“What hurts us the most is that we were the people that went the extra mile during the pandemic. We were the heroes – now we’re becoming targets.”
The words of GP nurse Aldrin Banas, originally from the Philippines but living in Belfast for more than 20 years, sum up the sense of shock felt by members of ethnic minorities at the level of hatred directed towards them over the last week.
Aldrin and his wife, also a nurse, were invited to Northern Ireland via government schemes to identify skilled workers to meet acute shortages in the health service.
As Sinn Féin MP and former nursing union chief Pat Cullen has said, without our many dedicated international workers, who put their lives on the line during the Covid crisis, it is the case that the NHS simply could not function.
Now Aldrin is among many health professionals and other valued members of the community describing how they are living in fear for the first time following days of racist violence and intimidation.
Similar sentiments were expressed at an anti-racism rally at Stormont on Thursday, where Susan Magutakuona, a nurse who moved to Belfast from Zimbabwe four years ago, told how she no longer feels safe in the city she has come to love as her home.
The sense of anxiety was also expressed by Lilian Seenoi-Barr, who has become a powerful symbol of the diverse society we now enjoy after she became the north’s first black mayor earlier this year.
But what has been heartening is the support Lilian, Susan and others say they have received from across the community and evidenced publicly in demonstrations of solidarity this week in Derry, Stormont and Belfast city centre last night.
The reality, as Ms Seenoi-Barr told anti-racism protesters in Derry, is that Ireland is “full of kind, caring people who understand the importance of helping those in need”.
Those engaging in the disgraceful acts of violence witnessed in recent days are a fringe element being manipulated by malign forces on social media whose only goal is to sow fear and hatred.
The onus is now on all of us to ensure that migrants who play such a valuable role in our community and commercial life feel the full weight of the support and solidarity of the silent majority.
That will happen by challenging racism, bigotry and other forms of intolerance wherever we encounter it, whether in the poisonous lies disseminated online, or attitudes expressed on streets, in workplaces, and in political discourse.
Lies, division and false narratives must be replaced by messages of hope and unity as we together take on the challenges required to build the happy, prosperous society we all deserve.
The onus is on all of us to ensure that migrants who play such a valuable role across in our community feel the full weight of the support of the silent majority
