Is the growing wave of antagonism towards those who are not Maltese, an issue of racism or is it an even bigger problem: a festering sentiment directed at ALL foreigners, because they are perceived to be threatening our livelihood and way of life? What follows is an interview with an American in Malta about what it has been like living here for the last six years. (Oh, and by the way, he just happens to be black).

“I want you to know that I am not a negative person and I don’t like to say anything negative about anyone especially about another’s country. My wife is Maltese and my son half-Maltese, so how could I? Anything that I say is only drawn verbatim from my experience and not meant to be negative towards Malta. It is just the way things happened. Penning my experience has been quite cathartic, although I can do nothing to change it.

After having lived here for over six years, I admit that I am exhausted with Malta. But let me say at the outset that it wasn’t always that way.
Even before I arrived, I had an impression that I was coming to paradise. For example, I had heard so much about Mediterranean cuisine on American television that I was excited and looked forward to the healthy and delicious food.

I came to Malta on April 4, 2009 mainly because my wife is Maltese. She was pregnant with our son and we figured that it would be easier to have him here in Malta with the health care and low crime rate. When we arrived and I saw the lovely Mediterranean sea all around us I was impressed with all of its natural beauty. When most Maltese people met me (friends of my wife and her family), they would ask, “John, what is your impression of Malta coming from such a big country?” I think most were shocked and surprised when I said, “Wow, you guys are living in paradise!” My words were genuine as it seemed such a lovely place to me then and this impression has lasted for a few years even though I struggled financially trying to make ends meet. I can honestly say that I had no bad impression of Malta in the early years.

As soon as we got here, I got my paperwork sorted (VAT number, etc.) and began to advertise my business in the health & wellbeing industry. I stress that, thanks to being married to my wife for many years, I also came to Malta bearing Maltese citizenship. I submitted Income Tax forms and paid my dues just like any Maltese person.

So, initially, I was getting a few clients for my business – maybe 4 or 5 a week. Businesses take time to build. With any new endeavor, this is a good rate especially when each client would return several times for my services. Giving a good service was paramount and I was eager to make people happy and satisfied with my work. This flow of clients allowed me to pay some bills. But, after about a year or so, the advertising became ineffective. I did have return clients but new clients only came via referrals—which didn’t happen as fast as I would have liked. So this spurred me to look for other ways of getting business. At the time, Facebook wasn’t as big with sponsored ads – well at least to my knowledge at the time – so I had to pound the streets to spread the word about my practice.

This search sent me to a private hospital on the island. My wife knew an executive there and, at the same time, a friend who is also a consultant told us about getting an office inside the building and he would put in a good word for me. He pushed the issue with the management as well. To cut a long story short, I was interviewed by a key member of the hospital administration. I did a few sessions with her and could tell she was impressed with my service, so she allowed me to see clients in one of the branches of the hospital group. Also, she put me on national television to pitch my services – a great platform for me, or so I thought.

Unfortunately, I only received one client from the programme. I feel the price charged for the service I provided was so high that if a person called to make an appointment, they would balk at it. At least the one client I had told me this. Shortly thereafter, the calls from the establishment stopped. I contacted my original interviewer and she never answered or returned my calls.

Another opportunity came in the form of a prominent non-profit in Malta that works with disadvantaged people. Again another problem – while one top executive rooted for me and even personally used my services (including his family members), the CEO did not even give me the chance to prove myself. She took one look at me and said, “No.”

My friend the doctor wasn’t done yet – bless his heart. He invited me to speak at a conference for cardiologists in Malta. The theme was related to smoking and its detrimental effects on health. I spoke to about 60 medical professionals at a major hotel in the north of the island. The event proved a success as a few attendees made sure to congratulate me on the delivery of my speech. We discussed our work and how I could assist them in their practice. I passed out a lot of business cards that day and I was excited about working with these people. Still, nothing came from that, either. The doctor, who offered me so much support, was at a loss.

In 2010, my wife and I created a spa package for hotels. We figured that I could go to hotels and pitch my services for the guests. So I set out to visit several five star hotels in person to deliver my spa package. No one seemed interested but one day, lo and behold, a certain spa manager called me back from one of the best hotels on the island. Turns out a Philippine spa manager/consultant from a huge international spa wanted me in. He told me how the celebrities would come down and use the spa services all the time. He mentioned specific cases with specific celebrities who would use this service. He also told me I would never have to worry about my finances again. Despite his strong support, however, in the end he could not convince the Maltese managers to bring me on board! He just couldn’t understand why they didn’t want this service for their guests. Another road block set up by the local decision makers. This was a bitter pill to swallow. Although I do have Maltese citizenship, I was starting to realize I would never be seen as one of “them”.

