‘It’s Been Going On Our Whole Lives’: Black Maltese Woman Opens Up About Living On The Island
An incident where a naturalised Maltese man who happens to be black said he was asked to leave a Marsa band club has ended amicably. However, this incident has shined a spotlight on the way Maltese people treat people from other races – even if they are fully Maltese and speak the language.
Naomi Bugre, a Maltese law student and the daughter of Ahmed Bugre, the man told to leave a Marsa band club, spoke to Lovin Malta about her experience as a black woman living in her home country.
Saying that she hadn’t spoken to her father about the incident yet – she’s currently abroad – she continued to say that she wasn’t surprised by the way he was treated.
“I mean, it’s been going on our whole lives. I’m just proud of him for making it public,” she said. “But yeah, there are as many shitty people as there are awesome people.”
Naomi was aware that her personal experience was different than a black man’s was
When asked if she had ever been asked to leave a band club, or any establishment, due to the colour of her skin, she replied in the negative.
“No – but it’s because I’m a girl. It’s kind of like: ‘let’s have this black girl here for our white guys who like black girls’,” she said.
But she did recount specific times when her – and her companion’s – skin colour made all the difference.
“I have been asked to leave when I was with a boyfriend or whoever that was black,” she said. “They would sometimes make stuff up like: ‘you need a special card to get in’ when I know that it’s not true.”
She even named a popular club for Maltese youths that she had been warned to avoid.
“Once my friends were hesitant to take me to Nordic Bar in Paceville because the week before their friend who works there said he had orders from ‘above’ that black people aren’t allowed in,” she said.
However, she is the first to say that no one wants to be harassed or annoyed by a drunk or aggressive person.
“I feel like anyone else would: it’s not nice. No one wants to be surrounded by people who are drunk and rowdy,” she said.
“But at the same time,” she continued, “it’s not an excuse not to let people in just because they look like they might get rowdy. I know many white people who both look like that and are like that, and they never had problems getting in.”
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