Irish immigrant helps new arrivals
Mary Nolan has lived in Bay Ridge since 1965 and has been active in politics since the time she moved here from Park Slope. Nolan, who emigrated from her native Ireland to the U.S. in 1953, became an American citizen in 1959. Much of her political work is devoted to immigration reform.
“This is a great country. There’s so much opportunity here. That’s why people want to come here. We shouldn’t act like people are criminals because they’re looking for a better life. This country was built by immigrants,” said Nolan, who was born and raised in County Limerick and still has traces of her Irish brogue when she speaks.
Nolan is the president of the Bay Ridge Irish-American Action Committee, a group that used to hold annual marches in Brooklyn to commemorate the victims of “Bloody Sunday,” the infamous incident in the city of Derry in Northern Ireland in 1972 in which British troops shot and killed 14 unarmed men and boys taking part in a protest march.