Forgive me for seeming uncivil or unsympathetic, for I am neither of those, but if one substitutes the word(s) “ageism”, “anti-Asian resentment” or “anti-disabled discrimination” to anywhere in this article, there are dozens of similar stories that have absolutely *nothing* to do with racism are are just as egregious, if not more. And, on our own shores. I am over 65, still working, dress in executive clothing suitable to my age and profession, and I have experienced despicable comments by young people who are jealous, resentful of my presence in “their” workplace, and lack any semblance of manners. I walk very quickly, without a phone tethered to my ear, and have hailed and caught cabs when young people presumed I was slower than them, while their heads were stuck in their mobile devices, which irks them to no end. In one instance I was called the “c” word for doing so. The other day, a man of about 30 was mad that I passed him while he was strolling along engrossed in his cell phone chat, and called me a “expletive) old bat.” An expert subway rider, I can usually scope out seats faster than my fellow passengers and for that, am routinely excoriated for doing so. You’re still young, get over your victimhood, or that’s how you and everyone else - including employers - will see you. Not as the strong, capable person you profess to be, regardless of your age, race, or gender.
28
@TurandotNeverSleeps
I am 70 and have experience my share of ageism, but it's no way as bad as racism. We were all once young, but not all once white. Listen to what Ms. Phillip is trying to say, instead of focusing on yourself. You might get better responses from young people.
63
Wait. As an Asian-American, I can’t get past your insinuation that the discrimination that Asians experience is not racism...? That is how your first few sentences read.
21
I have had horrific multiple experiences of anti-jewish bigotry in the U.S especially from black New-Yorkers.There is NO organized acknowledgedment by the authorities, academia nor media 'outrage'.Has anyone noticed that the New York Times will NOT publish readers' letters describing this historical and current obscenity?Reverse bigotry is not challenged and therefore encouraged.
28
@John That's really awful, and should not be tolerated. I'm very sorry for you. And I have to ask: does your pain negate that experienced by Nicole?
24
@John In Britain we call this statement ‘whataboutery’. I am sorry for your experiences but they really do not make Nicole’s experience less painful.
22
Sounds more like millennial entitlement to me, and I am Afro American. These are champagne problems, dear. I hope you send in your absentee vote.
9
That area has seen African-American GIs since the '50s when Camp Darby was established nearby, near Pisa. The influx of African refugees has changed the landscape I'm sure.
The African "selling beach gear draped from his body" struck a chord with me since I remember old Italian men doing the same thirty years ago, probably on a beach nearby.
When I was in the military I served time around a lot of Brits, Italians, etc in Turkey and other parts of the Middle East. Both Brit and Italian troops spouted out some of the most vicious racists things I've ever heard, stuff that would have ended a U.S. soldier's career. I know Italian well enough to understand when an Italian Special Forces officer comments to another: "Blacks are like dogs".
They're just as vicious when talking about each other's nationality or the French or Spanish troops that were passing through [this was Operation Provide Comfort in '91]. Seems when race isn't available they improvise.
What struck me most was the writer shows no empathy for the child "Ami" who is growing up there and being subjected to the same. Perhaps Nicole Philip's reaction to that was edited out. If so it's a shame.
7
She says:
"I was ready for that to be my life: fun, food and a European love story.
But I was so caught up in my excitement that I neglected a crucial difference between me, my roommates and the majority of the other students I was studying with abroad."
I can see another crucial difference that she apparently doesn't. She's a university student with a unique opportunity to "study" in a foreign country and she thinks she is there for "fun, food and a European love story". I see a fundamental dishonesty in that attitude. I spent a summer semester in Europe with my university too, but I actually went there to study, not indulge in fun or romance. I think people, the European hosts to these students, notice the difference. They can spot the fake students a mile away, and act accordingly.
15
You have got to be kidding me. Just be straightforward and say it: You think she deserved the racism she faced.
Is a person of color’s sadness at the racism they face ever legitimate to you people?
23
Oh come on let’s not be so harsh - she focused on those points in an article to make it sound sexy and exciting.
3
Having studied abroad and worked in a study abroad center, “fun” is typically the hook to get students to go. Food is a huge part of any culture and Italy is usually a prime example. Food is more about eating- it reflects geography, natural resources, agriculture, and celebrations/traditions. And American girls have been sold the idea of fairytales where Europe is the prime setting.
When I studied for a year we (Uni of CA students) were encouraged by UC faculty advisors to join clubs, travel, and interact/make friends with host country students - really participate in daily life. I learned a lot about UK life/politics/sport over a pint and cups of tea chatting with British students.
2
Be grateful. You learned what many people think about black people without the veil of political correctness. Rest assured, your American East and Westcoast compatriots think the same, they just don't say so openly.
6
@Schwanzen being black does not necessarily mean you get negative reactions and commentary.
I'm tall and leggy. I also have to be of a chocolate skin tone.
I've been told I'm beautiful in just about every country I've been to - stared at - Singapore, surrounded and called pretty lady - S. Korea, cat called on the streets from cars - France, Sicily, beautiful - by a Dutchman on the island of Crete.
So it just depends.
12
Sadly, I learned in my Peace Corps stint many years ago in the Philippines that African-Americans have to steel themselves for grotesque insults in Asia . . .
The author's experience reminded me of an Italian friend in the US saying to me once, "You know, Africa starts at Naples . . ." This from a very cosmopolitan, highly-educated man.
18
@KCox I lived on the heel of the boot in Italy. We referred to it as Libya because it was sand and water. People asked if the husband I met and married there were Arab, Black, Mexican or Turkish. Italy had been invaded 200 times. He was some of all of these. Additionally, Hannibal invaded the Iberian peninsula, crossed the Pyrnnes, the Alps and entered Northern Italy leaving little half Africans all over the place, way north of Naples.
8
Interesting that the author highlights the "olive skinned man", typically code for Arab.
17
There are many olive skin Italian males..
6
Not so...many Italians have olive skin tone.
4
@Suzy "olive" is typically used to describe the complexion of those of Mediterranean decent. Like, say, a man from an Italian coastal town of Cinque Terra.
10
It's the kind of thing that might make you want to stand for the national anthem........
5
@John Wilson
You're assuming she doesn't.
4
IL Duce's legacy lives on, unfortunately. Exacerbated now by the coalition government of right wing anti-immigration parties, Lega and Five Star.
Italian football has also long been behind the curve in tackling racism head on with many black players, still bearing the brunt of racism, even at the highest levels of the game.
And sadly, not an isolated blight as demonstrated by the routine fines and penalties still being handed out by UEFA to teams participating in its competitions, for the behaviour of their fans.
14
This is not a popular concept but American notions of propriety end at our borders. Living in South America, I got publicly abused for being visibly Jewish in Buenos Aires. When I traveled to the countryside, I was mocked for having hair down to my shoulders (which was deemed unmasculine). When I went to meet my new in-laws in Seoul, I was aggressively stared at on the subway. "Aggressively" meaning when I turned away and then turned back, the woman was still gawping at me and my Korean bride.
The ugly truth is that you will have to expect this type of treatment at the hands of locals given that this behavior is normal. If you cannot bear this, I recommend never leaving Greenwich Village. The one thing I will agree with you is the intentionally spilling of beer on you. No police officer would effect an arrest over that but it was a huge sign of disrespect and I am sorry it happened. But, for everything else, you have to be able to shrug these things off.
30
@Uncommon Wisdom
What is 'visibly Jewish'—did you wear a yarmulke in Argentina?
Considering the number of Nazis welcomed into that nation during the 1930s and 40s and their many descendants, anti-Semitism should hardly be a surprise.
As to your shoulder length hair—that is YOUR stylistic choice. As an adult male, this look will garner attention anywhere in the Western world, probably elsewhere as well. Most places people conform to the norm much more than we do in the U.S.A.
But no one screamed at the sight of you, or clutched their bags or threatened to call the police on you, or chased you out of a shop for touching something did they? Right. Please. Maybe you should stay in Greenwich Village if you think that the treatment the author received as an African/American woman in Italy is to be expected and therefore...acceptable.
No, it really is not acceptable. It does say a lot about you, though, that you seek to minimize her reaction to her mistreatment as hysterical (this is your implication).
115
@Uncommon Wisdom. How does one "shrug off" blatant racism and bigotry???? How does one "ignore" these things while on vacation with one's family? how does one explain such stupidity to one's children...and when the child asks, how long must he or she have to endure such indignities, should we tell them "for the rest of your life?"
32
Europe is not the socially advanced paradise that the far left makes it out to be. Racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and sexism all abound, in addition to plenty of other societal ills.
The entire world has much to work on (and that still obviously includes us).
88
@AMS in LA "...socially advanced paradise that the far left makes it out to be."
What the heck are you talking about? "The far left" doesn't do anything like that, except perhaps in some far right Fox fantasy world. In fact "the left" has been saying exactly the opposite for a long time now. The left has for years been warning about the rise of right-wing extremism, xenophobic racialized nationalism, and nativist populists. But you've apparently been living in a world of Trumpian alternative facts. smh
88
@AMS in LA, but it did not stop Europeans from colonizing the rest of the world! Did Italians face any racism when they occupied Ethiopia? Have they apologized for their occupation?
1
@AMS in LA it’s also worth bearing in mind that Europe is composed of many different nations which are very different from each other and also hold great differences within each of their borders. It’s not some monolithic block.
26
After a semesters exchange in Milano I noticed the same ignorance and rudeness towards my non-white friends, particularly while traveling within Italy (not so much in Milan), though perhaps with slightly less hostility since it wasn't in 2006. This was further validate years later when my adorable mixed-race 8 year old neighbor mentioned while visiting Italy's on vacation many storekeepers would not let her touch anything for fear of theft. Though I can't say with 100% certainty, I did not observe or or rear about any instances related to our travel trough several other countries in Western Europe.
Although I had an overall positive experience from a personals standpoint of a non-minority, I soon afterward decided to never again visit Italy. My Nigerian American husband and I have traveled throughout Western Europe, including the south of France, and encountered no issues. In the US we all know racism I said alive and well, but it is deep beneath the skin and definitely more nuanced, which still causes mental harm but in a very different way. Italy is an in-your-face, blatantly surface racism that shocks the conscious. There's something about Italy verses other Western Europe- it is quite a toxic force in a country with a permanently stifled economic growth and relatively low level so of innovation.
Thank you for sharing these awful experiences- hopefully the Italian authorities will notice this and kick- start a dialogue on how to fix their society.
50
Italian men are hands-down the worst when it comes to street harassment, as far as my personal experience goes. Whether it is within Italy itself, or a place that attracts Italian tourists, they are hard at work catcalling, shouting, and menacing innocent female passersby.
28
I visited Italy as a student in 2000. One of the things about that visit that stays with me is the fact that there were swastikas spray-painted EVERYWHERE. The amount of Nazi graffiti was alarming to a teenager who had never seen that level of public hatred before.
The authors experience in Italy, sadly, was no surprise to me.
35
I remember while living in Europe in the 80's and 90's that I was always asked about American racism. My response was this: "We have (at the time) a black mayor in LA, in Chicago, in New York. Could you imagine a black mayor of Paris? Of Rome?" The answer was always a shocked, and reflective, no.
American racism is more on the surface than in Italy or France, and I think that's to our advantage. Your experience isn't unique however, my Milanese friends often referred to the Sicilians, pejoratively, as 'Arabs', and the Sicilians countered this with accusation of being 'Germans'.
Finally, being compared to Michelle Obama may be a crude stereotype, but it's hardly an insult; they are both hugely admired there. In Texas or Alabama it might be another story!
18
I am sorry that this happened to you. Just days ago I had a very heated discussion with my husband about my refusal to travel to certain countries (Italy is at the top of the list). It strikes me that there are places so savage, resting infinitely on the laurels of ancient contributions to civilization, that Blacks should actively boycott. The future of civilization is the culture that we build with the values that we cherish today: broad-minded inclusiveness and respect for the natural world. We can honor and revere the treasures and ideas of the past, but forge forward with the conviction that our humanity is shared and what we build henceforth must hold this truth as sacred.
31
@Anscombe - What a magnificent statement! Thank you, take care & I hope that your travels are carefree!
1
I am grateful that Ms. Phillip has documented these experiences, which reflect the western world's continuing disdain for people of color. Europe and North America are societies that thrived in the past few centuries due almost exclusively to the transatlantic slave trade, and colonial invasions of Asia and Africa. The legacy of those events is a mythical belief among Europeans and North Americans in the inferiority of dark-skinned people. Europe did not abandon its colonial conquests until the mid-20th century. America had technically "freed the slaves" in 1865 but it was not until 1965 that black Americans were given legal protections for their right to vote, etc. The myth of white supremacy continues its grip on European and North American culture, as amply demonstrated by experiences like these.
21
@neilends The idea that Europe and North America thrived "almost exclusively" due to colonialism and the slave trade is deeply nonsensical. Germany was bombed flat in WW2 and rebuilt itself without any colonies, not to mention all the other european powers which have continued to thrive and develop which never even had any colonies, such as the nordic countries. As for the US, do you really think that our technological development, which occurred almost entirely in the North, has anything to do with the state of slavery in the south? It's been made plain around the world, especially in Asia, that development is possible without without colonialism, and it may even happen in Africa one day if the people there stop using it as an excuse to do nothing about their own situation.
10
@KM You are vastly underestimating the economic value of slavery to western society during the time period of the transatlantic slave trade (and the century of slavery that continued after the transatlantic aspect of it ended). Interestingly, your example is Germany, a European country rebuilt entirely through the Marshall Plan funded by the United States--a country whose GDP was 60% reliant on slave labor in 1860 before slavery ended. The massive wealth transfer from Asian and African nations into Europe, over a sustained multi-century time period, is not properly taught in western schools so comments like yours are to be expected. It is doubtful that, without the untold riches generated by the slave trade that European powers could have even conquered North America in the first place. Both societies thrive today directly because of the slave trade.
As for colonialism, it collapsed primarily because European colonizers ran out of economic and military resources to hold on to them. Europe is now dwarfed economically by some of the Asian powers it once colonized, and the myth of white supremacy threatens to further drown these western societies.
11
My wife and I experienced overt anti-semitism after speaking with Italian teenagers last year in Venice. She’s Jewish and it made her uneasy to say the least. We quickly realized how much racism is running right under the surface throughout the Italian culture.
30
This could have happened, and it would have been worse, anywhere in America. Yes, probably the author was expecting to Italians to be more civilized. Unfortunately, racism, xenophobia in all of its manifestations are on the rise. Italy has just such a leader, but the United States has one of the worst examples. I don't know what the author wants us to take away from this, but I think that this author wants to get her "revenge" by slamming all Italians. After five years, could she not think of a better way to rise above it.
10
@Caroline The author wants you to listen to her experiences, to see things through her eyes. Instead, you are defensive. This is a common white response when black people describe racism. We need to rise above this response and read more stories like these to understand the black experience. Otherwise we speak from a place of ignorance.
24
@Caroline I'm curious where in the text you came away with the idea that she wants "revenge".
It would be great if you could come back and point out the exact text because, objectively, I cannot find that text.
I actually admire the author for being able to put aside her own personal experience (horrible experiences) in support of her friend. Out of love for her friend.
I don't see recounting her experience equals seeking revenge on an entire country. That is seems a bit far fetched to me.
19
While racism surely exists, I have to wonder how much here were situations that had nothing to do with her race...how much has to do with her own prism through which she interprets encounters.
Take the guy on the beach. Clearly he was an idiot. He did not initially focus on the black women. He was yelling at the white women to pick up their trash. Then, the situation became elevated, and so he continued with his rant, taking it up a notch by throwing beer, making a racial slur, and grabbing someone by the arm. Might he have done similar things, had the entire group been white? Might he simply have made a slur about 'women' vs 'black women'? We'll never know. But what is clear is that he was problematic for that entire group.
Then there's the middle-aged woman actually hiding behind a car. We all know there are racists out there, but... this story sounds rather 'unbelievable' to me... a woman crouching behind a car??
The woman asking for directions at night. In populated tourist cities and where there can be language barriers, people will often act strangely when you approach them on the street, wondering 'what' you really want from them. Even whites approaching whites on the streets of Manhattan, are initially met with suspicion (is this a scam? what do they really want from me?)
Regardless, no matter your race, you should always understand local culture and the current social/political environment, before any foreign travel. To do otherwise is naive.
18
@Lisa: So what you're saying is that this writer didn't really experience racism, it's all in her head. And moreover, you insinuate that she's not even telling the truth about her experiences.
Such disbelief and victim blaming are exactly the type of sentiments that allow racism (and misogyny, and anti-Semitism, and all other brands of hatred and intolerance) to flourish.
76
@Lisa, Blaming her for the actions of others because of where she was? Minimizing? Doubting her stories? 'Splaining how to walk the streets? This is what men do to sexual assault victims, and you seem to have thoroughly absorbed the lessons. Shame on you.
22
@IMLThank you, IML, for stating this so succinctly.
1
Italians not providing you with directions in Florence is not necessarily racist behavior. I am a white male and getting an Italian in Florence to give directions can be very difficult based upon my personal experiences. Many locals are simply sick of being constantly over run with tourists. Every slight you may experience in your life is not necessarily based upon your race.
18
The author describes Florentines terrified at the sight of her, or shielding their partner from her. This is more than someone not wanting to give directions to a tourist. I have even witnessed European tourists here step away from black male subway passengers and—in one instance—shield a female partner on a subway platform, arms outstretched, from two black men standing next to them, talking to each other loudly—but to each other! I think of that incident often. And those men had the good grace to laugh it off. The gesture was so comical yet highly offensive, and one of the black men just put his hand up and good-naturedly said, “It’s alright, dude—I’m not going anywhere near her!”
37
@AJ
I dunno, when my white wife, and my brownness where in Florence, furtively looking at a map under the weak light of a street lamp, more than one local came up to us to offer assistance
6
@AJ try reading again, this time for comprehension. She was "slighted" repeatedly asking for directions in Florence. Did men move to protect their dates from you and treat you like you were begging for money the first couple of times you asked for directions in Italian? Did anyone scream at you, call you names and throw a beer in your face? I kinda doubt it. I've been white in Italia too.
6
I hurt for you. I despise that as a black person, that you must always wear armor. I wonder what makes people so stupid, blind and mean. What is it that they get out of it? A lot of good all that religion is doing for the Italians.
27
When you travel abroad, you must prepare your trip and know what is hapenning there. You are surprised by racism in Italy? You go in a country and don't know what is happening there? strange attitude. Unfortunatly racism is present everywhere. Not only in Italy, also in the US or in my country, France. Everywhere.
As a white guy, when I travel in Africa or Asia, I know that everybody will not be happy of my visit. So what?I should write it in the NYT? No I just travel to meet different people and culture with different. It's good to see that everybody don't think the same way
10
@Maxime Tardy, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that a study abroad program sponsored by one's university will be a safe and comfortable place for students, not at all like traveling solo. As a "white guy," as you describe yourself, you have likely never been subjected to the ugly racism the author describes in her essay.
10
@Judy Why must everything be "safe"? The world isn't a safe place, it never has been and it never will be. The sooner young people learn that fact the more prepared they will be for life. These universities do no one any good shielding them from all harm or hurt.
Really, you met some awful people in Florence, and that's a shame. But being called Michelle Obama or Beyoncé was a not a racist attack, it was some macho Italian men's way of saying you are a beautiful American black woman. That's the culture, since you know some Italian you could have teased them back, and gone on with your day. It's not all about your ethnicity you know; Florentines, Venetians and others are pretty tired of being overrun by hordes of American, Chinese, German, etc. tourists.
26
@Michael, I'm an American and have lived in Italy for over 40 years, and I agree that the references to Michelle et al. were merely macho and misogynist (like any kind of cat calling) but not racist. The comparison was with 3 beautiful and admirable women and the comments were meant as compliments. I also think that the guy on the beach was very likely drunk (not that that's an excuse, of course). I'm sorry the other experiences in Italy were so unpleasant. Italy does have a problem with racism, especially against North Africans and the Rom because they not used to being a first world country receiving new immigrants. But in its defence, you can still walk down a city street at any hour of the day and the chances of being accosted are slight (and of being shot zero). I hope the writer will return and give Italy another chance.