After all these experiences, about 2 or 3 years later, I met this guy who ran a well-established business education program – one of the oldest in Europe. This man was interested in my corporate training course that I had developed years back, and said he wanted to use me as a consultant and trainer within the program. In fact, part of my background entailed training first level engineers and customer service people and management and I had developed my own training course for professionals – focusing on training people in sales, marketing, and customer service. So, after going back and forth with him on this (I shared my proprietary work with him and he led me to believe I would be teaching some visiting students from Asia within a few months), he invited me to speak to 150 MBA students about business. After the talk, I had the students coming up to me to tell me what a wonderful job I did. But, the Maltese man I had dealings with never said a word to me after that. After I tried to contact him the following week, he never returned my calls or my messages on social media. You may tell me I was stupid to share my course with him and his employees, but I’m used to dealing with big business where everything is above board and there is a certain code of ethics to follow. I learned my lesson that time, though. Another obstacle in my Maltese experience.

Let’s fast forward now to about 2012/2013. My practice barely hung by a thread. Referrals didn’t come fast enough, although I am grateful to all the return clients and also happy to have helped these people. I went ahead and teamed up with an ex-pat psychotherapist and offered my services for free to some charitable organizations. I wanted to help the African brothers who experienced so much trauma on their journey on the seas, for example. I wanted to help people who felt hopeless, disadvantaged persons, troubled youth – but the answer from those at the top remained the same: NO. So even those offers were shot down and buried under a mountain of red tape I couldn’t climb out of. People were refusing my free help and the doors stayed closed in my face. My family and I certainly couldn’t survive like this. Mind you, I was frustrated back then but I hadn’t yet fully connected the fact that I was not getting any breaks because of my nationality or race. I have always been an optimist so I didn’t want to allow bullshit to get in my way.

So I started applying for jobs in management, training, customer service, or anything I felt I could do. I probably sent out over 50 CVs and not one response – not even a call for an interview, and perhaps two acknowledgements.

Eventually, the only job I could get here was commission-based. About 60% of my colleagues are foreigners from other parts of Europe. All are white except one French guy of African descent. None of them could get salaried jobs here either, no matter their background, experience, and university education. I realized that, unless you come here already employed by a foreign company, it’s practically impossible to find work unless you want to be a waiter, street cleaner, or be willing to take the most menial of jobs.

I had become really frustrated with having so many doors slammed in my face. But it really hit home when I was with my wife visiting one of our friends who is a lawyer in a government department. She told him the trouble I was having finding work. And I will never forget what he said, in his Maltese way/expression. “Well” he said. “After all, he is a foreigner!” Those words stuck me so much that I saw red! And since he was considered a friend of mine as well, I felt really shocked! Immediately, all of the rejections that I had received up to this point came to the surface. It was the beginning of 2014 when this happened. And by this time, without realizing it, I had begun to reject everything Maltese. I was here trying to do everything I could to contribute, to pull my weight, to help the Maltese people with what I had learned over the last 30 years, but they couldn’t understand this as the only thing they could see was that I am from another country.

Malta is such a beautiful place, but what I experienced here was far from beautiful. Still, with all of this, even today, if someone came to me needing my assistance, I’d give it without a second thought. I want everyone on this island to succeed and be happy, but at the same time, I want those same things for me and mine, too.

You asked me, how bad is the problem of racism in Malta? I must say that I come from a racist country myself so I will be the last one to point fingers at another country without acknowledging my own! In America, my country, the problem of racism has recently reared its ugly head again with all the instances of police brutality in the media. Of course there’s a lot of spin in the media but depending on where you live, there may be some problems. When my wife first moved to the States and we drove to or visited certain places, I used to insist we not hold hands, although nothing ever happened to us. Recently, we heard about the horrible killing in cold blood of 9 blacks in a church by a white supremacist. Churches are being burned down. I must say that America has to work on these issues. That said, the country knows there is a huge problem and that is why you see so much protesting about it in the news. We know and admit our faults, and people are rising up in arms to help those who are underprivileged. Black people are also very vocal in getting their rights, and citizen activism can be very effective at times to force those in power to make change happen.

But, in my six year experience in Malta, I think the people here have a unique view of race. What I have seen in Malta isn’t only black racism per se (as I must say I have worked with all Maltese from varied walks of life in my own business – from truck drivers to CEOs – and these lovely people have accepted me as I am) but many appear to HATE anything non-Maltese. At least this is what I feel from my time here. Of course, they may have a special hate for blacks and cannot distinguish one black from another, maybe or maybe not because of the immigration issue. In fact, a colleague thought I was from England and another random person thought I was Irish – imagine that.

