Racism is no new phenomenon. It has been diligently cultivated since at least the 17th century, when Europeans started enslaving Africans to sell them, making a great deal of money in the process.
People justify their racist sentiments using the same old set of tired arguments fuelled by fear and prejudice- Ann Marie Spiteri
This new shocking use of human beings had to be justified and this is where the marked difference in appearance came in handy. They look different; they probably don’t belong to our lot at all. The idea of a separate, inferior race was born.
Over the centuries, its advocates tried to justify their claim through arguments which ranged from a collection of dubious scientific proofs to contortion of evolutionary theories.
In the 20th century, mass immigration of Africans to America elicited a strong reaction and a rigid system of segregation was set into place to keep the migrants firmly on the outskirts of society. A long and hard fight, during which African migrants suffered hardship, ridicule and countless atrocities, gradually led to drastic changes both in America and elsewhere, which finally resulted in the 20th century being seen off by a fairer, better integrated society.
Yet while the hands of racism have been severed by law, its head is much harder to bury. When an idea has been so deeply ingrained into popular culture it is often passively passed on from one generation to the next and can only be eliminated through an active and intelligent thought process.
The difficulty of this transition can be clearly seen in Malta, where the presence of African migrants and refugees regularly causes discomfort, unhappiness and fear.
The 2012 UNHCR report on public perception of refugees and migrants in Malta presents some interesting results. The survey found that 41.8 per cent of respondents worry their way of life will be threatened by high levels of immigration, yet more than 43 per cent admit they have never interacted with any refugees or migrants.
When respondents were asked how easily they thought different groups of people would settle in their community, sub-Saharan Africans came in last, lagging behind Western and Eastern Europeans, North Africans and Asians, in that order.
When asked about the main obstacles to integration, out of the 12 choices presented, a different culture came in a firm first with 46.4 per cent of the vote. Different race came in third with 23.7 per cent of the vote, while racism placed 11th with a score of 3.2 per cent and finally, different colour was identified as the smallest obstacle, with 1.3 per cent of the vote.
Beyond the UNHCR report and off the record, many people are less politically correct and defensively justify their racist sentiments using the same old set of tired arguments fuelled by fear and prejudice.
Many darkly predict that migration and subsequent integration will lead to the loss of our identity. This refers to our culture, but it often also refers to our appearance, with the dominance of the black phenotype routinely perceived as threatening. Some argue that our gene pool will be tainted but in fact, the idea of superiority of ‘pure’ gene pools is biologically incorrect, since introduction of new genes is actually a good thing.
It dilutes the harmful genes and results in more variety, which in turn makes for stronger, healthier and generally better looking human beings.
Others worry that the diversity of the human race will be neutralised and diluted into one bland, homogenous mix. Regardless of levels of migration and degrees of integration, I believe this is a highly unlikely and unrealistic scenario which human nature itself prevents from happening.
While some people from different cultures and beliefs do come together, having successful relationships and producing offspring, the majority naturally tend to settle into long-term relationships with individuals from the same community.
These fears are egged on by unrelenting prejudice, nourished by both media and myth, of a people viewed as naïve and vulnerable but uncivilised, lazy and violent. The unsavoury truth is that a large part of the problems we see now in Africa are not due to an intrinsic incapability of Africans, but the inevitable result of centuries of exploitation of the continent’s vast resources with little regard towards its people and their culture and systems. Yet it is much less cumbersome to simply write Africans off as an inferior race.
Thankfully, this notion has been disproven as the origin of all human kind has, ironically, been traced deep into the heart of Africa. Evidence suggests that part of the group of original humans eventually crossed the Red Sea at the Gate of Tears about 50,000 years ago and then went on to populate every corner of the world.
Rather than being due to the presence of different human species, variations in appearance can be attributed to adaptation. A particularly pertinent example is that of the early Northern European settlers who, with no access to vitamin supplements, got pale skin, pale eyes and pale hair as their body adapted to the necessity of processing more Vitamin D from weaker sunlight.
This is less preposterous than it sounds, since skin colour is determined by only about five out of the 25,000 or so genes present in the human genome.
The bold, scientifically proven bottom line is that racism is stupid and unfounded. The African migrants and refugees among us are people like us, who through no fault of their own were simply born under much more unfortunate circumstances.
Instead of getting stuck on superficial differences, outdated prejudice and obscure fears, it’s high time we stepped out of our comfort zone and started focusing on helping and empathising with fellow human beings who are in need, whatever their appearance.