8
Italy can surely be racist, and that's a huge problem. But, Italy is much safer for everyone - including black and brown people - than the United States. At least police doesn't shoot at you.
Honestly I think that this experience was particularly bad because Italian do not like American students invading Florence. It's something that is well known in Italy, especially in Tuscany, and it's due to the fact that they seem to come more to party, get drunk, and find "love stories" more than appreciating and respecting the culture. And this has nothing to do with race.
14
@Eleonora If the Italians were reacting to American students "invading" Florence, why were her experiences so different than those of the white students who were there with her?
23
@me, in case you haven't noticed, many of the black people shot by police in this country in recent years have been unarmed, or trying to flee the police, and/or engaging in normal, innocent activities when shot - and not at all threatening anyone's life.
Then again, some white people in this country consider a black person's very presence a threat.
5
@Eleonora
"Disgusting black women." Nothing to do with race?
4
Nicole. I am a South American born American. I lived 22 years in Florence and I can totally visualize what you went through. I am so sorry you found such ignorance. Yes, Italians are racist. Any American University or company knows that.
I have heard italian people calling black Africans, black Americans and even famous black models like Iman and Naomi Campbell with names related with chocolate, mud or coffee flavors. Chinese tourist are treated with respect, Chinese working immigrants are treated with disdain. I was told several times I was “tanned”, even “exotic”. Italian men go crazy for black, Cuban and Brazilian women. Beautiful exotic women are acceptable. Berlusconi himself called President Obama a “handsome tan man”. Italy is still very provincial. Italy is racist. Even educated, well meaning and well traveled Italians are racists.
It’s also not about being black in Florence. I feel they will treat a Japanese or Chinese with the same distance as they will treat a black person. In Florence it’s not only about the color of your skin or your nationality. It’s just that you are not from Florence. They probably will be more open to a wealthy, well educated black American than to many Neapolitan or Sicilian Italians. They are wonderful people, but Florentines are not only racists, they are snobs.
134
@PC Yes! Some of the least friendly people in Italy.
5
I am Italian and live in Italy. we are racist. We pretend not to be racist but we are. far right political marketing selling the idea of an "immigrant invasion" (which is just not happening") is a factor, but not the only one. historically, we never acknowledged the crimes of fascism and colonial expansion. we tend to justify ourselves based on the idea that "Italiani [sono] brava gente" (Italians are good people). basically, we said that we did good for the African peoples we oppressed. We pretend being good guys, not like the nazists who are the real villains -- of course, the reality of history is totally different from this convenient, self thought tale.
Today, the public sentiment is oriented by the far right propaganda and racist behaviour is more and more accepted. but the roots of our racism are planted deep into our dark past that we conveniently refuse to face.
I am so sorry for what happened to you, Ms. Phillip
11
@Luca Reducing a far more complexed problem in a three words sentence doesn't help create a serious and thorough debate. Speaking as a light-brown Brazilian-born Italian citizen i can assure that saying that Italy is a racist country is far from the truth. What happened to Nicole is appalling and shouldn't happen to anyone but that doesn't turn an entire country racist. I have had my fair share of racist encounter throughout my 32 years in Italy but I've also find kindness and manage to build very strong and longstanding friendships with many Italian natives. Nicole's article should spur us to engage in openminded conversation about race and racism.
2
As an Italian citizen, I believe it is my right to express my honest opinion. Out of all the cities in Italy, Florence is the most welcoming of all, and things like this had never occurred. I live in the center of the city, where thousands of American students from Stanford, Harvard and NYU reside for a short period of time. Honestly, we have always been very polite and tolerant, especially when they would be screaming from being drunk, at all hours in the night. Also, I do believe that if they told you that we are "bold" and "politically incorrect", they should find somewhere else to stay, as one should not be in places in which they feel the need to criticize both us and our country. Also, as we are well-known to be warm and welcoming, people calling you "Beyonce" or "Michelle Obama", should not feel like offenses, as I am white yet they still compare me to actresses ecc, they are just trying to be nice. From what I know, people love and respect Michelle Obama and feel blessed for having strong figures such as Rihanna and Beyonce. Although you are right about the immigration issues in Italy, this is not an excuse to call us racist, because we have always welcomed citizens from around the world, and keep doing it. I am sorry you had a negative experience, however I do believe that people who talk about racism in Italy don't even know what racism is, and I have nothing against you, I just think that, as a writer, one should be more informed, and not just generalize.
5
No madam, we are not racists. Ask any boy or girl who comes here with a regular passport to work, study or to have fun.
2
I have traveled to every continent on Earth and as a black man, I have experienced my fair share from Asians, Arabs, Europeans, Latinos even from some black people in some parts of Africa. Let me tell you this: racism is a global phenomena. However, the level of racism in Europe outshines all others. When I experienced racism in Asia, that person turned out to be just ignorant of black people and never met one before. We became friends after a short conversation.
Europeans on the other hand, have this innate repulsion for other skin colors which goes beyond mere ignorance. To be fair, it's mostly Italians, Germans and Hungarians that I found to be the most hostile while Dutch people are the friendliest and most open minded. I wouldn't recommend those 3 countries above as tourist destination to any black person. Italy has history, old monuments, the Amalfi coast and Venice but the few times I visited, I always felt relieved when I returned to Paris and to felt like I had just wasted money traveling to a very dark place.
117
I got the sexism in Italy, back in the 1990s, and realized that I could never live there. A woman alone was looked at like some kind of pariah. And I was dumpy and spinsterish, certainly no temptress. They were nice when they spoke French to me, so it was better to have a case of mistaken identity. But then I was with friends.
10
This story might have been believable if it not not been written so over-the-top. As it is, I'm unsure whether to treat it as victimhood fiction or not.
6
In 30 years, American women will be going to surgeons to have their eyes "slightly slanted" to increase their chances of capturing an Asian husband.
My point: gain power, money, and influence, and "real" blackface will become the number one fashion in America, "full" lips included.
I'm sorry, but in 2018, it just isn't acceptable not to know what it means to be black ON THIS PLANET. And, if you happen to be in Africa, it's gets even darker (pun intended).
1
I've been repeatedly subject to more overt and dangerous sexual-racial prejudice, and much worse, as a white woman in Atlanta using public transportation to get to work nights and public libraries where I tried to sit and study. Of course, I wasn't some privileged college student on a chic semester abroad, and the raw reality of what I and countless other women experienced and experince challenges the ugly racial selectivity by which the Times and Miss Phillip carefully curate their outrage.
8
@Tina Trent, why do you jump to conclusions about the author and her study abroad program? These programs are increasingly prevalent at all sorts of colleges and intended to broaden broaden student's worldview as prospective global citizens. They are not reserved for the privileged and they are not all chic. For all you know the author was on scholarship. I believe this was intended to convey one person's experience, not to negate the experiences of others, so why do you try to negate her's? Unfortunately, there is plenty of racism to go around, especially in the current political climate.
8
I was routinely called "yovo" when I was in Togo for six weeks in 1999. It's what they call white people in Togo and other African countries. I didn't get upset about it.
14
@Jackie . good for you not getting upset about it. so now feelings are one size fits all. treated poorly because of race in one's own country and having it reinforced in another country begins to develop a theme. i've lived abroad and came to the observation that people take their cues from leaders and leadership. Americas brand of racism is as powerful overseas as it is at home. when we choose to say "don't get upset about it" and willfully avoid the fact that you get to go home the the USA where you are privileged to not feel racisms sting as a "mainstreamer" in society tells me everything about you that you didn't write.
10
@Jackie You might be more upset about it if you carried a lifetime of taunts and racist treatment with you - the experience that many people of color can attest to. That you have to go back 20 years about "yovo," which may or may not have been intended as derogatory, is telling...
20
@Jackie Maybe that's because you didn't have beer thrown at you, called 'disgusting', or treated like a criminal when trying to ask for directions....
23
So the writer is upset that one Italian man didn't find her attractive. This implies that she wants to be romantically attractive to men, and since it published her column, I have to assume NYT approves of that goal/desire. Fine with me, but every time a white woman expresses the same desire/goal, or takes steps toward achieving this goal, liberals bash and ridicule that white woman calling her ignorant, vain, stupid, shallow etc. Why is that? Why the double standard, liberals?
4
@me You missed the point so entirely that maybe you should re-read the article. Where was she upset that an Italian man didn't find her attractive? Instead, she was upset that a man threw beer at her and attacked her black friend.
13
What?? You can not be serious. Please re-read the article, this time with an open mind. She was not upset that a man did not find her attractive, she is upset that a man threw a drink at her and accosted her friend. Jesus wept.
15
@me
No, she was upset because this man threw his beer at her and attacked her friend not because he didn't find her attractive. I suggest you re-read the article because that is a big detail to miss.
67
I am not surprised. Italians are now used to increased begging, crime levels, and harassment due to the influx of dirt poor, jobless, skill-less immigrants. They are, as you might expect, very defensive and upset about the degradation of their country.
18
@BostonGuy
Sure, because before African immigrants arrived, Italy was crime free, well-known as having an incorruptible government and had never stepped foot in African countries.
Spare me. I'm sure the issue of immigration is complex and difficult. However it doesn't sound to me like the author of the article looked like a dirt poor, jobless immigrant. She just looked African.
15
@BostonGuy
There have been dirt poor, jobless, skill-less people in Italy for generations. And some of the thieves and beggars come to work in Rome in Mercedes Benzes. I spent months there as a student 27 years ago and know people who went there in he fifties and sixties. It was ever thus!
7
@EHR Thank you for your excellent points! By the way, on crime: the Mafia, Andrangheta, Camorra, etc...have been spreading frequent and ruthless crimes in Italy for decades, and they are entirely Italian. Just to reiterate the point that crime and corruption were Italian phenomena well before any immigration into Italy.
5
This make me angry. Not the story. At the beginning I was, oh I'm so sad this happened, but after see some ridicolous comment painting Italy and Florence like the Far West I become pretty upset.
Italy is one of the safest country in Europe and surely safer than the USA, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Italy, so anybody should think about this before say anything, and these are facts.
Let's start to analyze this article, the reasons why this girl come to Italy: panini, party and love story. Really? You come to Italy, the country with most UNESCO site, with sea, mountains, river, famous for food, wine, fashion for panini and party?
The resume of six months in Florence are: a drunken man yelled at me, a woman told me something that I didn't understand and a night people didn't help me to arrive a bar.
She were in the middle of Italy in Florence, a city font of inspiration for artist from centuries, she had the opportunity to walk the same street where Leonardo, Michelangelo, Dante and hundreds of influential people from all around the world has passed. She could reach in 2 hours Rome the eternal city, a city that has thousands years of history, in 50 minutes Pisa and see the famous pending tower. She could make trip to Venice, Milan, Naples, Verona, Bologna, Genova, plenty of medieval towns, she could have visit museums, taste local dishes, enjoy nature, instead what remains? 3 random facts? I think she miss a big opportunity to explore and learn something new.
36
@Florentine uh....you forgot the guy throwing beer on her and the silly old woman shrieking at her. i'm sure as a student from NYU she was engaged in all that Florence has to offer. But also being a young college student, being away from home, having a good time with friends, eating wonderful food is also part of the experience. I think you missed the point.
13
@Florentine Great job dismissing someone else's personal experience. Newsflash: the article isn't titled "things to do and see in Florence, Italy." It's about a person's experience with racism.
You say "I think she miss a big opportunity to explore and learn something new." But you're actually just assuming that. You don't really know what she did. The author of the article probably went out and saw many new things, ate amazing food, and learned a great deal about Italy. Clearly she traveled outside of Florence. But yeah, even walking down a street that Michelangelo walked on can be tainted when people yell offensive things at you...
But for you to take this article and totally miss the point is sad, and your lack of empathy is very telling. We've all heard of instances of racism in Italy (I've even seen it myself), and the sooner people acknowledge it, the sooner we can eradicate it.
16
@Florentine Do you assume that, just because she chose to write about one aspect of her time in Italy, she didn’t get anything else out of it? That she didn’t explore the country? Were you feeling too upset and defensive to notice that she mentioned visiting Milan, Rome, and Perugia?
8
Nicole, you have experienced what others have gleaned about your people, don't be offended, it is not you they dislike and disparage, it is others who have been less than cival, too barbaric and occasionally savage! When people who are misplaced, for whatever reason, and fail to evolve, adapt and adopt to their new surroundings, they are usually viewed with distain by all others!
1
So what?? Welcome to my world.It sounds like being white in France, where you're routenely attacked for a cigarette by arabs immigrants at the exit of the subway.
10
@john being harassed for cigarettes makes you uncomfortable enough to lack any empathy. what a sad statement to make of oneself in an open forum.
2
I lived in Italy from 2003 to 20014. It is always good to learn conversational Italian like good morning, how are you, please, thank you, and show an effort to speak the language. The Italians are about respect for their culture. The color of your skin or your blackness or lack of it is your concern only. Secondly, the new influx of migrants has put a financial strain on the country where there are few jobs, families live together, and taxes are very high. Basically, they maybe upset. Thirdly, if you are loud and obnoxious as most tourists are, you have offended their way of life. So, learn the culture before you go. It’s not America. Go learn their way of life and you may learn more than being black.
12
@DH Right, those poor Italians are upset so they have every right to assault innocent women on beaches or be generally disrespectful. Please be joking. NOBODY, (especially black asylum seekers) should be disrespected or denied their human dignity. I am shocked that you don't agree.
11
@DH Did you actually read the article? There was no indication that the author was anything but polite. She certainly didn't sound like she was 'loud and obnoxious'. She says she has 'passable' Italian. Read more carefully next time, please.
10
That is a bold statement. Italians certainly are racists, I’ve lived there, I have many Italian friends, I travel back each year, I absolutely love the country and it’s people and I am of Italian descent. But let’s call a spade a spade and acknowledge that they are not the most accepting of people that are not like them. For you to lack sympathy for an experience this woman had is shameful. You really should keep your comments to yourself.
19
Nicole, I’m a Ghanaian who lived and worked in Italy for six years, my husband lived there for seventeen years so I believe you and I’m sorry for your experience. There are good and bad in Italy, but once you form a bond in Italy, it is forever. I lived in Porto Mantovano, Mn and still feels I have left my family over there. The kids go back home every summer since we’ve been in the States. I had a bad experience at Milano centrale when we went back last summer ( an old lady shouted at me and my children to go back to Africa) in front of police and I replied her right there, she chickened out and apologized. Don’t let the bad nuts spoil your fun, put them in their place and enjoy your vacation in peace. I just got the annual tickets for the kids to go to le madrine (godmothers who adore them). Please go back and enjoy your pizza from Napoli, lago di Garda, and the history museum in Mantova. Until we stand our grounds, there won’t be change. Cheers to you amore e un abbraccio forte!
6
I am both astounded and disgusted at the casual dismissal of this woman's experience with racism by most of the commenters here. She literally shared that the racist aggressor called her a "disgusting black woman" and that she was treated like a criminal for simply walking down the street, but let's turn a blind eye to this and stories like this, since it's so much better to defend the attackers than even offer a hint of sympathy to the survivor.
14
So I'm studying in Bar Ilan university in Israel and on my program (Communications degree) there are Jewish people and Arab people studying together, we have even special classes called inter-faith dialogues where we gather and discuss different issues. No place to racism! We love each other. Such a shame there is something like this existing((((
Here is the link for our university and its Communication School, you can see pics from those classes there.
https://communication.biu.ac.il/en
I am an Italian citizen with Arabic background, born and raised in Milan, by far the most cosmopolitan and open-minded city of all Italy. I am aware that Italians who are going to read my comment, without any doubt are going to disagree, maybe trying to remind me my roots and some negative facts regarding some Arab country. The truth is that majority of Italians nowadays are living in a bubble of ignorance, knowing nothing about their culture and history, pretending to be better than anyone else on earth because of pasta and pizza are Italian delicacies. They have no idea about the real economical and political situation of the country. Their form of racism is generated by a critical lack of education and manners. I simply remind them that a person who forgets the past, does not deserve a future. They are forcing themselves to live a life of hypocrisy, most of northerners and Southerners hate each other since the end of WW2. Thank God the other minority of Italians are people with huge hearts and full of love to give, they do not believe in the mediocre Italian media and silly politicians, they still believe in equal rights and thank to them democracy is still alive in Italy. I truly love Italy but I'm too proud to consider to live together with the disappointment I feel in my heart today, I can't accept to live as a victim.
8
I was 5 when I heard the song Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu. From that moment I wanted to visit Italy. I succeeded in 1976 when I did a semester in Rome. I was treated well, but each subsequent trip was fraught with abuse. In 1987 in Rome I was turned away from a hotel at which I had a reservation with the words: “We have no room for you, imbecile.” I demanded to see the manager, whom I knew by name, as I had stayed in the hotel before. He recognized me, apologized, said I was welcome and explained he had instructed his staff to turn away Africans because they had caused problems. There were other negative experiences (with waiters, ticket sales agents and guys giving me the finger as I stood alone at the bus stop), but the worst happened in Bergamo. I was walking to Standa when two plain clothes cops jumped out of a car and approached me. They asked me if I was a Negro, if I was African or American. I responded I was an American and showed them my passport. They thought it was fake, forced me into their car and took me to the station without an explanation. There I was told that I was suspected of being a purse thief. I wasn’t allowed to telephone an acquaintance, a prominent architect. Moreover, my producing traveler's checks, proof that I had money, meant nothing. I was finally let go after 5 hours when the victim showed up and chastised the cops for detaining me-I looked nothing like her assailant nor was I dressed as she had described. My long love affair with Italy was over.
77
many times foreign females fall prey to mistreatment and violence in firenze. just in the last two/three years. various women have been abused/attacked. some of the attackers were immigrant men. others were italian men. even two carabinieri have been accused of molesting/raping american women. violence is throughout the world. firenze also has its particular blend.
2
I would like to remind you that in 2013 the city of Florence was a democratic majority, that is, of the left, and for some it could be a sign of "tolerance", an image that the modern left tries to give to others,
but the truth is that I have lived more time in Emilia Romagna and I can tell you that I found it more racist than Lombardy where I live today, because between racism and hypocrisy I think that hypocrisy hurts more.
I would not want to push the discourse towards a political or other current, but it is a way of reaffirming the fact that racism does not depend on the current political but on the education that parents give to their children at home, both from the city of Monticello Brianza from Lecco to the city of Bradbury in Los Angeles, the origins are the same lack of education and knowledge.
If from the English books the black man was called "the colored man" is translated into Italian "Uomo di colore" who will be blamed for this disparaging flaw that has not been corrected until today in language?
I confirm everything that you wrote, and this is the real Italy, not that of the holidays where the barman tries to speak English to please you.
What will we say, are they all the same? obviously not; if all blacks are not "thieves", we can not say that all Italians are "racist".
2
I don’t agree with most of what is written.
So if someone calls you chocolate that is racism
Chocolate is nice and so you are that is a compliment. So is Mrs Obama etc.
Some things are considered rude or racist in america and are not so in Italy its just the way. Italians don’t express racism this way anyway.
I know that there is racism in Italy.
Usually it is directed towards inmigrants. Now people are angry because of the state of the economy and more so this is directed to the immigrants.
1
Hello
I apologize, but I used google translate,
I am African, I live in Italy for 17 years (it is the only country in the world where after 17 years, after a degree and now with a job do the nationality they say that you have not been resident for more than 10 years in a consecutive way and are voting a law where your request for citizenship will pass from 2 years to 4 years of process; this is not racism but only anti-integration law!) was just a parenthesis;
What Philip lived in 6 months, is 17 years old that I lived that and one will ask me, but what are you still doing in that country? and I will answer: can someone tell me where it is different? more or less the whole world is a country.
the problem of racism is mental, and acute ignorance, but they are not some words that will change things
because sometimes they are those who declare themselves non-racist to be the one with an emphasis on difference, and those who say they are the one who puts the accent on human hatred.