Case in point though: In one incident, I was waiting in line in a store in Valletta and an African man stood in front of me to buy a small bottle of coke. The shop owner told him it cost 10 euros! I was shocked. The same person looked at me and smiled, because she knows my in-laws. My wife and I have never been in that store since, appalled as we were. Another instance: my father-in-law, who could pass for German was in a shop in Msida and the employee wanted to charge him 5 euros for a small bottle of water! When he spoke to him in Maltese, asking why it cost so much, the man told him, “Oh. One euro for you, then.” I have personally witnessed and heard of other such incidents of both kinds. So, this leads me to believe that the hostility is not only towards black people, but towards all foreigners in general.

Another story: I had a colleague from Hungary who was so excited about being on the island. He wanted to learn a few words in Maltese so he could speak to the locals. So he went into a shop and said “Bongu!” to the shop owner. So, I asked him, “What happened?” because he had a sad look on his face as he related this. He said the shop owner responded in a mean spirited way—“What do you want?” And so it happened that in 3 months, my friend went from being happy in Malta to being upset with this lovely island. Another colleague from Russia has been in Malta for 3 years. She said she and her husband are debating on going back because they have been mistreated so much by the Maltese. Another one from Poland was all gung ho about Malta when he came to the island. Now he talks about Malta worse than I do.

I know so many ex-pats who are all saying the same thing about Malta. Those who are happiest are the ones who stick to their ex-pat community and don’t mingle so much with the locals. My wife has several friends like that. She is one of the few Maltese they talk to because she was always friendly to them. These expats LOVE Malta because they stick to their own, even though, when you ask them how they feel about things, they usually respond, “You know, it’s Malta”, with a knowing smile on their face. Still, as they are making a good living, and the ex-pat community is pretty good-sized, they are able to experience the good things this island has to offer.

Anyway, my perceptions remained because my experience was different. Basically, I thought it was me at first but these people are all having the same sentiments and they are all white – 99% of them – from other parts of Europe.

To me, Malta’s issues are more systemic than the pockets of racism one finds in America. In 1998, I made a great income. My wife, who was a foreigner in the US, was accepted and befriended by the majority of people she encountered in my country. She was able to make her own friends right away and she proceeded to start a great career with fantastic income around 2005. We could go all over even in the most racist of states and cities and we had no one looking at us with morbid curiosity as we do here. I have this curse of being able to notice every little thing, every dynamic or reaction of the people around me. I draw energy from my environment and can honestly say we get such prolonged stares everywhere we go—they look at me, my wife, my child, then back at me, and so on.

I must say that I haven’t personally encountered any hateful episodes, thank goodness! I feel lucky and blessed for it.

But after 6 years of working hard to make a living, I am tired. I have put in so much effort here that I don’t know what else to do. We are faced with another life-changing decision: to move back. Besides, my parents are in their 70s and I have two adult sons there that I need to enjoy as I’m not getting any younger and time flies by. But, even with all of that, if I could have made a decent living, we could have gone back and forth for a while and lived in both countries.

Are Malta’s race issues worse/same as the States? I admit I have not heard of dire instances of killing or bodily injury toward people of African descent or even white ex-pats in Malta – well, just a couple of incidents here and there, mostly in Paceville. And yet, there is a big “yet” as I could easily see the Maltese hostility towards people of African descent/all foreigners in general escalating into violence. True, there are good and bad people in every race. The bad apples are everywhere, but that doesn’t mean anything in the scheme of things, does it? I don’t think all of the Maltese are bad just because I’ve been treated a certain way by some, or many. But, I can see problems and I will admit that things could get infinitely worse if something is not done to stop this. The more hate a person holds in their heart, the more potential he or she has of progressing to the next level of hostility – violence. What makes America’s racism worse than Malta’s racism is the instances of violence, even the institutionalized kind. But generally, this is where it stops. I don’t receive hostile stares in shops, restaurants, or the street in America as I do here. But then again, what makes Malta’s racism or hate for everything non-Maltese is the systemic racism, and this kind of thought seems to be encouraged and is entering the fabric of politics (and negative grassroots activism). Of course, there is very little violence, although now we’ve heard of the latest incident involving the Hungarian man of African descent at the Valletta bus terminus. This is reprehensible and I commiserate with my African brother…or better still, with a fellow human being.

