Our stand against racism following recent events

As psychology students, members of the Faculty for Social Wellbeing, and human beings, we feel strongly about certain events and incidents that have recently taken place and would like to share a few of our thoughts.

Recently there have been a number of events that, apart from being morally wrong and heinous, have racist connotations associated with them. On May 25th, George Floyd, a black man, was restrained and allegedly killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. Similarly, Ahmaud Arbery was shot by two white men whilst jogging on February 23rd in Georgia. Malta, unfortunately, is not lacking in bigotry and racism. A bit more than a year ago, Ivorian immigrant Lassana Cisse was killed during a hate-induced drive-by shooting here in Malta, and some extremely hateful and racist remarks have been made in response to the current immigration crisis.

Given the nature of our studies as well as our concern for basic human rights, we feel that racism is something we not only need to be aware and mindful of when an atrocity such as George Floyd’s alleged murder is brought to our attention by the media, but it is also something that should be tirelessly fought against; even if it is not immediately made clear to us, and even if we have to change the way we think, check our privilege, and see that racism is unfortunately intertwined into our daily lives.

From a psychological perspective we know that racism is a form of prejudice (i.e. a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience). Although an explicit cause and excuse for racism does not exist, the phenomenon is linked with the survival strategy of fear of that which is different to us; the need to belong to a particular group (hence neglecting one’s own values and beliefs and conforming to the group’s), and the defence mechanism of projection (ascribing one’s own unacceptable qualities onto someone else).

That being said, we are extremely distraught, saddened and angered by George Floyd’s alleged murder, Ahmaud Arbery’s and Lassana Cisse’s murder, and the hate comments being made here in Malta. It is unfortunate that people had to die for us to realise that we have an ongoing problem; a cleverly disguised and dangerous stigma that, every now and again, is made clear to us through such events.

As Betapsi, we hope that as Maltese citizens we can learn from the recent events and become more aware of what we so commonly overlook. We believe that if we stop to see if our words and actions are hurting other people, we can make it a better place for everyone.

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Note: This statement was put forward before conclusions on the murder of George Floyd were certified from autopsy, hence why we stated 'allegedly'. The intention of this statement was to address the injustices that are occurring. Through this, we mean no offence to anyone.