" White nigger " was never widely used to refer to Irish Catholics , in the context of The Troubles in Northern Ireland , despite an example of this being found in the Elvis Costello song " Oliver 's Army " , which contains the lyric : " Only takes one itchy trigger . One more widow , one less white nigger . " In May 2016 , Gerry Adams , the Leader of Sinn Féin , was criticised after writing on his Twitter account " Watching '' Django Unchained '' - A Ballymurphy Nigger ! " Ballymurphy is an area of Belfast best known for an eponymous massacre . Adams deleted the comment , and subsequently wrote " Anyone who saw Django would know my tweets & N-word were ironic . Nationalists in the North were treated like African Americans . " The term was applied to Irish immigrants to the United States and their descendants . The Irish were also nicknamed " Negroes turned inside-out " , while African Americans would be described as " smoked Irish "
an eponymous massacre
Ballymurphy massacre
White nigger