I would like to remind you that in 2013 the city of Florence was a democratic majority, that is, of the left, and for some it could be a sign of "tolerance", an image that the modern left tries to give to others,
but the truth is that I have lived more time in Emilia Romagna and I can tell you that I found it more racist than Lombardy where I live today, because between racism and hypocrisy I think that hypocrisy hurts more.
5
So if you want to come and have a nice holiday for me it remains one of the most beautiful countries in the world from Bolzano to Catanzaro, passing through Milan, Venice and Rome.
But for the rest we have to do with a reason, the racism that you find in California, you'll find it in Milan, in Brussels, in Paris, in Bombay, in Beijing, in Tel Aviv and also in Dubai.
Education and good information will be the first antidotes against the epidemic of racism that we live today, but that has always been !!!
the risk of all this is the hate that calls hate! but the choice to respond to insults with a smile is not weakness but only proof of greatness! For the rest we always have our voice and our pen to report! Thanks Nicole Philip of having shared this experience with the world, coming from the mouth of an American written in the NYT will certainly be different, and I'm sorry for those who will be offend, but racism in Italy exists and is growing every year! even if the Italians have a "Big Heart and love the family and eat well!"
3
The Italian peninsula is an ancient land that has been through all of society’s cycles many times. There is an abundance of ignorance which is more than outweighed by an abundance of understanding, love and culture. People tend to externalize much of what they are going through, starting with the hand gestures as they speak, and ending up with extemporary words of love or abuse to strangers on the street. Please keep in mind that for every person who has offended you there is a silent majority who will welcome you into their homes with open arms and hearts in exchange for nothing but a smile.
My father was a Southern Italian “immigrant” to Milano in the 60’s who faced much of your same discrimination but also the opposite. He became a famous singer and still dealt with much criticism as love going his way. And I have to deal with it just for being born. What to do, Kathmandu.
I'm really so so sorry to hear about your experience in my country. I bet you'll find yourself more at ease in Calabria. Lamezia Terme is not far from Riace that has become a light in the dark: the mayor has welcomed migrants in his almost extinct village who now live and work there perfectly integrated. Riace has become a model for integration, well known all over the world. A model, I'm afraid, now opposed by our last government.
I am very sorry for what happened to her, unlikely to all of you in a short space of time. In my opinion it is more unfortunate coincidence what has happened to Italy. I admit that there are tensions because of the many immigrants who land continuously on our shores, and many of them with few good intentions but we are not all like that. Do you think that in a country of Calabria, if I'm not mistaken, they wanted to take away from a village of immigrants who had integrated very well, the elderly women treated them as children, and there was a revolt by citizens to keep them with them. As I repeat, WE ARE NOT ALL THINGS, and it hurts to read comments here that consider us as Nazis. Come back to visit our country, you will see that his wound will heal, and he will love it like millions of tourists in the world, of any ethnic group. A strong and sincere hug from Italy.
Ps. She is very beautiful.
(Excuse me for using the automatic translator)
1
I am truly and deeply sorry for what happened to you back in my home country.
Unfortunatly, especially north Italy as a big issue with racial problems, in some part of the North they also have problems accepting italians from the south part of Italy.
The economic and social situation is getting worse and with this "yellowgreen" government i am not going to lie to you is even worse from when you were there 5 years ago, because all those razist people feel themselves legitimate to show their razism anger.
You will go in Calabria for a wedding and you might experience a totally different situation becuse you are one of the friends invited to the wedding. What you might experience is a very warmth and welcoming atmoshpere since people will be prepared to expect you there and because they will know you are "americana" they could make you changethefeelimg you had 5 yeara ago
As italian, I AM SORRY.
4
I'm sorry that happened to you, Ms Phillip. In this moment in Italy it is a difficult time to have a good relation with "others", because we have immigration that it is a politically problem for a lot not intelligent people, just works in political parties...
1
I'm sorry that happened to you, sister. This story is interesting because it's "common knowledge" among black women in the US that "Italian men love black women." The story of your friend marrying an Italian is something that also happened to a black female friend of mine while studying abroad in Italy. I spent about a week in Italy when I was in high school and never had any problems - but then again, I am very light skinned (think caramel) and don't look African, even though I am clearly black. Haven't been back to Italy since then but I would like to...I wonder if my experience would be different now.
1
As an Italian living in the USA I am not surprised and am saddened by Ms Phillip experience. I traveled two years ago with my granddaughter and her African American friend, and possibly because she was with me she only received compliments and yes, sometimes Michelle Obama was said but my we all considered that a compliment to her beauty and nothing more! Yes many Italians are openly racist as anyone who sees how many great African football players have been treated and insulted as they play, and this has happened long before African immigrants arrived in great numbers! But then sadly enough, Americans are also racist , but their expression of racism is more nuanced and not as blatant.
1
Oh dear, I wish you a successful recovery from this trauma.
I had an Italian colleague. He was around 29 and couldn't really speak proper English, yet he came to the UK to work as a software engineer (thanks to the EU). I'm myself a non-European living in the UK and have never experienced a single incident of racism here. I remember every time we had a conversation he'd bring up the immigration topic, and how much immigrants have damaged the Italian economy (the Irony is that he himself was technically an immigrant in the UK). He used to make a lot of racist comments about immigrants in front of me. For instance, one night I was driving him to his home, a pedestrian jumped out onto the road, and he made a comment like "stupid black". Anyway, my only wish is that like minded people like him are a handful in Italy.
3
Well, this was a disheartening read. I love to travel, but I've heard about issues in Spain (more Madrid than Barcelona), and I've read about issues in Italy. I thought Portugal was relatively safe. As much as I want to see the world, I will limit my travel if need be or hire white people to travel with me for safety.
2
@nyc-writer. Why do you bring up color of skin? Where does racism start? With the division of people in terms of skin (color). Do you see the problem? Since you decided to use 'white people' in your world there are two groups of people: whites en non-whites. There are no such groups in mine, only people.
@nyc-writer. Who are white? Who are non-white?
@Paul. That is super awesome for you. Unfortunately, the bigots she might encounter still see color so if she thinks she will be safer with some white friends then that is her choice. Generally, I am unsure of why people think the right way to avoid the issue of race is to “not see race”. There is nothing wrong with seeing a person’s race or ethnicity. I am proud to be black. Refusing to see someone’s color or race erases their culture and the history (good and bad) that got them to where they are today. I know people mean well when they say this, but not seeing race does not make you less racist. In fact, it can lead to some true ridiculousness (ex. All the people that thought racism was over because Barack Obama was elected president). As a black woman, I don’t want you to not see my blackness, I want you to see that my blackness is just as appropriate in society as is whiteness and it should be afforded all of the rights, privileges, mercies, and opportunities that a person considered white receives.
15
I'm so sorry for the ugly things people did to Ms. Phillip in Italy. What a lot of hate she has had to endure. It's not right. Thank you for publishing her essay, she is brave to recount incidences that were so painful for her so that we can learn how to be better people to one another. I think it would be helpful to include a "tips" box after this kind of essay. It could detail what to do if you witness someone being treated unfairly. How to assess the situation and how to intervene. Help us come to the defense of others and show that it's not OK to treat a fellow human so cruelly.
5
Thank you for sharing this deeply upsetting story, which should lead any Italian to feel ashamed of their country and fellow Italians who behave in such a disgraceful way. As an Italian who has lived outside of Italy for 27 years I would like to deeply apologise on behalf of my fellow Italians for their racist behaviour, if my apologies can has any healing value at all. I know all too well that the combination of racism and machismo in Italy has an especially toxic, archaic flavour, and that our conversations on respect of diversity are vastly behind those in the USA (where I lived for several years). The sadly ironic thing is that many Italians, back in the 70s and 80s, used to march against racism in the USA and support boycotting South Africa as a racist regime, feeling smugly superior to racists in those countries. Where are all those idealistic people now? Sadly, many of them now vote for Lega Nord or the populist Movimento 5 Stelle. It was easy for them to criticise racism in other countries when Italy used to be a more or less homogeneously white country, but now that we have the opportunity of celebrating the richness of diversity, widespread popular sentiment in Italy instead retreats into flat-out racism. We are regressing as a nation, instead of progressing. Italians should remember what happened the last time they supported racism and white-supremacy in the 1930's, because it did not end up very well for Italy.
8
I just want to say that lots of times when one encounters a racist or any other negative attitude it is because of a fear on the part of the aggressor.
Having said that, getting beer thrown at you is not pleasant. I'm sorry this happened to Nicole.
I'm an African American male; I was a product manager in the computer hardware business in the 1985-1987 time-frame and had meetings with an Italian Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) named Olivetti in northern Italy (Ivrea, Scarmano) twelve to thirteen times. I found all of the Italian people to be very friendly and thoroughly enjoyed my encounters both professionally and socially. In 1998, when my spouse, 5 year old son and I were doing a driving vacation across southern Europe, my African American wife was treated exceptionally bad as we traveled in Spain and Portugal. Apparently, northern African immigrants had come to the countries and the men & women were treating women-of-color as if they were all prostitutes. We learned this from a British couple we met in Seville. My wife had unpleasant encounters in retail stores, parks and on the street. We were driving west to east, so it was a big relief when we were leaving Spain and entering Italy. As a matter of fact, we had a great time in Italy, but we stayed in the north and did not travel south. I wonder if there is a significant difference in how a person of color was/is treated between the north and south of Italy?
5
@SDK There is, Palermo, for example is well kown to be a multicultural city
@SDK Hi, I'm an italian boy born in the south but grew up in the north. In the time you were in Italy with your family the racists were more focused against the southern italians like me and my family instead of the black people. In this way the old Lega Nord's (*league North) politicians token a lot of votes by the racists of the north. Now with Matteo Salvini they change the enemies from the people of the south to the immigrants. This guy after years of insults against southern italians simply removed the "north" world in the name's party and suddenly take a lot of votes from the south too becoming the biggest party in Italy (polls agree that they are the first party with more than 30%). Changing the name and the enemies this party gathered all the racists from north to south in one place. Mostly of them, however, are still situated in the north. Now is really normal here listen sad worlds against black people, because every time something racist happens in name of Salvini's party he never take distance but simply move the attention toward something else. Often toward an immigrant recent crime. In this way all italian racists feel strong because their "minister" think like them. My South American wife is not so white and often in the north she feel not safe going around with our son without me on her side. A disgusted look on the street is enough to ruin a day and she is almost white. I can't even figure out what black people are living in my country. I'm really sad...
1
@Marco this is so true. I worked in Sicily for years and as an American white woman, often heard northern Italians express awful, racists statements, of unbelievable vehemence and ignorance, toward southern Italians. Very sad.
1
Ms Philip I would love to hear about your follow-up trip to Italy for your friend's wedding, if you care to write about it. Your perceptions are very valuable.
6
When I was thirty, I spent three weeks in Rome with my future husband. While he went to meetings during the day, I explored the city with my camera’s. I hated traveling on public transportation, sitting in a park, having a gelato...because of the unwanted male attention.
Since then we have visited all of Italy. As a white couple we were unaware of racism in Italy. Thank you to Ms. Phillip for sharing her experience. I would not have known of their racism without her opening my eyes. I will avoid Italy in the future. I’m so disappointed to hear they suffer the same disease as so many people who choose not to value all people.
3
Try traveling around North Asia. Racism there is far more endemic than it is in the US.
2
Italy has some serious problems with racism. As a young man in the early ‘90s I lived there for a year, and became friends with some Tamil refugees who lived in Rome. I heard from them of many ugly incidents, and their most fervent wish was to make it to the USA or Canada or, failing that, to the UK - all English-speaking countries (the first two built by immigrants and the last heterogeneous enough as a result of empire).
The experiences of my friends, plus hearing the way Italians spoke of nonwhite foreigners - a lot of casual racism, opened my eyes. I am white, and had had till then a completely romantic view of Italy as a perfect society that balanced capitalism with community. The reality: nonwhites in Italy live at the absolute margins of society with almost zero chance for them or their descendants to leave the margins.
Italy is no paradise. The writer’s experiences don’t surprise me in the least. I am sorry for her. My own experiences in Italy made me appreciate heterogeneous societies.
10
@Paul H S Racism is about assuming people are all the same just because they are of the same color, on a very basic level. You're doing exactly this by saying Italy and italians. Italy is no paradise and it's no hell either and not everyone of us is racist, of course.
"The reality: nonwhites in Italy live at the absolute margins of society with almost zero chance for them or their descendants to leave the margins", they do, I agree with you but it's been not long since we've experienced immigration, we're talking about years, not centuries, as in your case, so we probably just need time to adjust. I want to remain optimistic, if you let me, because it really hurts to hear Italy and italians are racist: I'm not and most of the people I know are not either. In the last years, especially in the last months, with the new government, racism has definitely become a serious issue in my country. We're fighting though and we will not stop.
I studied in Andalusia, Spain, in the mid-90s. I’m Filipino American, a descendant of a former Spanish colony, and look typically SE Asian. I spent over a year there, and every time I’d introduce myself to a Spaniard, without exception, I’d be met with a “¿Como es posible?”, as in how is it possible that someone with my physiology could have a Spanish name. "¿Como es posible?”. I also learned to speak Spanish fluently, which really threw people off, which even drew a few “no es posible”s. Walking down the street, I’d constantly be called “chino”, even though I wasn’t Chinese. It was completely maddening. On the other hand, I did have an amazing year and a half there and lived in a neighborhood with old, narrow Arab streets, partied a great deal with Spaniards as well as many exchange students from the USA and Europe, and met a lot of great locals from Spain and Morocco (where many immigrants to Spain came from and who also didn’t question my right to my own name). Still, sadly, at the end of the day, I don’t feel like I really “own” Spanish because I felt reminded on a daily basis that it didn’t belong to me. Which is ironic, because now that I’m in New York City, many Dominicans and Mexicans think I’m one of them.
7
Manuel, sadly most of today's Spanish conveniently ignore their own history. As a result they don't know the Philippines was a Spanish colony until
the Spanish-American War, when Spain got kicked out of the Philipines, Guam, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. And about 80 years earlier they lost their possessions from Mexico to Argentina. Imagine the attitudes if they had maintained their colonias.
1
Nicole, after reading this all I wanted to do was give you a big hug.
6
Sad to hear a person in this day and age has to be hurt by people like this due to their skin color. Will we ever run out of ignorant people in this world? So sorry for you Nicole. No person should have to experience even a moment of what you did. Always keep in mind that you are a much better person than those who assault you outwardly and who harbor feelings about people due to their skin color.
4
Even as a white man I learned during four years residence in Europe (and traveling to the other parts) that Americans are probably the least racist people in the world.
12
@acule does Pittsburgh ring a bell ??
Thanks for sharing a personal experience. Sorry that you had to experience such racist behavior. Offense is the best defense. Perhaps if you had yelled in American English, is it possible that the racists would have been taken aback, and realized that you were not an illegal immigrant?
That doesn’t make it any better—why should an American be treated any better than an African immigrant?
6
I believe it's impossible for a white person to fully understand how uncomfortable it is to be a person of color in a country which is mostly white.
22
@R. Anderson Yet paradoxically White nations are pretty much the safest in the world. The only non-White nations of comparable safety are the likes of Japan or Taiwan. So what takes precedence, comfort or safety?
My casual observation while living both in Spain and Italy is that many Latin men are attracted to black women. I notice black woman in either country have no problem finding a boyfriend.
Perhaps the huge number of Africans immigrants has created resentment in Italy. The average Italian has a difficult time... jobs are few... money is scarce... Blame the immigrants..
3
One thing is to be attracted to black women, it is completely different to treat them with so much scorn and disrespect, especially when they reject sexual advances from drunks. No Italian or Spanish woman that I know would put up with such treatment, no way. The Spanish are not much different from the Italians, and that has nothing to do with the recent waves of immigrants. The Spanish have had a big problem with black people since the days of the "Reconquista", a period in history where the white Spanish waged war against the Moors. Even today it is an insult to call someone a "Moro". What is clear is that outside the U.S. dark-skinned AmerIcan citizens don't have the same level of legal protection against personal assault based on skin color. It is sad, but visiting Italy and Spain is ok, but I wouldn't want to live there.
4
In the eighties I travelled through Greece with my boyfriend who was from Surinam and of African descent. It was horrible. Wherever we went we heard two words: "mavros" ('Moor', 'black man') and "putana" ('whore'). (That was me, for being with him.) At least, people did not get violent, but it shook us up badly.
8
I am an old white guy of Italian descent. I am so far from black issues. I heard recently a black mam say," I am not a black man." A simple statement that invited me to take him just as a "man." At his invitation I could perceive him as just a man like me with all the trials and tribulations that comes with. as just another guy on the bus trying to get home.
That gave me a new way to think about people different from me. Gave me a chance to look behind the race or color or other barrier that kept them separate from me.
7
Newsflash: Humans are horrible bigots - all over the world! This is why it’s so frustrating the degree to which the US news media fixates on domestic racial dysfunction. We are vastly more diverse and integrated than any other nation, living largely in peace - and would do well to occasionally pat ourselves on the back for it, rather than pathologically dwelling on the negative. This paper has developed an addiction to personal victimhood narratives that serve no constructive purpose and in fact may be serving to perpetuate bigoted behavior by amplifying it.
7
" We are vastly more diverse and integrated than any other nation, living largely in peace ".
USA : In 2013, a record-high 12% of newlyweds married someone of a different race, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of census data.
In 2015, mixed marriages were about 27% of unions: 75,800 out of the 282,600 unions celebrated in France or abroad.
1
@Johnny
Quite agree that we'd "do well to occasionally pat ourselves on the back", but personal victimhood narratives and public dissent and discourse is how we arrive at being able to pat ourselves on the back. No addiction there, Johnny.
Sadly I believe all of it. My (white) sister worked for FAO in Rome and shared an apartment with a (black) Senegalese colleague and friend. Guess which of them was stopped (fairly frequently) by the police and asked for her ID? And this was years before the recent migrant situation.
5
I read your painful memories. I think about what unwanted word or deed can/ will occur, which shouldn't, to the Global NYU SW students which I and my NYU,female co-teacher will teach, learn from, and tour with during 9 intensive days in Tel Aviv, and 1 in Jerusalem in January. This is our 4th year.There have been a range of impacts in the past.Not only from "natives" towards foreigners of various "shades," shapes, sizes, genders, etc. The shades and taudry-textures of acculturated RACISM, ingested by ALL of US; experienced and expressed even by the SW students seemed to be endless. Not easily "immunizable!"The "stranger" is inherently vulnerable. Everywhere. Some places more than others. "Classic reality's" dimensions of interacting: uncertainties, unpredictabilities, randomness, lack of total control notwithstanding the types, levels and qualities of our relevant/irrelevant efforts,- ourselves and with others- needed to be addended.A toxic WE-THEY culture, enables
/fosters VIOLATING, by harmful words, looks,deeds, and more, the creating, selected and targeted of "the other(s)." Which you, as a nameless-non-entity BECAME. A WHO, temporarily, or more permanently, disempowered. Dehumanized Marginalized. Stigmatized. Excluded. In so many visible as well as hidden ways.Primo Levi, the Italian author-Holocaust survivor, introduced "unnecessary pains" to describe and try to understand the dynamics of enabled willful blindness, deafness, ignorance and silence about complicity.
Yes, racial and national bigotry exists and has existed, every where, in the world. After a semester of travel under your belt, I would expect the positive experiences outweighed the negative ones. The real learning occurs dealing with a narrow minded point of view.
2
Your Italian experience is no surprise to me, having ruled out Italy as my espatriate destination due to this kind of narrow minded and prejudicial attitude.
During the fifteen years I’ve spent in France I have not observed this kind of primitive behavior nor have I seen the arrogance and self importance I found with many Italians. In past years many French women have adopted African infants who were orphans with no prospects.
I’m sorry you were treated that way and encourage you to closely scrutinize any other country or community before committing to a move. I say this because I encourage you to seek out another country to get away from America and Trumpism.
Some of the most enlightened and least prejudiced countries include those in Scandinavia so you may wish to explore an extended stay in those English speaking communities and reinvent yourself as a new generation of African Americans expatriate.
Whatever you do, please don’t sell yourself short or deny yourself the opportunity to try for a new more enlightened life away from the American culture!
