It’s been a harrowing week for all of us who hold dear the values of equality. The alarming death of Mamadou Kamara triggered off incomprehension, fear and sheer anger.

Our roots are Arabic as much as they are Spanish or British- Kristina Chetcuti

Daphne Caruana Galizia’s subsequent flagging of a revolting, racist Facebook group, was another blow. The group is nothing but an online Maltese version of a Ku Klux Klan meeting: a sickening and nauseating platform for people who do not have an iota of empathy in their veins.

But after a week of pondering and debating the issue, I refuse to believe that we are a deranged, racist nation. How can it be when we, ourselves are the offspring of a hotchpotch of peoples from all over the world? Our roots are Arabic as much as they are Spanish or British. We are the bastards – in the non-rude sense – of the Mediterranean.

The truth is perhaps that over this past decade we have, as a country had to adjust to a new reality: that of living with people who have a different skin colour to ours. Up till the 90s, the only illegal immigrants we knew were Albanians, and because they aesthetically looked like us they had no trouble to blend in.

When the novelty of the ‘poor-boat-people’ wore off, when we became desensitised to the perils of their sea journey – then it was, ‘yawn, another one’. Then, all of a sudden we felt we were being inundated and fear kicked in.

It was simple fear of the unknown: these people were not our same colour, dressed differently to us, spoke differently and – alarm – ate differently. They don’t eat ham! They eat halal! They’ll take over our Maltese cuisine!

We of course knew about all the varied world cultures from television. But experiencing it can be totally startling. Perhaps we should not be too hard on ourselves. We ought to give ourselves time to adapt.

“I am as anti-racist as you can get but still, whenever I am talking to a black person I am completely conscious of it - I can’t help it,” said a friend of mine.

And in a sense, I know the feeling. I remember the first time I saw black people swimming in the sea, some 10 years ago, when I was in Tanzania. It felt odd – because it was a new scenario.

But then, I realise that the new generation doesn’t have these qualms. The other day, while at Riviera beach I watched as my daughter,5, struck up a friendship with a couple of black kids. Their mother was clearly African but they spoke Maltese perfectly well – a clear-cut example of perfect integration.

While I was aware of the difference in skin colours, for my daughter it didn’t make an iota of a difference: at school, at ballet, in the playground, she is constantly exposed to it.

For her, different skin colour is the norm. “Elsa has fair skin; Sella has brown skin, and I have olive skin,” she said the other day as she was drawing a picture of her friends (colouring herself in, in a greenish hue). So, yes, my hope is in the new generation.

What we can all do in the meantime, is to strive to ally fears by dispelling the myths:

Myth 1: Migrants are taking the jobs of Maltese people.

False. Migrants are usually relegated to the bottom of the job ladder, taking jobs others do not want and are the first to be made redundant in a crisis.

Myth 2: Migrants in Malta do not need to work as they are heavily subsidised by the Maltese government.

False. Just like the rest of us, migrants have to work to survive and feed their families. Migrants also need to work in a regular manner where their rights, and the rights of other workers, are protected. Indeed, many migrants are working in Malta and therefore contributing to the tax and welfare system.

Myth 3: Pregnant migrant women are taken up on the boat purposely so as to ensure quicker rescue.

False. Smugglers do not have the time to choose the people who go on the boat.

Myth 4: Migrants are the source of several new diseases on the island.

False. On the contrary, the migratory process, such as crowded living conditions and poverty, can expose migrants to ill health. This myth simply serves to increase xenophobia and, ironically, increase vulnerability.

Myth 5: All migrants are Muslim and have a low level of education.

False. Africa, just like Europe, is a diverse continent. Of course, there are migrants who are Muslims but others belong to a variety of religions, including different Christian denominations, such as Anglicans and Roman Catholics. Several come with a tertiary level of education and are doctors, economists or even IT specialists.

krischetcuti@gmail.com