But, my belief is that Malta’s racism rears its head more in the form of lack opportunities for foreigners. When a person can’t work, they can’t survive. If they can’t survive, they have to go elsewhere. Is this, perhaps, what Malta wants? I do not know, but it certainly seems that way. Even if a foreigner is more qualified for a position – one for which no Maltese is qualified for – he will not get that job and the position will remain vacant until they can train a fellow Maltese for the job. Unless a foreigner can speak a language few Maltese do, such as German, Danish, or Swedish, or already have a job lined up for him/her in Malta (eg, with one of the many betting companies), it may be difficult at best for them to find any sort of decent opportunity unless it’s a job no one really wants. When I first came to the island, there were only a couple of people doing what I do and they were both foreign. Now I see the Maltese are also getting into the business after asking me about it, which in my eyes is good for competition.

As for your question as to how things can be improved: in my practice, I do a lot of observation with my clients to help them succeed in their goals. Since I have been in Malta for over 6 years, I have seen its ups and downs and what could be done to improve things in this respect. Like any city or country, things cannot be changed overnight. There will always be people who want to be racist and xenophobic, but it doesn’t have to be pervasive. Malta, like any other country, has its work to do. The first step is admitting there’s a problem and not being afraid to admit a flaw. Now, when I talk about my perceptions on this, these are very personal and every experience is different. In no way am I criticizing Malta. I want to say this because when some Maltese hear a foreigner say something constructive they take it as a dump on the country or make sure to tell you that other countries are worse off when it comes to the issue being discussed. As if it would nullify the problem to say that Italy, Greece, or America is worse at something than they are.

I have even had Maltese people give me constructive criticism about America and I agreed with them if they had a good point! I have had Maltese people expressing to me what they think America is like and possibly debated about something I said. I never argued back because my motto is, “Live and let live”. If they think they know more about America than I do because they saw it in the news or in a movie or visited there for a month or six, they may be right because I sure don’t know everything.

I feel if Malta were just more open to change/opportunity, it would make a tremendous difference in how they saw things. This could start from education at an early age as children are not born hostile or racist. With a different outlook and a calmer, happier people, Malta would indeed be paradise!

Unfortunately, I’m already seeing some children being raised in a certain way. I spoke to one British parent (Caucasian) who told me that some children don’t want to play with her daughter because “she’s a foreigner”. And her other child was also called “filthy foreigner.” Now, I have not witnessed this, but am only relating what I’ve been told, so I’ll refrain from further commenting on this.

Another area of improvement is to focus more on quality and serving customers and less on how much money one can take “from foreigners” (while offering the worst service or product possible). Now, here I don’t want to generalize because there are some great places to visit and patronize where customers are treated well. Yet, for example, I have even heard of contractors building high-priced apartments so they can sell them to “the Americans” or other foreign people with money. So, it’s okay to have foreigners here as long as they can pay big money for a substandard product (eg, almost a million Euros for an apartment with no doors or bathrooms, for instance, and an OK location). However, it’s not OK for the working class to middle class foreigner to come here and ask for a job. Spend your money here, pay your taxes, but don’t ask to be a part of the fabric of that society. That is the message we are getting.

I have always maintained a view that Malta is a unique mix of old and new. By old, I am not only talking about Malta’s history and its old limestone buildings but also by its desire to remain mono-racial and nationalistic and resisting any foreign influences (or “mixing”) – including those from other EU countries. “Why do we have to be like them?” I often here. Which is so odd because the Maltese themselves (in their blood line) possess a diverse ancestry.

And also, by new, I am not only talking about the unabated, all-over-the-place new construction going on, but mainly the influx of new culture, class, and understanding and appreciation of the world around them. I mean the ability to see difference as a benefit as opposed to a threat or a take-over of the country. Many people here get this but many don’t.

These two views of old and new come from the people. Of course, I haven’t taken any opinion poll regarding how many would like to progress into the future and how many would like to keep Malta the way it used to be and kick out all things foreign. I can’t simply eyeball things or make random estimations, but my feeling, my experience and intuition, say there are more people here who are old school than those who desire a more open, progressive Malta. The unresolved and growing immigration issue is not making things better, either. And, it is not a question of age. I think there are just as many young folks who would want to kick out the foreigners as the older ones. Now, this is just a feeling I have. Not made any less strong after hearing a Maltese who appeared to be in his late 30s telling a white Brit of about 60 to “go back home to your country and leave us alone!” Or seeing a young Maltese shop owner in his early 30s charging an exorbitant price to a foreigner for a bag of crisps.