4
Of course, the concept/definition of racism is not universal. In devolved America, the social construct of racism is understood largely as animus towards other races. Outside America, blacks are still largely considered undesirable, to be avoided by non black people and society. While this may be disconcerting, it is the way the world is. Like most things in this life, there is no ready solution to the life's vagaries. Perhaps American blacks could be better served by avoiding contact with non blacks, especially when venturing abroad..
1
Racism is rampant in Italy. I believe the writer, and I can only imagine the feeling of anger and humiliation she felt at the hands of the local drunk Lothario. A big part of the problem is that the various organizations that make money out of American students desire for a cultural immersion don't pressure Italian schools to fully investigate and prosecute these cases.
As an American Army officer (not African-American) I have seen cases like this one in Aviano, Vincenza, Sigonella, Naples, et., etc. But also in Rome, Bari, Milano and Genoa. If an African American servicemen or servicewoman, or an unlucky tourist, ventures outside the American enclaves, she or he is sure to find provocations, insults and other forms of disrespect from Italians who feel superior to anybody of color. And in spite of complaints to the local police, nothing gets done and the local thugs, many known to the local cops, feel free continue with their aggressions. The local cops blame it on Albanians, Serbians or other white skinned foreigners in Italy. In the mind of the affable cops no good Italian is capable of violence against non-whites. Sure, the recent arrival of so many refugees from outside Italy has exacerbated an already existing problem, but the negative attitudes toward non-whites has been there for a long time.
So a word to the wise: if you want an Italian culture immersion, go to your local museum, read The Divine Comedy, watch Italian realism movies. And read Giovanni Verga.
13
I am sorry, and ashamed. I grew up in Italy but left 30 years ago, and I am now a naturalized Swiss. Racism existed in Italy in my youth, and I am not even sure that it worsened in the meantime. What has changed, is that racism is now in the open, public, unashamed, and socially accepted. And that is the awful legacy of Forza Italia, Lega, and M5s.
7
@Swiss molecular neuroscientist. Why should you be ashamed? You have no responsability for other adults.
Italians can be odd ducks. Not all are worldly, highly educated and comopolitan and thus some Italians can be down right rude. For example they can loudly target their victims by speaking in a loud voice proclaiming what they percieve that person to be. The point for some unknown reason that this occurs, is to single out, humiliate their target at a distance or utter some false attention getting proclaimation - typically this occurs in a big public area like in a market place. Italians have fierce loyalties to their region and are highly dismissive of Italians who they encounter that are from other regions even other EU countries. There is North / South divide that stirs up resentment and hostility towards each other and it it quite apparent in well worn tourist areas. Yes, it's true about racisism and sexism in Italy
1
Broad strokes, Johnny. What are your personal experiences in Italy?
1
Now you have something to compare to. So which is worse - “racism” in the US racism in Italy? Do people in the States openly taunt/mock/degrade you for your skin color? I doubt it. That you were shocked by the racist Italian behavior, I think it’s safe to say things are much, much better in the US. Everyone American who cries “racism” should spend some time in Italy.
3
I'm sorry you had to go through this. I frankly don't want to travel any more. I've had unpleasant experiences in Italy and other parts of Europe, where I was literally manhandled (I dug my nails in one guy's hand, luckily he didn't respond), and people refused to serve me because I was a woman alone - older, ugly, and priggishly dressed, but that didn't seem to matter. Someone should remind Italians of the racism they used to experience in this country, including an "N" painted on an Italian-American's door.
2
I am sorry to hear of your horrible experience in Italy. However, speaking as a traveler and another woman of color I am not surprised.
I’d been a Francophile since I was 12 and had saved up for my year abroad education for a long time. My first French experience was less than I had hoped for. A few decades before you, I left for France intending to spend a year abroad in Besançon through SUNY New Paltz. What I found was local racism and sexism that was incredibly hard to tolerate. On the first day of my phonetics class for Americans, our instructor attempted to kick me out because “this is a class for Americans”. She said, the class for foreigners “everyone else” was next door. When I proceeded to tell her that I am American, she was still confused and refused to believe me. It wasn’t until my friends in class backed me up that she allowed me (an Asian American) to stay in the class. This and other humiliating and violent experiences created a challenging and hostile atmosphere for me. I kept it all to myself since as my 19 year old self, I didn’t have the voice to protect myself or articulate my experience. I am happy that you have a voice and are able to share your experience.
9
Two years ago, on a train from the Netherlands into Germany, I was shocked when border guards came down the aisle, requesting documents from all black passengers, and no others. It was blatant. A black/white American gay couple received especially rude treatment.
Then last year, entering Canada by train, my husband and I (both male) were taken aside for extra questioning. Waiting in the interrogation room, it was hard not to notice that virtually everyone in the room appeared to be gay men; mostly couples. Out of about 20 people, there was literally not a single female. When we were called for questioning, the first question was "What is your relationship?" When I said we were married (legal in Canada), it drew what I thought was a disapproving look.
Clearly even the most advanced countries still have a lot of work to do.
4
@Jomo Interracial gay couple - Had the car taken apart (literally door panels came off) getting on the ferry in Greece and then were the only car pulled to the side as we got off in Italy.
1
I’ve spent a good deal of time in Italy, and I have made lifelong friends there, good people, open-minded people who would not support such behavior. At the same time I’ve observed a deep conservatism which is at the foundation of this beautiful country; a history of distrust between cities that goes back centuries, north vs. south, a lingering anti-semitism and a culture that is defiantly mysoginistic. So, I am not surprised but still saddened by this woman’s experience. There are those in Italy who are open to a multi-cultural world and, indeed, will need to accept one as the world continues to change. I’ve know numerous Italians who would be unhesitant to welcome the writer into there homes and lives. Perhaps someday the situation in Italy will improve; as we Americans know its a long, painful struggle to accept “the other”.
3
Having lived in the USA and in France, I have been puzzled by different behaviors of the white majority towards the black minorities in both countries.
In the USA, racism is an acknowledged issue and equal opportunity laws try to fight it, with partial success. American bread successful black people do exist and may be found at any level of achievement. Conversely, the shooting of black people by police is routine, business as usual.
In France, black minorities are usually found in the poor suburbs of big cities. The possibility that we could elect a black president is close to null. However, in France, black people are not fair game for the police.
I suspect that the mobility of the American society allows the emergence of black excellence and that our extremely conservative French society does not.
Maybe the police shootings in the USA reflect the reaction of uneducated, well armed white people who feel scared by this emergence.
8
Wow. Read this in the physical paper and had to come online to say thanks for writing this. Hopefully bringing these experiences in the daylight will one day reduce them for others. Thanks again for showing me through your eyes.
3
It's my belief that many study-abroad programs do not protect their students properly, including frank discussions of attitudes towards race and sexuality. Universities are anxious to fill their rosters and turn a blind eye to cultural differences which will impact on students. Study-abroad programs would be well served to form a national organization that can provide students with the reality of the cultures they are moving into as well as making demands of the host countries. The PeaceCorps dealt with these issues a half century ago and it might be useful for present-day programs to re-visit their experience.
3
I was an art history major in college and loved learning the history of Europe, especially Italy. I am African American and landed in Rome during the week of Pope John Paul's Funeral in April, 2005. My Italian American partner and I were walking down a generic sidewalk. He happened to be carrying my backpack in front of me, I opened it up to put my camera in it and all of a sudden I heard this woman in Italian yelling. Not knowing a lick of Italian at that time, I ignored her ranting. However, once I heard africano, I knew it was about me since I was the only one of color on the sidewalk at the time. My partner, to this day, would not tell me what she said but I surely knew it wasn't positive. He told the woman, "he was with me"and that was the end of it. This was within the first 2 hours of our vacation and I was floored hoping that this wouldn't set the tone and ruin our trip. I had longed to see that beautiful country for years and for someone to assume the worst of someone just by the color of their skin is just shameful. Luckily nothing else happened and was treated very well the rest of the time. We've been back three more times and each time has been that much better. We did see the change from 2005 to 2017 of the African population. Pretty significant, however, my high school classmate's sister who's returned to Italy mentioned that's it just not Africa but pretty much every other country looks to Italy to immigrate. Sad to see they're mirroring the US.
1
Humans posses a natural morality, empathy and altruism developed through thousands of years of evolution. But, that natural morality only extends to our own tribe not to the Other. The empathy that we feel for a stranger doesn't come naturally and must be taught. When a lawyer asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor," Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan. He knew that kindness toward strangers is something that most humans don't posses naturally, so he taught them.
1
I had the exact same experience as an Asian American woman studying abroad in the south of France (Aix-en-Provence).
Same highly anticipated semester abroad, same dissimilar experiences for my white classmates.
Only it manifested as constant, public, sometimes physically accosting sexual harassment... At times it involved a demand to know where I came from because the answer "America" was impossible to them. (Always with an attitude of me owing them an answer they could be satisfied with, and them not relenting until they were.) I couldn't walk down a street without being accosted.
Most disturbingly, the sexual harrassment always always always had to do with my race. It was disgusting. And it made me appreciate political correctness for what it is--not an attempt to change people's minds, but a way to allow those who are marked to live their lives in peace.
I came back completely scarred. And angry.
So sad we had to have these unfortunate experiences that ruined our semesters abroad and couldn't have the carefree, life changing semesters we hoped for and that others were able to have.
(Never had a similar issue in Paris. Also thought it might be due to it being more cosmopolitan.)
Thank you for sharing your story. Makes me (and I'm sure others) feel less alone.
8
@Angered and Saddened, I am not surprised by your experience.
I am American, but used to live in the southern part of France. I had many bad experiences. I am sorry for your experience and I am not even French.
Many thanks for sharing your experience and good for you for getting through it.
But I was surprised to read this: "Before I landed in Italy, I was unaware of the growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the country, a main entry point for migrants into Europe [....]/politics/issues/etc.
Stories about this have been running for months (years?) in the European and US press.
So, frankly, *you should have been* aware of that context and those issues, either through your own individual reading and research, or through your professors' reading lists and classroom discussions (?).
Spending a semester or year abroad is a big investment. It can be a huge and life-changing experience.
Taking the time to learn about the environment you'll be living is part of the deal. At the very least it will help you process the situations you run into and keep you safer.
4
With complacence we sometimes assume that the human experience, sugarcoated in our western isolated democracies, is on a linear path to greater forms of acceptance and enlightened attitudes. Many look back with shock and bemused superiority to the racist and homophobic norms of the recent past in North America and abroad and somehow smugly think that thier parents and grandparents sacrifice to vanquish fascism and race-based genocide in Europe and Asia settled the question. Yet here we are, the old evils manifesting across the globe with a growing frequency and intensity and in a climate that does not allow us the delusion that such things are merely isolated to the ignorant few. Yet no truer then as it is now is that for evil to triumph, all that is necessary is for good men and women to do nothing. Ms. Phillip deserves our gratitude for sharing her painful experience so compellingly. Mine own as a middle aged caucasian man with education and position (on my several trips to Italy) was much different. Looking at it though her painful experience is invaluable and the telling of the story is doing much.
1
Thoughtful, not merely aggrieved. The only way through the fear and hostility is being self aware and increasing awareness among others. This demands patience, which does not always feel fair, but it is a human responsibility at a time of worsening human rights crisis around the world. Lets not just point fingers, or apply labels, but use our resources, time and creativity to build common understanding.
I’m am so sorry that Ms Phillips had such a horrible experiences while studying abroad.
There was a time when I thought Europe was so far ahead of us in accepting people of different races. I was shocked when in the mid 1990s, while dining at a restaurant in Positano, Italy, 2 women were denied a table because of their race. They were told no room, so my husband and I invited them to sit with us. They graciously declined, after all why spend money at such a place. It was an ugly end to our lunch and we left as soon as we finished our entree. I’ve never forgotten the incident.
5
So many saying “it wasn’t about your race” or “Italians are just like this because they’re tired of immigrants - it’s not personal!” WRONG. 1) It is racist to make generalized assumptions about someone solely based on their race. Yelling out the names of other black women is not complimentary but a blatant way of calling out the author’s blackness in shorthand. Why is that bad? Because it’s reductive — she is an individual, not a placeholder for just any person who shares her same race. If an Italian traveled to America and I yelled out “DeNiro! Pacino! Versace!” I don’t think Italians would love it, because it’s insulting. 2) Italians can feel whatever resentment they want to feel about immigration of other nationalities and ethnicities of black and brown people to their country, but the author’s experience was specific to her blackness and specific to her. It’s not negated because Italians direct their virulent racism and/or willful ignorance at other races, too. 3) Maybe Italians are mad about immigration, but I’m sure Ethiopia and other East Africans didn’t love the forced and oppressive occupation by Italians in their country. Funny how they feel their way of life and economic prosperity are in peril due to immigration after pillaging another (black) country’s wealth and resources for themselves for years.
110
@Vanessa Moses: Suppose I encounter an Italian tourist, my jaw drops, and I say, "Oh my gosh! It's Riccardo Muti!" What do you think the tourist is going to think?
2
@Vanessa Moses
"It is racist to make generalized assumptions about someone solely based on their race. "
Vanessa - we are primates, and as such our brains are wired make assumptions about everything and everybody based on our experience. If someone is mugged by a "blue-colored" person he/she will always be careful and fearful when meeting blue-colored people. Some, unfortunately, see racism under every rock. I have been to countless places where kids would scream the names of top footballers or movie stars. Did I or my friends consider this racist? Please! I think this uber-sensitivity is a form of aggression that is destroying civil (and civic) discourse.
"the author’s experience was specific to her blackness"..... Like it or not, people who meet us for the first time do not see us but rather a symbol (of our country, sex, status etc). People who do not realize this probably should not travel around the world.
As for Ms. Phillip, I blame the NYU administrators who clearly have not adequately prepared her for the summer school. This is pure incompetence.
4
@Vanessa Moses
FIRE!
1
As an American Jew in France temporarily, I can say that Americans, myself included, may come here assuming the U.S. is a country full of unenlightened rubes, while the rest of the world is enlightened and cultured. Not at all true. There are progressive and ignorant people everywhere, and perhaps more so in countries that haven’t integrated so many different immigrant groups into their population in so relatively quick a period as the U.S. has. It’s worth thinking of this when we need a reminder for why our country and its values are still worth fighting for.
73
@Helene,
As a European, I can only agree. The US has come a long way, compared to Europe and the rest of the world. Americans should understand that, without complaisance. However, the American experience also includes lessons to be learned by the rest of the world. One important lesson is about political correctness. This has shown itself to be a dangerous path, destructive of basic liberal values. It's a well-meaning temptation, a shining non-solution that needs to be rejected, forcefully. We have to progress by other means. But frankly, it's not going too well at the moment. Not in Italy, nor in the rest of Europe.
2
I grew up in SoCal, went to college in the east coast, and did a semester abroad in central London. One night, my friend and I were walking home after watching a movie, when we heard a car screeching toward our direction. We ignored it until suddenly someone in the car screamed “NIHAO” and threw an open bottle of water at us. I am of another East Asian background, but the people in the car didn’t care. It hit my friend and the water also splashed over the both of us. The passengers and driver sped off, laughing uproariously. I had never felt this humiliated before, based on how I looked. I didn’t report this incident to my study abroad program, because I couldn’t process the words to say what happened to my friend and me. Needless to say, it has stayed with me ever since. It wasn’t my first experience with racism and it certainly wasn’t the last, but I still think of it as the worst one, even though it happened almost ten years ago. There were many random acts of kindness from other Londoners, and so my positive first impression of the city and its inhabitants has stayed the same, but I can’t imagine how I would’ve turned out if things like what happened to the author of this piece kept happening to me. Hopefully things will go better for her this visit.
28
Did the author consider that the "screamer" may well have had mental issues? To me that would explain the behavior. The other instances just go to show that as Dorothy said: There's no place like hime.
4
@The Doc
Did The Doc consider that the problem was more a moral issue than mental?
4
Such a sad painful essay. My sympathies to Ms. Phillip for what she faced. Our world has a long way to go.
24
The world is a fragile place. Sometimes we have to leave home to realize this. But what keeps hope alive is that the good must confront evil at every turn. Silence is rarely the answer.
This experience while not desired will benefit your character and your support of others many years from now.
Don't let the pain swallow you up. I have been there. You can persevere and amplify who you are.
14
As a young white 21 year old I studied abroad in Europe and had a life changing, wonderful time. It breaks my heart to know that another young woman’s experience was much less positive simply due to her ethnicity. I am so sorry. Thank you for sharing this eye opening story.
28
As someone whose paternal grandparents were born in the Province of Lucca, I am saddened by your account.
Many thanks for sharing your painful experience.
I am sorry these things happened to you.
18
Your identity as "someone whose paternal grandparents were born in the Province of Lucca" seems irrelevant- that differentiates you from exactly nobody in the Northeast (I think 70% of New Jersey is more Italian than that) and provides no insight or authority to comment. It is at best a banal throwaway, at worst some New-York-Timesy way of playing pseudointellectual identity politics. We see so much if it on these comments pages "As a black female..." "As a white male..." "As someone who grew up cis in Connecticut..."
It's vacuous and somewhat irritating at best and more likely a destructive pattern of illogical identity bullying to gain persuasive leverage; I for one would like to see it stop (as someone who grew up in schools and in a family that encouraged critical thinking and the use of argumentation in debate)
1
@TJ In fact most contributions here are driven by critical thinking and are provided by independent thinkers and highly educated readers. Comparing one's identity with that of the writer as a starting point for commenting has a name: it's called empathy, and maybe the person who posted the comment above should read up on it and try to learn it. The poster might find out that empathy is enlightening.
2
@In medio stat virtus
Thanks.
I am 100% sure that this would not have happened 20 years ago. Italy in many ways it has never become a unified, united country - it's still largely a collection of local city states and people act as locals whose way of life is changing due to inundation by millions of illegal migrants. The Nigerian mafia in particular runs prostitution, smuggling and other rackets (often paying dues to mafia outfits) and the locals see young African women as "loose" not because of racism but because of everyday experience. I've seen similar local reactions in Harajuku, Tokyo, where Nigerians have (often deserved) reputation as pimps.
Ms. Phillip was therefore a victim of shifting cultural attitudes. I predict once Italians stop feeling they being invaded, the (horrible, inexcusable) treatment of "the other" will end. But now Italians seem to see little hope that they can get back their old ways of life, for which they blame the migrants and which is why they elected the Mussolini-lite characters that run the place. The only solution i see is to improve the conditions on the African continent (population explosion, dictatorships, environmental degradation).
18
As a study abroad student 22 years ago, I visited a few countries in Europe, including Italy. My friends and I experienced similar racism and disrespect to the degree that we was not motivated to go back there. Racism is a global and mental disease. It will only metastasize until it is treated as such.
22
@Kai ease up on the Mussolini like characters. I've just returned and can tell you that Italy is governed by an interesting coalition of left and right - Cinque Stelle and Lega Nord. A situation that I doubt is possible in the USA.
2
@Kai Italy is a beautiful country and well worth seeing, but I have to inform you that 20 years ago both my Asian American friend and I (also Asian American) experienced deep racism in Italy, and by Italians in other countries. For instance, people laughing while making "Asian eyes" with their fingers and mimicking Asian language, salespeople refusing to let my friend try on clothes at a store, being harassed by police simply for running to get back to our hostel before curfew, Italians becoming very uncomfortable when forced to socialize with us as equals, etc. That is not to say that all Italians were racist toward us, but we experienced enough racist attitudes from enough Italians to both conclude that there was generally more racism there than in other European countries.
The author is fortunate to have had her negative experiences limited in time and place. A good wakeup call, and all too necessary.
4
What an awful experience for a young girl. With Italy’s far-right populist government things are not likely to change.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/14/merde-alors-matteo-salvini...
27
@Sylvie
the far right government is a reflection of the people's opinions, not the other way around
14
Im black. Ive lived in Florence, with almost passable Italian. My family and I have visited Rome, Venice, Amalfi. My experiences spanning 40 years do not agree with the author’s. I’ve met rude Italians, and racially clueless Italians, and Italians who remember Mussolini fondly. I’ve read about racist Italians but not met any personally. In my experience Italians appreciate a good faith effort to speak their beautiful language, and are usually willing to share a laugh about other white Europeans (think brits and Germans) whose approach to not knowing Italian is to speak their own language loudly.
