Il Razzismo è Una Pandemia - Is Racism on The Rise or Fall in Italy?
Protest and Anti-racism demonstrations are spreading around Europe, and Italy decided to participate and take a firm position. From Milano to Bari, passing through Brescia and Rome: those are just a few of the cities that held the peaceful protests against Racism among many others.
Racial discrimination and injustices have been a very debated and controversial problem in Italy. Not only because of its colonial and fascist past, but also today with the immigration crisis that is counting a number of victims in the Mediterranean sea daily.
The African diaspora has always been disregarded and unrepresented, and most of the Italians are denying the evidence. When the term Racism steps in a conversation, people just refuse to listen and believe it is a problem that needs attention. “Italiani brava gente”, they never cause harm, they never break the law and they are never racist. This is the picture that has been promoted by Italy and its people so far.
Racial accusations are always silenced and excused, whether it is on the football pitch towards Balotelli or at school, or place of work. But how can we justify migrants dying in the southern fields? Or getting sold? How can we justify Emmanuel Chidi Nnamdi? Nigerian. Killed after defending the wife from racial slurs in Fermo? How can we justify Idy Diene? Senegalese. Killed in Florence.
This is just the apex of a bigger problem. A very unspoken and embedded problem that sees actions only when it is a trend. Black people have no representation in any field. They only belong “on the football pitch or on the boats”. There are no possibilities for the black community, besides underpaid jobs or criminal activities.
Francesca - speaker of UNO Collective - who mobilized and organized the protest in Brescia- shares with us the following message:
“Italy can no longer continue ignoring its' responsibilities, sugarcoating its history in the good old “Italians are good people” narrative. We have colonized, we have deprived entire peoples of their sovereignty, identity, freedom, and independence for years and the fact that we were pretty whack at it or were interrupted by world wars does not make it better or less important. We have been and we still are systematically and interpersonally discriminating against and excluding non-white Italians from the public discourse, dismissing their existences as some sort of overlook-able mistake or fallacy in the system, refusing to accept them as Italian, at best. We, non-white Italians, have been living in constant fear -which too often turns into reality- of being verbally or physically attacked, knowing it would go unpunished or would be attributed to some other obscure mental health problem of the individual committing the crime towards us. A prime example of this is the terrorist attack on eight black random people by Luca Traini, former candidate of the far-right Lega party, which was dismissed as the act of a “crazy person” despite the fact that it obviously is a direct consequence of the spiraling delirious hatred towards black people this country has been facing. It is important to highlight how black (and non-white) lives matter in Italy for all the people working in slavery-like conditions in the countryside to bring food on our tables, for all the human beings at the bottom of our sea while we stand aside and watch them die or use them as pawns of a horrifying chess game, for Destà, bought and raped by Indro Montanelli at the age of twelve and who has to see herself being deemed a ‘spot’ in the otherwise glorious life of a person who’s still celebrated with statues and parks to which even “left-wing” politicians hold on to, for all the victims of the skyrocketing number of hate attacks, for Soumaila Sacko and Idy Diene.
Le vite dei neri contano”.
The new generations of Afroitalians are not silent. They are louder than ever and fear no fascist or opposition. They demand a change: political, social, and economic growth just like everyone. The possibility to prosper and build a future. As Italians, not “immigrants”.
A first step to change is recognizing the African diaspora as rightfully Italian, by granting nationality with no question to those who were born in Italy to immigrant parents.
A special thank you to all of the photographers who documented and submitted to us the images that you can view in the gallery above, from the Italian protests against racism. You can view their credits below.
Milano - Karim El Maktafi
Brescia - Martina Piceni
Bari - Mirko Jira
Rome - Noemi Belotti
June 16, 2020