All of this, in my eyes and in remembering the way I was raised in a humble household, reflects a horrible lack of etiquette and also how some Maltese seem to be stuck inside a bubble. Here’s another big issue: Even when there are only five Maltese in a crowd of, let’s say, ten, with the remaining five being foreigners who all speak English, the Maltese will still speak in Maltese to each other, completely alienating the rest – as if they have a secret coded language that shows they are above all other humans. I have seen the opposite of this when there are around two or three Maltese in a crowd and there are more French or Germans or Dutch speaking their language and the few Maltese have an irritated look on their faces because they cannot understand the language. This is wrong in all cases, and in my view denotes a lack of respect.

In my son’s school, over 60% of the population is ex-pat parents and children, yet, the administration will only speak in Maltese to the parents in all meetings! My wife has had to sit with some ex-pats several times so she can translate what they are saying. Is this fair? I’m not saying the Maltese should not speak Maltese – far from it! But, respect and politeness should also play a role to include everyone in a group and not making people feel left out.

Mind you, it isn’t that I want to get inside of the bubble with the Maltese – I am not trying to interfere and be part of a crowd – but here’s what I would like to see at least: I would like to have the same opportunities and basic respect my country provided my Maltese wife when she arrived as a foreigner in a new land. Granted, America is bigger, but this is no excuse. After all, I have heard of Maltese who live in other countries and have progressed in their lives with great careers, nice homes, cars, etc. – in Australia, Canada, America, Europe, and Asia. Why not here? These countries have accepted the Maltese people like their own and have benefited from them. Why can’t Malta accept people from other countries, especially those who can contribute with their expertise in areas the Maltese may not be as strong in?

The people at the top are aware of these behaviours and they do nothing to change them. Rather, they may even enable this mindset.

Still not convinced? I have a few words or food for thought for all Maltese to think about, especially those that don’t like anything “foreign”.

Instead of seeing foreigners as a threat to your country or as trying to take over your country (policies are in place where that should never happen), ask yourselves: What can I learn that I don’t presently know? What can these people bring to my country that we need? Would they uplift my country or bring negativity to it? My wife, for instance, is pretty successful in her field. She does something not many Maltese do, yet, she’s had people here dismiss her and tell her how they feel about a business she knows more about than all the people in a room put together. In her line of work, there is a lot of fragmentation and she misses the sense of community she experienced in America among people in her profession. She would love to see things change as she loves Malta deeply. And she’s Maltese!

I think therefore this issue even stems from people not admitting to any flaws, or the fact that someone may be better at something than they are. Yet, still, who in this world is perfect? No one! And, how does one learn? My wife and I learned our respective professions by being humble and listening to those who knew more than we did, first and foremost. Still today, I feel I have a lot to learn from people. We never stop learning until we die. This is how I’ve always lived my life.

In my experience, usually the first thing a Maltese would say to a question about progress is: “We are too small and we cannot accept any more people here.” My answer to that is: “Malta doesn’t have to employ every foreigner that come to its shores but this doesn’t mean you should spit on them for being of a different race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, etc., as they are here to enjoy your country, nightlife, beaches, history, weather, tourist attractions, and buy goods from you.” And also, “Those who want a job will also pay taxes here and make your businesses thrive. Change could happen in a good way.”

Another thing the Maltese would say is, “We want to speak Maltese because that’s our language.” Well, my response is that “English is also your language, and ‘courtesy’ and ‘respect’ should prevail over any spoken language in this world.” I would have gladly learned Maltese if I felt welcomed here, but sadly, that was not to happen. Also, many Maltese can and will speak Italian, as well. Language is about communication and not about denying others or disrespecting others. Speaking in Maltese while other English speaking people are in the room is the equivalent of whispering in your friend’s ear in the presence of non-friends. Imagine how people feel excluded when they are supposed to be part of the social circle?

And there are some Maltese who would say, “Foreigners go home! Why do we need them anyway?” Well, what if all of the foreign businesses who are paying taxes and hire Maltese employees – such as the betting companies among others – would suddenly decide to pack up their bags and leave Malta because the grass is greener somewhere else? What if foreign investment comes to a stall? What if the tourists would just stop coming to Malta? Would they tell the Swedish, Dutch, or Germans to take their jobs and tax money and go home?
Imagine if all the Maltese abroad had to be suddenly denied all professional or artistic opportunities in their country of residence, too. What would happen then?

What about the menial jobs that many Maltese don’t want, such as garbage collection, construction, or restaurant jobs (dishwashing, wait staff, etc.)? Would they tell the Africans or the East Europeans who are taking these low wage jobs to go home as well?

And what if Malta received a military threat from, let’s say, North Korea, Al Qaeda, ISIS, etc.? How would they look at foreign countries then? At MY country? Would they tell us not to help, as we helped Malta in WWII? Would the Maltese still say they don’t need the foreigners’ help? Would they tell the Brits or the Americans and other Europeans ex-pats to go home?