47
Italians are also usually willing to discuss the vagaries of their own dialects and to fiercely debate the meaning of: lingua toscana in bocca romana. Big differences in interpretation from Florence vs Rome. Indifference in amalfi and Venice. Get to know them.
4
@Rhporter. Having spent many years in Italy, including numerous times teaching American students, I am neither surprised by the writer's experiences nor convinced that the inexcusable behavior she encountered is confined to Italy. Italian men have long considered it appropriate to be aggressively sexist toward foreign women. Apparently, the growing number of visitors and immigrants of color seems to have made rudeness even more aggressive and more cruel, especially with what seems to be increasing xenophobia and fear of the other on a global level. Trump did not invent this degradation but he and his emulators in Britain, Italy, and Eastern Europe have nurtured it.
14
@Jon B
Not long ago, I used to live in a region in the south of France, as a person of color. It was a horrible experience, driving me to never want to set foot in the area for the rest of my life. Let us not forget that the far right in France has a strong following in the south.
7
Maybe all black people everywhere should call a general boycott on racist countries like Italy! And perhaps other places in Europe too! And Asia. They tend to be even more racist!
But then, isn't that kind of what they want? Wouldn't this just make them happier?
It's a paradox and a conundrum if there ever was one!
3
There are racists in every country. There are also people in every country who are not racists and who are appalled by the racist behavior of their compatriots.
35
Italy and Italians have to answer for Ethiopia. And for this too.
I have been to Florence, Rome, the Vatican and Venice. And while they knew I was not white nor Italian, they had no such problem with my chocolate colored wife. The slurs and catcalls were inhumane inhuman animal barbarian like.
Not unlike what we experienced in China or Japan or France or Germany or America. Unlike Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
9
I know that this is perhaps not the most important point given the topic of your essay, but I just wanted to compliment the essay itself. I thought that it was an interesting and exceptionally well written piece. I hope you keep writing, Nicole!
I am also glad that you made both Italian and American friends on your trip. I think that everyplace in the world (and all races) contains some mixture of open-minded, normal, and ignorant people.
17
I am an American of Pakistani descent, and I have had so many racist attacks on me in Europe that I never travel there. I'm not giving my hard earned money to countries that don't respect the value of a tourist dollar, and to societies that treat me like a dog.
143
Uh, yeah, Europeans are rabidly racist. They're pretty much bigots toward anybody who doesn't look and act exactly like them.
Look at the war that tore apart the former Yugoslavia. The various groups were all murdering each other, women and children included, and Europeans didn't bat an eye. They certainly didn't rush to involve themselves in keeping the peace.
Even in our own history, European immigrants were discriminatory: English and Germans against Italians and Irish. All of them against Slavic people from Eastern Europe. All of them against Jews. All of them against Chinese immigrants who came to build the railroads. All of them against Native Americans and Blacks. Now Hispanic/Latinos and Muslims.
The only common thread in all this is bigotry.
48
@Steve Acho during the Communist regime in the former Yugoslavia it was communism itself that kept the racism in check. Now, this is not an endorsement of Tito's communism AND those age old resentments of Muslim v. Christians in what is now Bosnia/Herzegovenia simmered under the surface. Once the former Yugoslavia became what it is now - those ancient hatreds took the form of what we call 'ethnic cleansing' and former neighbors slaughtered one another. Sadly, this is the human condition and it is ubiqutous everywhere on earth.
1
As a Greek-American (half Greek) I don't consider myself white, because the WASPs didn't consider us white. In the old days, in the UK and Australia, we were "wogs." At least they were honest about their feelings, and didn't mask them as real estate "steering."
The solipsism on display here is remarkable. It never happened to me in Italy, so it couldn't have happened to you... you brought it on ... get a grip on your attitude, it isn't that bad. Denial is a form of prejudice, not as over the top as beer in your face or racial assault certainly, but hardly subtle. The capacity to listen to another person's experience without inserting oneself into the narrative is not so hard to do - and it indicates how secure and emotionally developed we are.
464
@Siddhartha Banerjee - Thank you for this much needed comment and this much needed perspective.
16
@Siddhartha Banerjee
Your comment expressed what I was thinking and I learned a new word, solipsism.
20
I think a lot if it had to do with Florence. For whatever reasons; overwhelmed by tourists/migrants? Many of the locals exhibit the worst of human nature. Lamezia Terme is in Calabria. Get around, visit the surrounding villages, interact and keep an open mind. I believe you'll experience the true Italian "accoglienza" there.
8
@marinepro2 The bad experiences the writer describes happened to her in Florence and in the Cinque Terre. Being originally from Bologna myself, I do not buy it that Bolognesi are immune from such racist behaviour, although we would like to think so.
Sorry to hear about your bad experiences in Italy. Sadly, racism is a global phenomenon.
7
While I'm inclined to half-jokingly comment on the general rudeness of Florentines (they dislike everyone, not just people of colour), as an Italian from Rome, I have to say that I was surprised in reading about people being so actively violent and insulting, five years ago. I can easily imagine Italians being rude, like our "beloved" Berlusconi's comment on Obama being very tan, even when they are trying to be funny. But back then I wouldn't have thought think it would get to this! I'm so sorry for your experience, and I'm really angry for what happened to you in Liguria, especially that nobody defended you and your friend! Now, though, Italians are rediscovering their populist selves, that fascism wasn't so bad, and that people should stay in their country or else...! So when you come back, be very aware that things have changed for the worst. Fortunately you are going south, where people are much warmer, and I think you will have great time.
18
For those bringing up "learn the language," I have several white friends who navigated Italy for entire summers using only broken Spanish and English to communicate. Nicole's pursuits in Junior Year Abroad was to learn the language and the culture. Stop, already, with these base deflections about how knowing Italian is a prophylactic against racism in Florence.
43
@John
I agree and I wish that people would stop saying that. Learning French didn't inoculate me from racism experienced while living in France any more than being a native English speaker shielded me from racism while living in the USA.
If you are a non-native (but fluent) speaker who learned the language as an adult, you will likely carry an accent for the rest of your life. This accent is noticeable to native speakers and depending on their personality, they may treat you with respect or not.
1
I had the same experience with racism - albeit much worse and in Chicago - my hometown and birthplace - and not Italy, which I absolutely love and adore having had many great experiences traveling there, making many great friends and acquaintances in the process when I was in college too. But back to my Chicago experience. I had just moved from the suburbs to the northside of Chicago nearby Loyola University when one Sunday afternoon, I was accosted on the sidewalk near my apartment by a group of junior high school-aged black girls who were laughing and loitering near my buildimg. As I attempted to pass them with groceries in hand, they jumped in front of me trying to block my path. When I sidestepped out of their way, they encircled me and started shoving me as they hurled all kind of racial slurs and epithets at me. I quickly broke free of their encirclement and ran into my building, pulling the door tightly behind me as they continued to mock me while pulling their eyes with their fingers. The next day, of course, they were the ones who had the last laugh. The next morning, I found that the girls has broken into and thoroughly vandalized my Volvo 240DL they had seen me unload from the day before, as they cleaned out everything of value from my car.
I share my experience not to negate your unique experience, but simply to put your experience in perspective with some balance. In the absence of any evidence, not everyone is a "racist" and not everyone is a "victim."
38
@Hyun, of course it was to negate her experience, which is why you brought up your experiences in your hometown of Chicago. There was no claim that everyone is a racist. There was no need for your "balance."
34
@John - well, actually, there is.
2
@John Thank you.
2
Your piece reminded me of something I read by a famous Brazilian black singer called Seu Jorge. A few years ago I recall reading an interview with him ( In Portuguese probably ) about how the worst racism he experienced was in Italy. If I recall correctly he may have been there filming the Wes Anderson movie My Life Aquatic. When asked if that ( filming in Italy ) had been the greatest experience of his life, he said that the racism he experienced there was so awful that it really was quite the opposite. He said it was hard to understand how he was having such a remarkable and wonderful experience in the set and yet treated so badly on a day to day basis over there, at restaurants and walking around.
I am Brazilian and American too and in Brazil I am “white”. In the USA I am “latina” and in Italy I pass for one of them, I have light olive skin and dark hair. I speak Italian well and I can see traces of what you allude to.
Italians have an insular culture from town to town; each city has its own specific idioms and way of reinforcing boundaries something that isn’t immediately apparent to the average person. Italians are warm but not necessarily open.
Thank you for sharing.
24
To your point about Italians being “politically incorrect”: I was taking an advanced Italian class at Yale and the instructor, a highly educated Italian woman, who was a lovely person by the way, was explaining something and she had made a mistake and said “if my friends had seen me do this they would have called me “sottosviluppata” (= under developed, as in, under developed nation, third world), which meant “dumb” in the colloquialism. I didn’t care particularly it obviously was not personal, but it was telling. The idiom clearly indicated that among her friends, the consensus was that people from the third world were all dumb.
What I remember well was the reaction of the other students (Americans) in the class looking at me as if to shield me from it, knowing I was Brazilian, assuming I would be offended. Their expressions were “ooops sorry this one is “fresh off the boat” and not yet aware of the right manners”. This was a woman who was a visiting professor if I recall correctly. A faux pas that would have been a major no no had she been American, or teaching a class in English.
10
@Pop Bee: Since the purpose of the class was to teach you Italian, was it not entirely appropriate for the professor to tell you what her friends would have called her in that situation?
I wonder whether the Americans actually knew that the use of the term carried the implication that people from the third world are dumb. It is not obvious, on its face, that the term doesn't just mean "underdeveloped," and it could apply to people as well as countries. More likely, the Americans were seized by the spirit of political correctness, which assumes that anybody will be offended whether there are rational grounds for it or not.
6
@Pop Bee
I had the same experience in grad school at Princeton with an Italian visiting professor. I asked him a question to clarify something, and he started yelling at me.
People came up afterward and apologized for his behavior.
I spoke to a prof on the side about it, but I wish now I'd lodged a formal complaint.
This essay, and the comments, have been eye opening for me. I (Caucasian) am among many Americans who assumed Europe was more highly evolved than the U.S. on issues of tolerance. I feel paradoxically relieved and subdued at the same time. Relieved to realize that the idea of emigrating is a useless way to try to escape provincial ignorance, and subdued to realize that intolerance is so pervasive on a global scale. I’m just so sorry for this author and others with similar stories; I cannot begin to comprehend what life must be like as a persecuted minority, with no escape.
81
@Just Curious - Thank you for your expression of support & empathy! It was very well-said & I’ve not yet read a similar comment on this extensive thread.
7
I'm really sorry you had this experience but I am so glad that you are telling your story. Unfortunately, this isn't a new thing and more people should be talking about study abroad in a manner that discusses the issues of racism, sexism, etc that can be experienced.
I (a black woman) studied abroad in Italy myself over 10 years ago with a similar experience. I was in Bologna, which wasn't a touristy area, and was one of 2 black folks in my program. I was the only black person who couldn't pass for Italian. I had vile sexual things said to me on a daily basis, recieved threats of sexual assault, and was sexually assaulted. I tried to talk about my experience when I was there but wasn't believed by most folks (even the fellow black student who was there).
Keep telling your story. It's so important. I hear you. I believe you.
406
@anonymous - Wow! That was awful! I’m so sorry that you had such a wretched experience made even worse by, not only lack of support, but also disbelief! Thank you for sharing your experience - I imagine that it was painful to do so & I applaud your strength & bravery. I hope that time has healed your wounds somewhat & that the healing continues. I pray that God continues to bless you with His mercy & grace!
10
@anonymous
That was my Italian experience while black too.
16
Thank you for this searingly honest story of being “the other” — and trying to explain to readers what that feels like. Brave accounts such as this piece are our best hope to educate about our shared humanity and the pain of racism, reader comments about Americans students acting badly etc. have nothing to do with your experience as you know, it just reflects on their poor empathy. This essay goes far beyond Italy and much more is about how we fail to see the pain inflicted by degrading bias and it’s costs, it should make all of us more thoughtful and committed to seeing the human being In front of us not the ugly and hurtful stereotype of society.
19
What strikes me with this piece is that the author seems to be totally oblivious of the ordinary racism in her own country --- the one place where she's the most likely not only to encounter hostility but to be shot and killed because she's black (and where her killer may very well be a cop).
There's no doubt there's racism in every single country in the world. It's also true in Italy, which until fairly recently had been an emigration country rather than an immigration one, in the context the recent influx of black or arab people.
6
What many non-Americans from relatively homogenous countries do not understand is that America’s race/racism issues are so much more nuanced than being able to simplify it down to “your racism is worse because being black = you may get shot.” Our society is so incredibly diverse and—more importantly—so much more socially mobile than in places like Europe where you are still labeled an outsider despite being 3rd generation native-born. Here, we people of color are able to call out daily microagressions and injustices that many Europeans will still shrug their shoulders at and say, “What’s the big deal? It’s just a joke.” We have the voice to be outspoken and call out racism—even if there is a percentage of our society who insist we PoC are just overly-sensitive, decades of this voice have led to great strides: we are so much more “inter-“ than when I was a child in the 70s...interracial, multicultural, inter-religious unions are so much more natural here than in even the most multicultural European capitals, where race issues are still at a naive level. As read in a commentor way down the thread overheard an Italian say, we Americans will marry just anyone, and I think that is a beautiful thing.
25
@Brooklyneer
actually the data show that white foreign-born individuals in the U.S. (aka mostly Europeans) are MUCH MORE likely to marry a person who is NOT white compared to native-born White Americans ..
1
@F. B. I think you can safely assume that if the author has black skin in America she is not "oblivious of the ordinary racism in her own country". That simply wasn't her subject here.
4
This is very sad. A remarkable experience ruined by small-minded people. I've been Italy many times and loved it. But I believe the incredible influx of immigrants into European countries who are unable to accommodate them is to blame. We need to fix the problems in other parts of the world so that these people can live good lives in their own countries. Unfortunately, in many of these places, the governments are so corrupt and crime, local wars and lack of leadership make anything we, as Americans, useless.
7
A main reason behind this huge influx is irreversible: climate change (which is the reason many of these migrants are “dirt poor” and fleeing from violence, which is often caused by economic duress...) Sometimes
you can’t fix what is broken, and many people continue to believe climate change is just a hoax.
14
@Brooklyneer, climate change; or lack of access to birth control; or, if access, refusal to use birth control? For sure, climate change is real, but it is a red herring next to global population growth, as immigration is often coming from areas that average very high number of births per women of child-bearing age. When there are almost 8 billion people in the world now, and expected to continue on to 9 billion; then 10 billion; then 11 billion, it is insane that environmentalists continue to shine light almost exclusively on the fig leaf of global warming while ignoring population growth.
So sad some people there treated you that way. It wasn’t because you weren’t able to speak conversational Italian. A lot of white people do not understand especially white men. I was married to an African American for 35 years and my two children have advanced degrees. Since the early 70’s, I have seen anything and everything even to this day as to how white think and act regarding race. I just did not realize that a portion of the people in Italy would be scared of a young black woman walking down the village streets. You were not imagining what was happening to you. You got it right.
25
As a mother of an Asian-Italian daughter, I read your account with anguish and sadness. I hope my daughter will be spared some of what you went through, but I am unsure that she has a future in that country and I increasingly doubt we should ever return to it. During the few weeks we spend in Rome every year, I can feel on my (white) skin the palpable aggression people have towards each other. Their fear - my own fear - and their insecurity are heightened when differences are more visible. The social fabric deteriorates by the day. It would take generations to rebuild it. I despair that Italy is a lost case.
9
Racism seems to be the underpinning of the human race. To the point that if you look similar, people will find another reason to discriminate against each other ( the ME and Ireland for example). In this country, with our long history of genocide, slavery and economic inequality we've almost gotten used to it, for lack of a better term. The English, who look the same to us know exactly who's on top and who isn't by class. In this country we've taken it to a whole new level, as the left now brags that our immigration situation will hopefully get rid of the evil, oppressive white majority. Not exactly reverse racism, but pretty strange non the less. In Italy, like most of Europe, the stresses of the mass immigration of the last few years, economic pressures and the usual fear of the unknown have to make for an uncomfortable visit for a black person. The articles author will have to be a patient, ambassador of good manners and quiet dignity that hopefully, one person at a time, can advance ever so slowly the cause of human understanding and advancement. Good luck.
6
I lived 44 years in Italy and always had the feeling that Italians were no more or no less racist than other whites. It's always a mixed bag like everything else. Some Italians are very racist, while others are anything but. This young lady, I think, had a really unfortunate combination of circumstances. She just kept coming up against the worst of the worst in Italian society. I am sorry that such a rewarding experience was spoiled for her and that she did not get to meet the "other" Italians.
9
@Ira Levin First impressions are lasting impressions. Perhaps she met the true people of Italy. The ratio represents the sentiments of the whole? I can only wonder.
the Europeans are even worse than Americans. I try to anyone travelling in majority white spaces. isn't worth it
2
As an Asian American, I've been publicly heckled for being Asian in Canterbury, England; Nice, France; Lisbon, Portugal; Portland, Maine, to say the least. It is inexcusable for any HUMAN to treat another like they are invisible, inferior, or intrinsically criminal, period.
39
My cousins are Italian. A few years back one came to visit, I hadn’t seen him for a while so after the initial hellos I pulled out some beers and we talked. He speaks okay English whereas I’m terrible at languages. We don’t see each other much, so conversation can be slightly stop-start, stilted etc.
Anyway, within about two minutes of clunky conversation he was sounding off on the foreigners coming into Italy, the Africans etc etc. I kept kinda quiet, frowned slightly, changed the subject (how to take someone to task with a language gap?). Now I’m not making an argument about Italians or my cousin - he’s a good Dad, a harmless guy etc and generalisations are always unwise. God knows how every country has racial issues and otherwise likeable people can be susceptible to this poison etc.
But I remember being very discomforted at the way he just came out with it. I felt like he saw me, a white bloke his age, and saw a like-minded soul - as if ‘hey, fellow white guy, let’s pool some racism agree?’. It still bugs me to this day.
11
My deepest empathy to you. There is no excuse for the racist behavior and attitudes of the Italians you encountered and the many more you did not. Unfortunately open racism is very prevalent in Europe. To those blaming the migrants for the white Italians’ racism, that is even more racist. White people need to work harder on examining and changing their racist behaviors.
8
@Mat
Next time your cousin starts with the racist speech, simply tell him you don't agree. He's assuming you are just as racist as he is. White people need to tell racist white people to stop.
7
I am stunned at the number of comments excusing the Italians’ behavior and dismissing the author’s experience. Too sensitive, too entitled, too biased...
Some even suggesting that she deserved this treatment.
Speechless.
25
I have spent time in Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, South Africa, Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine in the last two years and the incredible levels of fear, loathing, and bias towards people of African descent was shocking and sad. I am a fat, old white guy and I guess I do a good job of getting locals to talk. In Ukraine I was repeatedly warned that all the street crime was committed by a tiny community of Africans. There were so few Africans that this warning would be almost like being warned that I might get mugged by Big Foot. It was nuts. The population of Africans could not have been more than one in a thousand or two thousand - literally. And that was nothing compared to what I have heard from Japanese, Chinese and Koreans about Africans, BUT most of these people had almost never met anyone of African descent. I don't even know how to explain it. It was just sad. I could go on, but you get the picture. I would recommenced that African-Americans might want to visit Cape Town. It is a gorgeous African majority city and it is a great vacation spot.
21
I have been living in Canada for 23 years as an Asian. I have learned that racism can be fixed with education. The racists I have encountered were all uneducated, ignorant, or inferior. They are showing their failure. I really sorry for them.
24
@Heather Lee Excuse me, but what constitutes "inferior" in your eyes? Who are you to decide who is "inferior"?
10
@me
Racists are inferior. If the shoe fits ...
@me Yes, me, I agree. Inferior? Unbelievable! Heather Lee needs more education.
Your piece made me very sad. I am sorry you had such a horrid time. I'm a black girl (grown African woman) who loves Italy and goes there whenever I can. I've had mostly great experiences, and am saddened by the knowledge that what happened to you is not isolated. Aluta Continua.
