Today is a sad day for our country.
The events that took place in Valletta today was not an act of an individual, but instead reflected the reality of the rest of our country.
Daily, we hear of people ranting about illegal immigrants, talking about the banning of "burqa’ in public places, expressing how these so called "scumbags’ are taking jobs from Maltese people.
But what happened today showed what the Maltese people really are, r (are) for racist. Today, the person that was assaulted and spit at by a woman and wrongfully arrested by the police was not from Nigeria or from Ethiopia, but from Hungary, one of the 28 European Member States.
He was not a person attempting to steal jobs from Maltese people, but a person who was rightfully studying for Masters in Engineering in our country.
It is evident that Maltese people have an issue against black people, even though ironically enough, ethnically, we are amongst the most dark-skinned nationals in Europe.
Maltese people praise Martin Luther King, but then are unable to show respect towards the people which he strived to give rights to.
Maybe it’s about time that the Maltese society understand that black people have dignity as well, irrelevant if the person is Will.i.am, or an innocent man who has left his family behind in Eritrea to escape from war with the aim of finding the decent life he deserves.
The majority of the Maltese population may be of the opinion that by being racist, they are being patriotic while contributing to a better future for our country, but the truth is that racism is a result of closed-mindedness. Living on an island might geographically separate us from other countries, but we are also separated from the global reality.
While the whole world is fighting against the concept of racism, we are still living in times where we judge people solely on their skin colour.
