled the pile of parts into a running display of ethnic pride.

   “It was a 1972 Shovelhead Harley Davidson with a rigid frame, what we call an old school chopper,” said Michael. “It has the same engine and transmission, but other than that, it is a whole new breed of bike.”

   “I came up with an Irish theme,” he said. “I took a cut-off wheel to the fenders and cut away at the metal until they were both shaped like an Irish cross. Then I found an Irish artist’s Web site. I e-mailed her and asked if I could reproduce one of her Celtic designs on the motorcycle. She said I could use her art any way I wanted to.”

   As the luck of the Irish would have it, both brothers benefited from this work of art. Tom has one mean green machine to display his ethnic pride, and rides weekly with the Stone Mountain Chapter of the Easy Rider Group. Michael has a new side business, OCR Custom (404-353-3361). And you don’t have to be Irish for him to design your own ethnic ride.

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