19
As a Latin man, I experienced different things in my semester abroad, I went to Sweden, and for the most part I was having the time of my life. Sometimes my physical appearance gave me an advantage in social gatherings, they were curious about me, there are not a lot of Latinos in rural Sweden, so I was a novelty to them, and felt always welcomed. But, while traveling to Denmark, I was surprised when a drunk Dane started to ask me for cocaine, and was very conflicted with the notion of a non-narco mexican.
11
I went to study in Spain in the 70's. I am Puertorrican descendant of Spanish , I am white . Still they did not accept me because PR being a colony of the States had too much North American -gringos- influence. I did not make one female friend. During those years the world hated USA and laughed at the way we dressed, the food we ate and our lack of culture according to them. I felt very out of place and returned home earlier than expected. Not a good experience. Today I realize that was racism, it comes in every color and shape.
12
As an African married to a French man, I consider myself Lucky to live in a country that's more cosmopolitan compared to other Europeans countries .. whenever I visit other European countries I become hyper aware of my skin color and filthy looks... at first it really hurt but as it’s a reality, which won’t change in thenforeseeable future ... I’ve made my peace.
12
I remember my first visit to glorious Florence during my year abroad in the early 90s: I took an overnight train from Paris with another Asian American classmate. We woke up just as the train pulled into the Florence train station. We opened the window shade of our couchette car, and the train next to us just started pulling out. It was literally overflowing with hundreds of handsome Italian men about our age. They were hanging out of the window, yelling at those of us in the train that just pulled in, jovial in camaraderie and what looked like a big trip for them—headed to start military service, I assume. However, they saw us staring at them, and many of them pulled their eyes back in mock-Asian slants. That was the big record-scratch sound in what was otherwise a heart-stopping, beautiful sight.
I still fell in love with Florence, met some lovely Florentines, and visited several more times that year, despite the fact that Florentines were unable to interact with me or pass me in the street without making some remark pointing out my race. It’s something you grow to expect, as a traveling person of color.
I have noticed the maturation of race relations in some of my favorite cities since then—Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Berlin, Toronto...one’s race seems less noticed in these multicultural capitals. Hopefully, Florence will also get there.
11
I’m an African-American woman who has been happily married to an Italian man from Rome for 22 years and though I’ve never lived in Italy full time, I have spent a lot of time there. I’ve watched things change since the immigration crisis began, first from Eastern Europe, then from Africa. 20 years ago I found Italians inquisitive but friendly. As a young woman, the line “where are you from, you beautiful exotic creature” and variations thereof was what I got from Italian men and women. I’m sad to say that over the years curiosity has changed to hostility. I realized recently that usually being with my husband has probably shielded me from racist behavior. For example, when I took my daughter and some friends out to dinner on my own in Rome this summer, a friend of the restaurant’s owner called my daughter and me monkeys as we were leaving. There is tons about Italy that I love, but I have to say that my comfort level there has gone down over the years and I am very glad that I declined to move my family there when my husband had a job opportunity there.
46
What happened here was bad, I have traveled a lot and have never experienced anything like it.
However I feel like we are all making a judgement without a trial. As her friends that were the same skin color had a different positive experience. Few things seem to get people more emotional and worked up into a blinded frenzy like racisim, therefore situations are rarely looked at with rational objectivity, because everyone is so afraid of thinking, discussing or questioning it, to do so would condem yourself along with the offender.
As a Chinese person this whirlwind of emotion and rage connected to the topic of racisim that prevents discourse is confusing to me. It reminds me of events in China during the revolution when even people were so easily executed for dissent over a misunderstanding or not following doctrine.
14
@Zhang
You need to read the article again. Her friends that had a positive experience were white.
1
The only solution is that we encourage our children to marry other ethnicities, outside their perceived race. My own kids, now in their late 20s, are color blind, they don't care about who practices what religion and they do not care about gender either.
11
@Petey Tonei Ignoring color is a white privilege. Ignoring gender is a straight male privilege. Imho, you're on the right track, but keep digging.
14
@Petey Tonei. I'm thinking you should encourage your kids to marry people they love and leave race, etc out of it.
3
@Dan D., my kids are brown (not white privileged) and although born in Massachusetts, they are still asked where do they come from. They always say MA, but then they are asked no, where do your parents come from. And so on. My kids have friends who are transgender, so they consider gender an open spectrum of possibilities.
Try again.
5
When I lived in Milan, years ago, I was struck at how prejudiced most of the Milanese people were toward southern Italians. Now with the new influx of African immigrants, everyone has someone new to hate. I'm sorry this happened to you. People are prejudiced all over the world.
32
@Eleanor Kas, all our prejudice stems from conditioning. Children learn unspoken words non verbal cues from parents, just by their gestures attitudes and behavior, no need for hurtful words. Our freedom lies in our unconditioning ourselves from these self identified boundaries. We can be better than our parents, we can show them the way towards a reconcilable future for humanity.
When we ourselves cling to our identities strongly, we view others too with those lenses, as belonging to this that color race country north south east west. The earth is round no matter what direction we look at. And thank goodness for diversity color! Imagine if everyone was plain vanilla and everyone was named Peter Paul Mary!
2
I know what you mean!!! I had a close friend in college from Northern Italy and she found Italian Americans despicable because of their Southern accent, since Italian immigrants to the USA came from the impoverished southern areas like Naples and Sicily.
She said she was horrified by how they spoke “showing off their accents” which to her sounded uneducated and strange.
At her wedding I saw the difference between some of her own family, especially the southern male cousin with the cooler street-wise swagger and slicked back hair from the south and all her male Northern friends who wore armani-esque outfits.
5
I was raised in an openly racist family. Thankfully, I married a woman who helped me see the stupidity of racism. My Buddhist practice helped me to understand how hurtful it was to people who did not deserve such treatment. Racism poisons the beauty of the world.
24
@Indrid Cold
Well said.
This is shocking. What is wrong with Italy? Especially since Europeans spend so much time online claiming it's America that is so racist and Europe doesn't "see color".
Well, everyone sees color. Usually not negatively, but apparently something is wrong with the eyesight to brain connection in Italy. It can't be explained by their past - that is only a poor excuse and every country has a past, but people get over it and we all need to live in the present.
9
I lament on how thin skinned we have become. I’m Asian-American. So far, I’ve been to over seventy countries where I’ve been called chino cochino, served after “more preferable” patrons, flat out ignored, treated like hired help, targeted for robbery.... But these experiences have not squelch my desire to see more of this world. I’ve become fluent in Spanish so I know how to counter racist comments. I’ve used my wallet to support establishments that treat me like how I think a customer should be treated. I’ve unleashed my New York sensibilities on would be muggers. I know as an Asian I will be treated differently and often times worse by whites, blacks, latinos, and even some Asians during my travels but that’s OK, I’m a big boy. I can be patient with the boorish Turkish farmer who’s never seen an Asian before and regale him with my third grade level Turkish. Similarly, I can dismiss the few bad seeds who have no desire to search for examples to dispel their stereotypes. I don’t want or need to be coddled every time someone calls me a Chinese pig. If that were the case, I’d be a duller, less entertaining, and way less happier person than I am now. Go travel, get called names, feel indignation (just temporarily though lol), and repeat cause in between I’ve met some amazing people, had wonderful experiences and learned so much about myself.
52
Simple, Caesar. Because they have been slaves in this land until not so long ago. SLAVES, Caesar. Is there any letter in the word slave that you cannot read?
1
@Raja Has anyone ever thrown something at you? Maybe a woman feels more threatened by an assault than you would. It’s the the height of arrogance to tell someone how they should react to a negative experience.
6
Raja is correct in that you need a thick skin as a person of color. However that doesn't negate one's choice or ability to state they experienced racism. It is true Black Americans have a different experience. Our history in this country has developed that experience. The struggles of slavery, destruction of family and institutionalized racism is still recent to many Black Americans. That same history has not impacted recent immigrants the same way, in fact many have benefited from the improvements that many Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and Jews fought for during the civil rights movement. Also many recent immigrants have a strong family base which provides them cultural support, which probably benefited them in their endeavors. None of the educational and economic opportunities which have improved for people of color in America happened overnight while that may appear to be so to those who have recently moved here or keep thier heads down when they see racism. Is the American dream for new immigrants only about getting what you can from this country for yourself? Or are all of us just going to fight amongst ourselves for scraps, when we could actually try to improve relations amongst each other and yes maybe sometimes be sensitive and empathetic with one another? Ceasar maybe you only care about getting what you can for yourself maybe not, but if groups of people in this country are left behind it isn't good for the country as a whole.
10
My family is Italian American from Southern Italy. My mother who was born in the US does not speak Italian with someone from Northern Italy. She has endured snide remarks, criticism and just rude behavior when encountering Italian visitors. She also has been called an African because Italians think that is an insult.
I hope you can move on from this ugly incident.
25
@Blossomkat Boy, does this ever sound familiar!
My mother's family is northern Italian. I went there for a stretch in the 1970s to get to know all my cousins and perfect my Italian.
I stayed with a great-uncle who, unlike his siblings, did not go past high school. He blindly followed Mussolini, looked past all the Duce's failings and, post-war, voted against the parties that would ensure his social welfare in favor of the neo-fascist party.
To complete the picture, he explained to me that all southern Italians were emotionally unstable, brought the scourge of the mafia to the north, and, anyway, were nothing but Arabs.
Needless to say, these characterizations were was not meant as compliments.
This should sound familiar in Trump's America of 2018.
I live in a rather homogenuous European country, and the racism is disgusting. Because I'm white, they make their disgusting comments to me thinking I will agree. The level of ignorance can really be shocking. I am really sorry for what you had to go through.
35
Same in America. Ignorance is the key word.
8
When you return for the wedding, remind anyone who bothers you that we were all once African, about 50,000 years ago!! The look on their face should be precious.
13
I've read stories of Japanese school children being suspended, or expelled, from school because their hair was not black, as is uniform among "pure" Japanese. Perhaps they dyed it a brown color. I've seen video reports of white anglo males being cursed and told to go back to where they came from in Chinese cities. South Africa has made it legal to expropriate land from South African farmers because they are white. Zimbabwe has already done this, to the ruination of their economy.
That sort of discrimination has been around forever. It is in America where the experiment of a melting pot of nationalities was promulgated. The rest of the world is not America. Our obnoxious foreign policy that extends decades before Trump was elected doesn't help matters.
But I spent 6 weeks in Austria with 250 other American students, mostly white. Some had a good experience, others did not. I know of one girl, white, who had a bad experience because she was a poor guest and wanted to remind her hosts, Austrians, of the war and the fact that we Americans won and had defeated the evil Nazis. Her entire time there was unpleasant judging from her sullen, moody demeanor. She made her opinions known early on and word got around. As for me, I had a nice time. They even gave me the local discount reserved for the natives but not the tourists. I'm not sure why.
9
Thank you for sharing. I feel angry and sad. Apologis from an Italian.
22
I read the very compelling and moving account of the awful encounters with racism continuing to raise its ugly and mean-spirited head. It is deeply disturbing to me learn that this behavior continues to persist regardless of one's accomplishments or status. Whenever bigots and racists feel rejected or threatened they base their aggression on issues of color. I hope that when the author returns from Italy this time that she will be able to file a report that is totally positive and free of the racism that unfortunately can be found not only in Italy but also at home in the USA where voter suppression and widespread incidents of violence and brutality against people of color are on the rise. We have a feckless president who helps to foment racism and bigotry and is clearly unwilling to lead any attempt to stem the tide of this cancer in our society.
7
How long, world, how long?
In our sort-of Me, Too moment, ironically at the same time as a new wave of fascist darkness is taking hold in the U.S., is it any comfort at all to know that global toxic masculinity thrives?
That very famous photograph by Ruth Orkin, "An American Girl In Italy" conveys the pain and shame of generational embrace of keeping women down. That Ms. Phillip is also Black isn't merely double the pain, it is some multiple of pain, frustration and PTSD that she carries, daily, everywhere, forever.
I recall a group of women being interviewed at a Women's Music Festival and the shared comment about how for the first time, they did not fear for their safety.
How long, world?
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/30/europe/tbt-ruth-orkin-american-girl-i...
5
@PDXtallman
You think it's just a coincidence that the metoo movement and the right-wing extremism are occurring at the same time? They feed off each other. The left and right extremists need each other to maintain their hate.
@Full Name, more false equivalency and "whataboutism"! The metoo movement is NOT an extremist movement.
It's not extremist to speak out against the gender-based sexual abuse and sexual assault that nearly every woman on this planet experiences at some point in her life. It's not extremist to seek justice against the perpetrators of sexual abuse and assault.
And in case you haven't noticed, numerous recent mass shootings, violence, and a spate of pipe bombs sent through the U.S. mail have all been perpetrated by extreme-right while males. Hate speech promulgated by radio, Fox tv, and social media are all rightwing racist extremism.
2
Years ago, before smart phones, when we traveled abroad we relied on books like Let's Go and such. The Italy book made a point of discussing the overt racism against blacks and advised caution
This is a drawback to the newer tech. You can use your phone to search out tourist destinations, hotels and maps, but what's left out is very important information that could have perhaps helped prepare or gird your for such events.
13
I’m so sorry for you experience. I, too, was deeply deeply scarred by my study-abroad experience—been white, blond, and without a man makes you a target with a capital “T” in Egypt. I was verbally harassed and grabbed and groped every time I stepped onto the streets. I too left early when I realized there was no upside to staying as it would not be possible to create a career in this world. While I’ve always found this country deeply flawed, it turned out that it has (or did have) some redeeming qualities. Even if women are second class citizens, you can at least spend longer parts of your day not having that fact shoved down your throat literally and figuratively . Thirty years later, I still have flashbacks. Thirty years later, thanks to Trump, it seems like we’re backsliding.
21
It’s not that we FEEL we are backsliding, we ARE backsliding. It’s the whole white anxiety MAGA dogwhistle. America has lots of great things. Dealing with racism is not one of those things.
15
It's quite common. Non white people traveling in Europe quickly learn not to ask white females for directions or instructions or anything else. Usually the white male steps in front of them and answers for them. It's weird but true. Why have the white female standing at the shop counter if she is not going to be giving you the bill or change or whatever.
11
Based on the comments, it appears that there are two types of annoyance. One is based on attraction to the person being annoyed, the other based on the annoyed person's being held in derision. Both are bad. One is worse.
1
Sad. However, please note people from the same continent committed the worst religious and cultural genocide by eliminating indigenous people from the America's, Australia and more. Physically killing them and forcefully converting them. Today the people live in "Reservations" in the US and in Australia there is blatant racism against the Aborigines.
Ironically, descendants of the same people talk about Human Rights values. I lived in Europe as a student for one year and was worried and experienced blatant racism. I traveled through China and never felt unsafe. Time to rethink which systems are better.
Governments cannot change attitudes of people. It needs to come from their parents, culture and heart.
11
@Sudhir, sadly racism in India is very tribal. To this day people face caste bias. And dark complexion is shunned. I know because I have any friends and family who have told me their personal experiences.
11
@Petey Tonei In the Hispanic world, white skin (i.e., a European background) is prized as more valuable. Plain and simple. One glance at their media advertising makes that clear. The faces that sell products (to Amerindian majority populations) are white.
I cannot tell you how many Hispanics I have met, or even those I count as friends, who take great pains to emphasize their European Spanish ancestry and deny any taint of Amerindian blood. One friend, who is half Puerto Rican, told me that it takes 8 generations to "wash out."
I wish I were making this up.
We have got to get past this stuff. Self awareness and education are the keys.
However those two keys seem to have little value in the Italy the author experienced, in today's world in general, and quite overtly in Trumpistan.
Europe should be a safe place for all people and tourists, black, white or any other colour, without need for any reading or bothering.
Thank you for your courage to share your experience.
I'm glad to hear that two of your friends did not encounter the same problem and had a great time.
However, the behaviour you experienced is unacceptable, unworthy for Europe and should never ever happen, even not exceptionally. This is not what Europe stands for.
I hope your article may help Italy, Europe and any other civilised country in the world to see that racism can be everywhere, what it can do to people and how "minor" or "light" racist attitudes pave the way for violence.
5
The best cure for any evil is to expose it and shine the light on it.
Name and shame often succeeds where everything else fails.
8
@Jim Absolutely! Thanks! And when confronted with words I ask a focused question relevant to the statement which is only logically answered with a refutation of the original statement. So they look like fools or are speechless. My hope is to plant a seed of logic & rationality.
I am very sorry about your experiences in Italy. It can be a great disappointment to be excited about traveling abroad to discover new worlds, only to be disillusioned in the manner you encountered. The New York Times routinely reports on the impact of the insurgence of immigrants into Europe. Some of the incidents and situations are horrifying and tragic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/world/europe/macerata-italy-shooting....
4
Italy is my favorite country to visit in Europe. My first visit was to Florence for an art history course as a college student almost 20 years ago and I have travelled there many times since. One thing I wanted to say in response to the author’s time in Florence, having been all around the country, including Puglia, I too experienced the most overt racism in Florence. I remember going to the post office to mail an item back home and the postal worker looked at my face and wrote Japan as the destination mailing. When I corrected him to say my package was going to the USA and not Japan, he angrily yelled at me. In another incident, I went to a beauty salon for a service and the lady who helped me refused to look me in the eye or have any conversation with me during. Those incidents, coupled with a few instances of unfriendly interaction in the city has made Florence my least favorite area to visit in Italy. That said, I love just about everywhere else, especially Rome. One thing to note, I have over the years seen Italians become less welcoming to tourists and people of color. It may be time to shift my tourist dollars to another country. What a shame.
20
This world is bizarre. I lived and worked for 3 years in Dominican Republic. When I went to obtain their national identity card I was apalled race is codified in the document: White,Indian and Black, a well defined pecking order. Every "socially mobile" Dominican aims to get a W or I code in his/hers document. As a latino on a Canadian passport,I was classified as White, though technically I should have been an Indian,meaning pure Latin heritage. I would rather define every one as H for human, yet ingrained racism permeates every society.We have a long way to go yet!!
7
It seems if the writer had exercised better awareness, not used assumptions, and proactively planned, her trip - and her life - could have been better.
There is no sense in ignoring the reality in US, and Europe (Italy and Germany have racist pasts), and ignoring that parity with the people of major color just does not exist.
That said, articles like these are very welcome. They humanize the craziness and impacts from stubborn attitudes.
We need more educated, calibrated, considered articles about people’s experiences from having been at the receiving end of racism...
...to have a chance at changing the future for coming generations.
1
@Vsh Saxena that's it: blame the victim. Wow. Unbelievable.
11
I don’t think that the author was “using assumptions” when she and the only other Black woman in the group at the beach were targeted and assaulted with beer.
7
@Vsh Saxena
Pray tell, what "better awareness " could she have exercised in order to avoid being physically attacked by a man in broad daylight whom she didn't even speak to?
2
Thank you for this article, Nicole. I work in an American study abroad center her in Florence and we are very aware of "the elephant in the room" that needs to be addressed. We highly encourage POC and other minorities to study abroad as we usually find they are at a cultural advantage and adapt very well to foreign environments. This is probably due to the fact that many, even back at home, have to adapt first to their home campus life and may feel out of place there as well.
Your article has opened up some very important points about "how do we prepare" minority students for what to expect abroad. What we usually tell students at orientation is that what they are used to at home, happens here too (petty crimes, the effects of drinking too much, and yes racism). You say you didn't feel the racism like your mom did back home as much, but here it hit you in the face and now you are more aware. This is all part of the growth that goes on in studying abroad - the good and the bad.
I personally feel ashamed of my fellow Italians who pushed you so far out of your comfort zone. We are trying our best to call racism out when it occurs and make our country a more welcoming place for all, especially for young students.
21
No matter how bad things are here in the States, whenever I have traveled out of the country, I am always touched by how grateful I am to be back on precious U.S. soil, and home again.
Truly, Dorothy, there's no place like home, with all our warts and problems.
8
@Betsy
Having traveled all over the world, I cannot agree more. The racism in some parts of the world will make you lose faith in humanity. There's racism out here in America but nowhere near what Europeans get away with. I was recently approached by a startup based in Germany, to join their team. I politely declined, without getting into details but it's not worth my short life to spend it with people who will judge me solely based on my skin color
7
While we Americans have our full share of bigots, if we are from a city of any size, we are mostly used to being around people of other races and cultures. I live in a large city (Houston), where there are significant populations from countries too numerous to list. We don't realize how provincial other countries can be. Many major European cities, particularly Eastern European, are no more cosmopolitan than small towns in East Texas.
If you don't live around people who are different colors, religions, nationalities, etc., you have little opportunity to learn that they are mostly just like you.
16
Thank you so much for writing this article. I've experienced the same when I studied in France a long time ago. Hopefully, by sharing your article, people will realize how their ignorance can really hurt others. Thanks again!
5
As an adult, male American of European descent traveling in Italy as either a doctoral student or a professor (with Ph.D.) over the course of several decades, I have encountered prejudice because I was American, an academic, sometimes less-than-fluent in the language, not dressed well enough, or perceived to be wealthy. Thankfully I did not have to endure prejudice based on aversion to my appearance or ethnic heritage. That would have been devastating, especially if I had grown up dealing with such prejudice in my home country. I know an African American scholar, in fact, who, after doing research in southern Italy and enduring prejudice similar to that experienced by Ms. Phillip, changed her research focus. She switched to an American topic.
My takeaway is that, no matter where you happen to be, some people there will treat outsiders -- foreigners -- poorly. Learning this, and learning to deal with it, has been part of my education. I'm probably wiser for it, and I certainly hope I'm a better human being because of it.
I sincerely wish, Ms. Phillip, that you and others like you were not subject to these indignities. You don't deserve it.
16
My grandmother immigrated from Italy to Boston in the beginning of the 20th century. She didn't think blacks were the same species as whites. At the end of her life, the women who came and cleaned her house and bathed her were black. I think it was her first close experience with black people. The relationships seemed to be ones of mutual respect and certainly of warmth, and, at least on the part of my grandmother, of wonder.
I've lived for the past 13 years in a very white, very provincial part of France. When I first arrived as a white person I was accepted by strangers until I opened my mouth, and then I was not accepted. There is no friendliness to strangers here, unlike in America. My only friends in the beginning were those who I could be friends with through connections to my husband's family, a couple hours away. My local friends were all foreigners like me, looking for friends.
The prevalent racism, sexism, homophobia etc. (in etc. I will include hostility to nursing, yoga, and vegetarianism! and acceptance of smoking) 13 years ago were startling, most markedly though in older generations, looking back. 13 years ago I used to say the French were 30 years behind us on everything, at least on the above topics. The amazing thing is how much the conversations on all these things have evolved in 13 years. I feel like I've been here for a real moment of cultural evolution, in terms of laws, practices, and mentalities.
10
I experienced the same thing from a different perspective. The first time I, am Asian- American, went to Italy, one of my travel companions remarked on how everyone was saying “konichiwa” to me. That was how I learned the word for “hello” in Japanese. I was doing a college backpacking trip, and Italy stood out for how every stranger needed to make some comment that made me aware of my race. I still grew to love Italy and have been back a number of times. A few years ago, I was talking with one of my best friends from grad school about how much I love Italy and asked her if she had been. (She is black British.) She said she had but didn’t like it and wouldn’t go back because of how racist they had been to her and her family on that trip. It gutted me. Even just writing these comments now, my heart skips a beat and I feel myself tearing up. It made me so angry and upset for her. I hope Italians read this essay and it sparks positive change. Thank you for sharing your experience.
19
I am a white American raised in Italy. I have black friends who live there. One is married to an Italian, She had a son with another Italian she was with years ago; the boy identifies as black and Italian. My friend now speaks Italian fluently and with just a trace of an accent, but when we were younger and her Italian was quirky and heavily accented she was still a well-loved on-air personality on Italian TV. While I cannot speak to the entirety of her experience over four decades in Italy, when we were younger she was never harassed, except in the usual way Italian men come on to all women, especially attractive ones — in our era it was considered a compliment.
Italians are extremely confrontational in public in general. It's part of the culture. They will seize on any part of a person's physical attribute and use it as a sort of shame game — throwing shade, as the black queens here would call it.
For the most part, Italians have a deep and abiding respect and love for Americans. They also love exoticism. It sounds to me like the writer had a few unfortunate street rencounters that are totally normal. Had she been me, fluent in Italian, she would have thrown back even more shade in a louder voice with a few choice gestures and moved on.
5
If you value your life, please do not throw shade at strangers. Cursing them out in their native language is inadvisable lest what you say comes out as a mortal insult.
7
“Totally normal” behavior shouldn’t include assault (her encounter on the beach, involving beer thrown at her). I find the acceptance and normalization of her experiences to be profoundly saddening.
8
While living in Paris a number of years ago, I made periodic trips to Italy over the 3 years I lived there. I speak fluent Italian and even a few dialects, so language was not the problem, but on average I would always return to Paris relieved and grateful that I had chosen a more gregarious, engaging culture than that of Italy's. I found most people reluctant to go beyond a few courtesies and a light conversation about the news, and then the "shutters closed" and they would pull away, Baro perhaps being the exception where there lovely, spirited people I met during an art expo. But the fear is growing here exponentially as well so Europe is not as provincial as I had imagined.
5
The writer’s story was sad but unsurprising. The world is full of racist and just plain mean people of all colors and ethnicities. Safe spaces and political correctness shield college kids from such evil, but perhaps also give students a false sense of what the real world, unfortunately, is like. I hope she gives Italy another chance.
9
Both of my Mom’s parents were born in this region of Italy, and their views on race would have made Hitler smile. My grandma actually thought that she was racially superior to my grandpa because she was from further north in Italy. Her dialect was pure, her family had separate dwellings for livestock and humans etc.
10
My friend. I have alot in common with you. I too am a Black American, and I just feel compelled to write this stupid comment because I think it is very important.
Lady, OF COURSE Italians don't like black people. Did you gloss over the history of the peninsula or what? At what point since the Roman Republic have Italians or their ancestors had a positive relationship with Brown people?
Let me save you some reading, never. Don't go to the moon expecting there to be air. Something that has never been isnt going to be. You and I, because of the reality of the world, have to research extensively, every trip you take, lest you run into the worst case scenario. You want to be treated nice, go to the Netherlands, otherwise, don't expect anyone in Europe and Russia to look kindly on you. If a white person goes to Africa, noone is happy to see them. I understand the circumstances will be different most of the time, but my point persist.
34
I find it frankly bewildering that someone who goes to Italy "while being black" doesn't bother to look up recent incidents of racism in that country... It has been a hot item in the news how the country feels it is being overrun by Africans trying their luck in Europe and how it feels abandoned by the other European countries in dealing with the onrush. It would have been so unbelievable easy to find this out!
20
@Rudy Flameng. She was a college kid at the time. Not even old enough to drink. As the parent of a kids that age I know that if you are young and your life experience has been thankfully limited something like this would never occur to even look into this. My heart broke for Ms Philip reading this.
43
@Rudy Flameng She's looking back on when she studied in Italy five years ago, and even if she did online research at the time and found information suggesting black tourists might be treated badly, there's quite a difference between reading about racist incidents and actually experiencing them. I think some more empathy and understanding would do you well.
19
@Rudy Flameng: a college student trusting that her school's study abroad program would be a positive experience. What on earth is bewildering about that?!
14
I may have a bias toward a particular group, but when meeting anyone, even someone from this group, my bias falls away completely and I greet this person as if he or she has all the loves and losses, the joys and pains that I have. I prefer to be civil and civilized.
8
Sorry this happened - I’m asian and had a similar negative experience when I visited last year. Incidentally I was in cinque terre too actually.
Not all the Italians were off course rude but there were enough glares, general impoliteness and impatience at restaurants and shops to feel unwelcome.
I gather that part of some of their views and attitude towards me is due to the mass influx of asian tourism. In your case it may have to do with the African migrants wave. However I think a bigger part of it is the way their sociality is. I observed that the Italians are rude and unpleasant in their interactions amongst themselves.
So therefore don’t let the negatives taint your entire trip - it wasn’t aimed at you as an individual but more that’s just the way some of the Italians can be and move on from there.
10
@Michael C
The worst character defect in Italians is their inability to laugh at themselves or smile because life is beautiful. I find them a dreary lot and not nearly as engaging or cosmopolitan as the French.
3
Why focus on differences? Why even mention the color of skin in the first place? It's the starting point for division and racism. The color of your heart is what really matters.
2
@Paul
Unfortunately, the colour of the skin is the first and often only thing that racists see.
3
@Paul
The world sees differences. To thick otherwise is blindly idealistic and unrealistic.
I’m speaking from experience, as a young college student who viewed everyone as the same to 20 years later, when I realize with clarity that people do not extend that same view towards me or others.
Some examples: I notice I get better service at restaurants when I’m dining out with white men. I notice that people’s faces visibly change when I enter a store or place with a friend or coworker that is black. I notice I’ve been asked for ID only a handful of times to prove my credit card was mine (even with me leaving the signature box blank) while my husband who is Hispanic gets ID’d for every other purchase he makes. This is reality. While I don’t believe that the people in the circumstances I described are racist, I do think they had unconscious bias. The question is, how do we address that?
3
@Paul, such a lovely thought, yet I imagine you have little to no personal experience about this. I however, have... but mostly in this country as I am an older 1/2 Asian American. I wonder if I have had good experiences abroad because I mostly travel with a tall, white man, and those few odd instances when I experienced odd behavior occured when I was by myself.
3
My wife(indian) and I (white) travelled to Italy for her to run a marathon. Let me say, having grown up in the South, i have never seen so much racism as Italy. She was treated horribly from arrival to departure. I believe Americans tell themselves we have racism problems, but in reality, we are far more advanced than Europeans. Our racism is more overt, theirs, covert and much more sinister.
36
not sure that I can agree with your last sentence. how can racism be more overt than what the author experienced in Italy? I think the difference is that in the US most people know how to hide their racism and instead use institutional racism to keep Brown and black people away from them. Europeans have fewer restraints when it comes to showing their true feelings about people who look different and there is no motivation to face their own bias, partly because they claim there is no institutional racism and therefore there is no racism at all.
7
Given the nationalist turn in Italy one can only wonder what it will be like for this young woman as she returns to Italy. Somehow I doubt the experience will improve a great deal. We have many racial issues to deal with in the United State, but obviously we are not the only nation with racist tendencies. In fact racism exists in many nationalities and races. It's a sad commentary on the human race.
16
When I clicked on the headline and waited for the article to load I said in my head: "please don't let it be Italy". But I knew deep down it would be. I am a daughter of Italian immigrants and go to Italy often to visit family. Although I love Italy there are many things about the culture I do not like. I have seen and heard Italian racism and the apathy of bystanders to step in. I have confronted it before when in Italy and it is always a shock to them that I know what they are saying. Italians can be an intolerant people in other ways as well. As an overweight woman I have had so many experiences of men loudly commenting about my size. My Italian family is also hurtful. The only good thing is the look of shock on their face when I respond to them in Italian because they assume I don't know what they are saying.
I feel terribly that this happened to you and wish I could change it. However, I can say that whenever I hear or see racism here or in Italy I say something. I would have your back as an ally.
101
Carla: you are a beautiful woman!
4
They don't like Sicilians in that part of the world either.
15
FWIW: Italy is a largely homogenous society with only limited tolerance for most outsiders—they barely tolerate their own 'outsiders' at times, with northern Italians referring to some southerners with slightly darker complexions as "Moroccans."
I myself have traveled extensively in Italy, speak the language pretty well, and have friends there to hang out with (a couple of them American blacks who have made their homes in Italy). I am also Jewish, with an identifiably Jewish name, Semitic features, and have experienced multiple incidences of anti-semitic comments there over the years (no violence, fortunately). Not things life in NYC prepares one for.
My suggestion is to learn enough Italian to tell annoying people to go perform anatomically improbable acts, and then to go for a cappuccino or a Campari soda, living well being truly the best revenge.
43
Wise advice indeed! I can say this unequivocally as an Italian.
6
I'm speechless by the clueless (at best) comments by people telling Nicole to just 'get over it' and not 'focus on a few negative experiences.' I appreciate Nicole's voice and I appreciate the scars this left on a very young woman's spirit.
112
@Susan Nakagawa Perhaps it's because it's the way of much of the world and there are far worse of degrees than even this. Your name, for example, is Japanese, and you write from Asia, where racism is by far more extreme than most anywhere else. Witness 3rd & 4th generation Koreans in Japan who are not accepted as Japanese, or in China, where I've traveled with African American friends who had rocks thrown at them in the rural places we visited.
I am sorry to hear about the author's experiences. I have a friend who is Black and she has told me about some of her experiences abroad although most of them have been more about people never/ rarely seeing a Black person and wanting to touch her hair or her skin.
Although my parents (Asian-Americans) didn't have any untoward issues visiting Italy, they also -- contrary to many other travellers' impressions -- did not feel it was particularly warm. Interestingly, their favorite cities were Barcelona followed by Copenhagen where they encountered both young and old people (regular people out on the street, not associated with the tourism industry) who went out of their way to talk to them.
16
She should go to Japan. Or many other countries. Why on earth do people in Orange County fly Confederate flags? Are they confusing Dixieland with Disneyland? Proves America doesn’t have a lock on racism. Xenophbia is everywhere.
10
@Laura Borders Orange County, Florida, not California, not that that makes it any better. Also, the Japanese are known to be quite intolerant of outsiders as well, especially toward non-white foreigners, though they would rarely display the type of blatant hostility or physical aggression that the author described experiencing in Italy.
4
The author was referring to Florida's Orange County.
1
Sorry, but given all that's going on in the world, the NYT wants to devote space to bad study abroad experiences? If meeting a few jerks in Florence counts as a real problem in your life, your life is plenty good. Let me go check the Danish papers to see how much space they devote to study abroad troubles in NYC.
12
@Hank, you really don't get it. The message was much bigger than one person's study abroad experience. It is about the experience of traveling-while-black and the ugliness that evokes in people, especially in a relatively (traditionally) homogeneous country like Italy. If you have never experienced this "otherness" -- as a minority or as a woman -- in Minnesota or elsewhere -- do not assume it does not happen and that is not painful.
1
Ms. Phillip: unfortunate that you had these terrible experiences. I hope they did not sour your whole time abroad. Racists are everywhere but fortunately so are open minded people. Enjoy the wedding. Safe travels.
10
Thank you for writing this article. I am so angry and sad that you had to experience such awful treatment. I have spent many years in Italy, and although I am white I have witnessed horrible acts of racism directed towards immigrants. It's a very racist and indeed sexist country. I think more people should be made aware of this, given Italy's popularity as a tourist and study destination. Again, thanks for sharing your experience.
49
@Numa Very sexist also. My daughter was told that Italian men would try to touch her while the kids were there on a high school trip. One did. She turned around and slugged him in the face, nearly knocking him down. He got the message.
22
@grmadragon. Yes they do...also in Greece
I am a Brit who has a white Mum and a Jamaican (caramel-colored) Pop. My skin is very white, my hair is long and gray (turned gray when I was 25), and my eyes are light green (grass green). I am vilified by many black women and white women alike. I have been called an ugly half-breed Amazon (I am 5'8" tall and weigh 115 lbs) by Koreans in Seoul, but embraced by the Cantonese in Hong Kong and almost everyone in Singapore (my favorite city). I never understood why so many women of other ethnicities and cultures, especially the Koreans, could hate me just because of my appearance. In the United States, people make fun of my accent and my appearance quite often I just don't get it but I live with it and try to treat each human being with respect and dignity, as I find them without agenda. This is all that I can do as an educated (surgeon) human being. Trust me, because I have seen the insides of plenty of people, we are all pretty much the same color on an operating room table, my final common denominator.
51
@njbmd, your description sounds beautiful!
5
@njbmd I am guessing that your problems in Korea may stem from the Korean War and the large American military presence in Korea. Other countries with US military bases have mixed-race children resulting from "relationships" between local women and GIs and these children often face discrimination. I know this has been true in Japan and Viet Nam, thó may be better now.
3
I've traveled quite a lot and learned early on that it's imperative to do your research (especially if you are a black woman), before traveling anywhere (including places in the U.S.). Safety should always be paramount and black women, in particular, can't afford to just "assume" that all is well and everyone is going to be civil towards us. It's a good idea to travel with others, when possible (never venture out by yourself, because the likelihood of you being targeted is very high). Generally speaking, it's also a good idea to carry pepper spray (you can purchase a very small container disguised as a key chain holder) for those special occasions, when someone tries to inflict physical harm. I don't believe black women should shy away from traveling abroad due to the threat of racism. We are "global citizens," like everyone else, and have the right to travel wherever we desire. It's however important to always do the research before hand, and have a clear understanding of the racial climate before venturing to that specific location. We can't afford to be naive.
36
@Dia-- I agree with the sentiment you express in your peace, not that pepper spray is not legal in Italy as it is considered a weapon. But the bottom line is, yes, women need to be informed of the risks of traveling.
4
@Numa, I understand that it may not be legal in many countries, but it's far better to have some mechanism of self defense, than nothing at all.
1
To hold all Italians responsible for the unconscionably racist viewpoints of a few bad actors is as problematic as holding beliefs about people based entirely upon the color of their skin.
There will always be people who do not respect others, like others, and/or treat others with kindness and the basic humanity with which they ought. Whether they fail in elemental courtesy because of racism, ignorance, or some other cause is almost beside the point. To paint the entire country's population as malefactors because of the acts of the few is its own form of insidious discrimination.
13
@Elizabeth You need to reread. The young woman does not hold all Italians responsible. She was treated kindly by some and she mentions that in her piece. It's easy to brush an incident like this off if it's never happened to you. For a young, relatively inexperienced travel, it can be traumatic.
44
@Elizabeth -- where did the author blame all Italians for the behavior of a few? She described her experience, with considerable restraint, given the circumstances.
41
@Elizabeth The other commentators are right, she never painted the country with a broad brush. But the Italians, like the Americans, did elect a broadly xenophobic government, even though Italians were demonized as criminals when they were a nation of poor emigrants. There are good people everywhere, but if they sit out elections with a shrug, they're part of the same problem as the ones willing to vote for racist policies and propaganda.
11
Racism and colorism are alive and well in Italy and throughout Europe. I'm a native southern Italian from Calabria who spends every summer in Italy mainly to visit my siblings who still live there. We are a mixed bunch, with some of us being darker with curly black hair and others having lighter complexions. I even have two siblings with blonde hair and blue eyes and my children and nieces and nephews reflect this variety as well. Guess who gets better treatment, especially in the North? One of my sisters now living in Emilia Romagna after having moved from Calabria to Modena for work, was told by a bar owner that he didn't serve dogs! I was called a "terrone" in Bologna once. Another time I chaperoned some American students on a trip to Southern France and I was totally ignored by hotel management in favor of a colleague who was blond and more American looking. I could go on and on with anecdotes from various family members alone. I imagine it's much worse for black people whether from America, Africa or wherever. I'm very sorry for you, Nicole, but keep your head high wherever you go. You will encounter ignorance and rude behavior all over the world. You will also encounter acceptance and kindness. I'm ashamed of my ignorant countrymen and women.
66
@Serena -- My Italian friends from Sicily and Calabria have complained about the racism they face in the north. These are people with PhDs and a lifetime of accomplishments, being treated like animals by some shopkeeper half their age who have done nothing of worth in their lives. It's sickening.
18
Nicole,
As an Italian I am so sorry that you were treated this way in my native country.
38
I am sorry, but I believe a reason you had no idea, is that no one talks about the incredible animosity between Italians and African Americans in the history of the U.S. It hasn't gone away either. It seems to be coming into the light of day again with Trump's guiding hand.
29
@deborah Wilson totally agree. Grew up Italian American...even as a child I was amazed to hear my relatives lamenting how poorly they were treated shortly after arriving in the US...then watching them doing the SAME and WORSE to African Americans!!! I didn't know what "hypocrisy" meant, but I sure knew how it looked, sadly.
13
@deborah wilson
Mussolini had it in for Ethiopians for winning the war of Adowa - which was a humiliating defeat for the Italians. They came back with napalm and other atrocities in the 30’s to finish what they started. They’ve never shaken off the chip the Ethiopians left on their shoulder.
2
If the shoe fits, wear it.
1
Dear Nicole,
I am sorry you experienced the racism you describe. People of all origins, anywhere in the world, have the capacity for indecency towards others. What a terrible shame! I'm reminded of a few sentences from Likrat Shabbat (Jack Riemer):
We cannot merely pray to you, O God,
To root out prejudice,
For You have already given us eyes
With which to see the good in all people
If only we would use them rightly....
Therefore we pray to You instead, O God,
For strength, determination and willpower,
To do instead of just to pray,
To become instead of merely to wish.
I am sorry you experienced such ugliness.
6
As an Italian citizen I can only apologise for what you've been through during your time in Italy. You don't need me to tell you to just let it go or put it down to ignorance but, perhaps, it might cheer you up to hear of my own experience as an Italian abroad. I've lived in the UK for many years and back in 1980 many times I sat on the tube white anglo-saxons people would actually change seat. Yes, Italian don't understand this but we are seen as very dark in northern parts of Europe. Often I've been asked if I were Turkish and "complimented" for my olive tone skin -- although in my natal town of Milan I was always told that I looked too pale and I had a red-haired kind of complexion. Go figure, people are indeed colour blind. Pun intended. But perhaps the most ridiculous thing was when I was raising my son in London. Well, the little guy happened to have blond hair so every time I took him to the playground, other mothers would ask me if I were the nanny. I used to thoroughly enjoy the look on their British-stuck-up-faces when I told them that I was actually his mother. So darling, the world is full of ignorant, not very intelligent people. What can I say. The irony of Italians is that they don't understand that, abroad, they are thought of as black people. Italy is a small, provincial country where very few people have actually lived abroad. Moreover Italians tend to think the world of themselves. Little do they know how they're seeing abroad. Blessings.
53
Thanks for the article. It's unfortunate that you had material with which to write it. I am sure your experiences will come as a shock to many White-American Liberals who in demonstrating their own post-colonial sense of inferiority give too much credit to European sophistication and open-mindedness. Clearly, the United States has its own racism and anti-immigrant strand, no sane person would argue the opposite, but at least since the Civil Rights movement it has slowly developed a strong ethos that makes overt displays of racism a deviation from what's acceptable. At least, there is a standard. I find that in many European and Latin American countries there is no similar standard at all. Racism is freely and openly articulated in daily life without shame. As a Black Latino, I have had some interesting experiences in places like France and Holland. And if you are wondering what I am referring to in terms of Latin America, just Google the term Memin (preferably with a capital M) and prepare to be horrified.
32
@Carlos Hiraldo
I just finished the Wikipedia article. It's like the cartoon character, Memin Pinquin was a recapitulation of the comedic depiction of Amos and Andy and such in the U.S several decades before this comic strip hit the stands.
Over the last few decades, this country has gone through a period of cleansing our society from an overt racism that lasted at least until the mid 1940s, exacerbated in the South, but existing throughout our country.
Much of it is a socially mandated restraint of animosity that is only repressed. In other countries such norms simply may not exist. And the less surface qualities that make one an enjoyable companion never get the chance to surface.
I'm sorry for the personal hurt experienced by Ms Phlllip, yet we do have standards of attractiveness that are racially neutral. There are the fashion models whose appeal would still exist whatever race or ethnicity. These women, (and to a lesser extent, men) will not be shunned or even ridiculed. This explains how the other black women you write about didn't have the same experience.
Youth can be cruel, when appearance means acceptance, or the opposite, which is overt cruelty, that you unfortunately experienced.
2
great response. I have travelled all over the world and the most racist people I ever met were in Italy. American racism is a junior versity compared with theirs.
11
Dear Nicole, I'm so sorry that you or anyone else would have to go through what you did. The outing at the Cinque Terre you describe sounds especially awful. None of it can be condoned; all of it are examples of what the Italians call "bruta figura" (as I'm sure you know "bad behavior"). The problems the Italians have experienced with undocumented migrants (too complicated and numerous to go into here) has left the country fertile for the lowest-common denominator rabblerousers, but the problems of Italy are not only, or even mainly, made in Italy. All of Italy's neighbors have effectively blockaded the Italian borders, trapping all incoming migrants in Italy, which has created enormous resentment among Italians. This, compounded with growing poverty and lack of jobs and an economy that never seems to grow, is the hothouse you stepped into five years ago; it has only got worse since then. I wish you well on your upcoming trip, and hope you meet some of the many really kind and generous Italians (they're out there). But also be prepared for more of what you experienced earlier. It's not a good time for Italy or for Europe.
13
Italy is awful for most women -- the epicenter of euro-patriarchy. Not surprised but also absolutely disgusted by your experience. Every young woman traveling to Italy for a semester abroad should read Amanda Knox's account. Horrific. I have not set foot in Italy since I read what the men of that nation did to her.
16
I am so sorry that you had this experience. It seems to me that NYU should have been much more explicit about the potential for racial and sexual harassment and the political and social issues in Florence. Different people will experience the world differently; the school missed an opportunity to educate ALL of the students about real life in this part of the world and for people of color, that lack of information can be shocking and dangerous.
I am also struck by the commenters here who seem to want to deny that you were made to feel physically unsafe because you are black, despite you making clear that the beer was thrown at you and not the group and that the young lady who was grabbed was also black. The other women were sexually harassed, and that behavior was annoying, but thankfully, they were not physically accosted. The woman who backed herself against a wall, hid behind a car and screamed when she saw you surely was not screaming because she encountered another woman...what if a bystander had misread the situation?
Denial and telling black women to just 'suck it up' because 'I didn't complain' when I was called a bad name is just infuriating and doesn't help build understanding. Some (even the mother of the bi-racial daughter!) do not want to see that there are dangers in the world that are directly related to being black; and, being both black and female can make those dangers worse. Willful blindness, especially in today's world, is not useful.
69
Why focus on a few negative experiences? Why not focus on the myriad, innumerable wonderful people you met on your Study Abroad experience? None of us (regardless of ethnicity) can let a few backward, hateful idiots sour our memories, lives, or outlooks. Otherwise such morons win.
7
@John it takes just one negative experience to sour a memory. You can deny Ms. Phillip's experience when you've walked a mile in her shoes.
37
@John It's important to talk about these types of things. Telling people who expirience descrimination to shut up and be greatful is exhausting.
19
Totally agree. Why focus on differences in the first place? Why mention differences? That's the starting point for racism and the like.
1
Dear Nicole,
I lived in Italy for 8 years 2007 to 2015. Unfortunately, what you experienced is not an isolated incident. My wife and I have a couple friend who are black, from the US .
They were living in Italy too. Like my wife and I they had lived in a number of different countries. They said that they had had some very unpleasant experiences. Still they said it was not as bad as Abu Dhabi. They said the racism there was unbearable. My friend told his company to either transfer him or he was quitting. They sent them to Italy.
My friend said living in Abu Dhabi was like banging your head against the wall. It felt so good when it stopped, mostly.
Still as your friends said and as I also know, there are some wonderful Italian people who do not care what color your skin is.
You should go back for the wedding and I hope you have a very pleasant time.
All the best,
Garth
41
@gpickard
It reminds me of going to a restaurant in Italy with my daughter and her husband, who is black. Our orders were taken and we were not served. When confronted (after 45 minutes) I was met with a smirk and a gesture at my daughter and husband.
15
You shouldn’t have been surprised. It was Italy after all.
6
@ Kevinlarson It would be harder to understand if it was not the refuge of the Vatican.
@Fern The Vatican is another country. And the insular shame of that country is nothing to reccomend.
1
As a non-white person immigrated to the US in my 20s, and have traveled extensively since then. Americans are, on average, are more polite than most nations. I have found American's self control and politeness goes a long way in mitigating racism, whether it is present in a setting or not.
54
@ My experience is also that Americans tend to be very friendly, polite and helpful.
4
Wow.I am a black woman married to an Italian with 5 BLACK sons living in Italy.I can tell you this:never had your experiences and if I have to choose my black boys being stopped by the police in Italy or in the U.S. I would choose the Carabinieri , Polizia or Vigili Urbani anywhere in Italy over any U.S .Police dept. anywhere anytime.
40
I felt the same way and I was treated the same in the United States as a white immigrant with an accent.
It is the destiny of being different, one way or another.
Insecure people cover up their insecurities towards whoever is different using arrogance and prevarication.
There is no solution, we either ignore these confrontations, put up with them or fight them .
I always ignored them .
12
My brother lived in Florence in the late 90's and I spent several weeks there visiting him. Even then, the racism was evident, and with Europe's current decent into right-wing bigotry it's not hard to imagine how bad it is now. Nicole, I am so sorry for your awful experience. Many parts of Europe are now a cesspool of hatred, and despite Folrence's incredible historical, cultural and artistic resources, it is still a hugely provincial, inbred place. I'm so sorry you had to have your eyes opened to the virulent hatred there this way.
34
Being singled out and harassed for your race is painful. In the eatly 80's i was playing on a basketball team for our AF base when we travelled to Berlin. It was 11 black guys and me; I was the only white. We tried to enter an establishment that catered to black GI's and I was denied entry becasue I wasn't black. I was dumbfounded but for the very first time I had an inklng of an understanding of what it felt like to be discriminated against becasue of the color of my skin. Fotunately, my awesome teammates took a stand and told the management if I could not come in they weren't going to either. Manageent relented and we all stayed. Would that we all reacted the same way when we see others being singled out for their skin color.
77
I've spent enough time in Italy to see that the northern part can be pretty "white." Once you get south of Napoli things start looking a little more diverse, and black Africans are doing a lot of the hard work. Outside the big cities, they are the people most likely to speak French or English, La Liga, with all its neo-fascist baggage, is based in the north ...
8
Boycott Florence, Italy.
11
I get it
I am sorry this happened to you
It is also the reason why my Jewish white American children did not go to Clemson. Although accepted by the university I was concerned they would not be accepted by the student body
23
We visited Italy 30 years ago and we weren't exactly welcomed with open arms even though our last name is Italian we are Americans to them. I caught them saying nasty things about us in Italian which is a language I learned to understand but not speak fluently having been raised by Italian parents in NYC. They assumed we did not understand anything they were saying about us. At the end of our bus tour we rented a car in Rome to visit some of my cousins who lived outside of Rome. When we then visited the ruins in Pompeii with my Italian cousins a few days later the attitude towards us changed bigly when we were being escorted by "native Italians" who could fluently speak the language. Most Italians in Italy don't speak English very well and they were indifferent at our attempts to speak Italian. I didn't get the impression that they liked we Americans very much. When I handed them my credit card to pay for something with my Italian last name on it there was absolutely no reaction whatsoever. It might have read "John Smith." My relatives were really happy to see us as they hadn't seen us in many years since my parents moved to the U.S. Years later some of their children visited us in NYC for a few weeks so they could see the city. I'm not sure how they were treated by New Yorkers on their solo excursions into the city. Probably not that much better than we were treated in Italy years earlier!
12
For at least the last century, Tuscany has been a mixture of sophisticated cosmopolitans from all over the globe living side by side with native Toscanas who have never even left Tuscany let alone travelled to other countries. Even the local language or dialect of Toscana is completely unintelligible, especially when spoken rapidly.
Back in the seventies and eighties, when I lived there, Tuscany had the highest proportion of any Italian region of well-heeled, English-speaking white expats from the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia (as it still was known then).
There was tremendous prejudice back then amongst uneducated Toscanas against Sicilians, Calabrians, Napolitano (in fact any Italians, especially southerners not from Tuscany), Romany, Albanians, Serbs and Croats. There was a culture war taking place between the communists who controlled Florence and the reemergent young fascists, many of whom posed as members of the Lombardy League.
Even Florence and Siena were constantly in strife. Italians seem to thrive on conflict. If they’re not arguing, shouting at each other, abusing each other, insulting each other, they’re not happy.
While it used to be the case that many young Italian thugs carried a stiletto or switchblade, few carried a concealed handgun. So, in an argument young men would stab each other but rarely shoot one another. They rarely settled fights with their fists. They always fought dirty.
10
Nicole, Thank you for sharing your experience. It's very disheartening, and I'm sorry that happened to you. It is very jarring and can make one want to curl up into oneself. But it has nothing to do with your value or your place in the world. Take whatever you want. Defy those morons.
I grew up in a small town in Georgia. I am of South Asian origin, and I experienced terrible racism (as in they would have left me for dead) from my fellow white American colleagues when I worked in the humanitarian (!) arena in Asia. Some people look for any reason to believe they are superior, and for some inexplicable reason, will think that they color of their skin trumps any value a person of color could have.
23
I spent 4 years in Switzerland/Netherlands and as a woman of color and Jewish, double threat, I was at the receiving end of a lot of craziness. By far, what stands out while in Holland, a fellow Hungarian student was offended I told her I grew up amongst Hungarians in Israel. She responded obnoxiously saying, “if they’re Jews they aren’t real Hungarians, real Hungarians are not Jews.” - I moved on, however the exchange got back to the Dean who called me to his office. He said, “ in Holland, everything is smooth like floating ducks on calm waters, but like the ducks- they’re paddling furiously just beneath the water.”
I never forgot that.
29
This is so relevant. As someone living in Paris, we speak so much about racism in the United States that we forget it is often much worse in other Western contexts (here, for one). I'm so sorry this happened to you.
27
I am so sorry to hear that happened to you. Still, I'm betting that you made a very positive impression on the vast majority of Italians you met, and that goes a long way toward curing any unfair underlying racial tensions.
15
We are seniors (aging baby boomers) white and Jewish. We've toured Europe many times and had different experiences in different cities. In Spain we saw overt anti-Semitism including signs that supported the Palestinian causes and were obviously anti-Israel and anti-Jewish. We kept quiet and moved on. In Greece there was clear discontentment and feelings of disgust and anger over the rich, American seniors. Italians showed no real animosity but in touring the Vatican we were uncomfortable. We are not paranoid and were not looking out for anything but we could feel it in the air. Same in Morocco and Casablanca. In England Jews are not wanted. Barcelona was cosmopolitan and all was well there. Mostly there was resentment of the aging seniors and if they saw your last name on your credit card or ID the resentment multiplied. I thought Greece was the worst next to London. Resentment and discrimination is not limited to Europe. In South America there is deep, deep hatred of Americans and its not masked. Being white didn't mean a thing.
Nevertheless we continue to travel but we are aware and we're careful to travel in groups. Fortunately I am 6' tall, 190 lbs and still somewhat in good shape. I don't look like a victim. My wife stays close. I've seen some seniors shoved mercilessly.
You're not alone Nicole. Discrimination is not limited to Blacks, or Jews or Seniors or people who look like they can be easily victimized. I live in Florida. Here there is deep racial hate.
33
As a white high school student in Rome in the mid 2000s, I remember vividly my West African female friends, ages 14 and 15, occasionally telling me about the men who had tried to pay for sex with them on the way to school that morning. Black friends who visited Florence for a day trip were yelled at in the street. I also remember president-elect Obama's face plastered over the buildings of Rome in November 2008, Civil Rights documentaries airing on TV, and everyone thinking about hope and change for Italy, too. I was not surprised to read this article, but it is truly sad. If anything, Italy has gotten worse.
25
Nothing helps you appreciate this country more than extended travel abroad. Even our racism is better.
18
As an American-born child of immigrants and person of color, who also happens to immensely love Europe and beyond, you are so right. We have our big problems, but overall, most of us get it. The US is the best place for scrappy immigrants and minorities to come. You work hard, you find your place. We also revere grit, humility and building something from nothing. European societies are handicapped by classism and obsession with heritage and pedigree. Here, even if you face racism, at the end of the day, you are respected for what you can do and how far you came along.
1
This is heartbreaking, but it happens all the time. As a third-generation American from Middle-Eastern (Lebanon) born Great Grandparents, I have travelled in Europe, especially during summers, when, as educators, my wife and I had some summers free (without pay, of course). Naturally, as any Lebanese-American will tell you, ones complexion gets quite a bit darker while out all summer traipsing around Roman Ruins, battlefields, etc., thus attracting more racist comments and what we became accustomed to calling "the treatment"...being ignored in bars and cafes for service, not being seated in restaurants, taxis not stopping for us...no to mention people crossing the street to avoid us, and women clasping their handbags closer when we passed. We just put up with it all and tried to enjoy our time..."The best revenge is living well."
27
The entire article want to demostrate how racist is Florence and Italy in general.
But reading the article she had one single real episode of racism with no consequences. I read news about black people get arrested for being sit in McDonald, about black people shoot from police without any reasons, and this news doesn't come from Italy. You can guess the country...
A woman talk to her rude in Florence, can we say this is racism? I don't think so, she doesn't understand what she say. If that woman has something to say to any non-italian non-white people across the road, I think I can go out and search her now, Florence is full of tourists any day of the year, she is probably still there.
People doesn't help her to get directions, is this racism? This happens to anybody in all the world.
It's too easy say it's racism, did you know the history of Florence? Did you know the spirit of the people that live there?
People from Florence are in general not easy, not welcoming towards anybody ( italians too), they can be very rude and direct( we say no hair on tongue). People from Florence are snob, they are the descendants of Reinassance.
There's no racism in Italy/Florence? I'm not saying that, but if her experience in Florence was not wonderful, can we say it's because florentines are racist? I can't accept this!
17
@Gabriele
Um here in the good ole USA there are many racists that have their ancestry based in that country. So please do not be surprised when someone judges for your skin color instead of your character.
8
@Gabriele
Bravo . I am Black. I grew up in the U.S. I know how to BE Black in the U.S.. Florence ,Rome,Urbino, Perugia all have important American sub-cultures.They are important international centers of culture and they are very liberal. Often too liberal. When some devout muslims visited the Uffizi in Florence nude statues were covered so as not to offend them. Remember the protests/vigils of the Perugians when a Black bar owner was falsely accused of murdering Meredith Kercher? Of course some people can be racist. Ms. Phillip should be well vaccinated by U.S. racism where you can be murdered in a train station on New Years', or shot to death in your own house by police officers believing you are an intruder and not the rightful resident because you are black. Unfortunately I must say that my Black sons would have to "learn," how to behave should they choose to live in the U.S. someday.
9
@Gabriele
Bravo . I am Black. I grew up in the U.S. I know how to BE Black in the U.S.. Florence ,Rome,Urbino, Perugia all have important American sub-cultures.They are important international centers of culture and they are very liberal. Often too liberal. When some devout muslims visited the Uffizi in Florence nude statues were covered so as not to offend them. Remember the protests/vigils of the Perugians when a Black bar owner was falsely accused of murdering Meredith Kercher? Of course some people can be racist. Ms. Phillip should be well vaccinated by U.S. racism where you can be murdered in a train station on New Years', or shot to death in your own house by police officers believing you are an intruder and not the rightful resident because you are black. Unfortunately I must say that my Black sons would have to "learn," how to behave should they choose to live in the U.S. someday. I must also add this: My sons consider themselves Black.Their Italian friends tell them , "no you're not Black, you're mixed,you're Italians."
3
I have two very different experiences to share. As a young white woman 40 years ago, living inHonolulu, Hawaii, I was terrified by the harassment I received as a minority in a mix of Asian and Polynesian races. Yes, I was a minority and had some pretty scary encounters. I left the islands after 8 years because of one of them.
Fast forward 40 years, and now I'm older, much more so, and invisible. The gender and age discrimination is astounding. I'm routinely ignored, bumped into, corrected, treated like I have dementia and feel pushed to the back of the line.
Sigh.....
28
I’m sad for Nicole because she obviously was very young when this happened (in college). I (a white female) studied abroad in Germany when I was 17 in ‘97 and had nothing but experiences. I actually had much more diverse classmates in Frankfurt than in SW Portland.
Side note- I think the amount of racism you experience in the US has so much to do with where you grow up. As a young teacher in NYC, I chaperoned some inner city HS kids to a Mets game. One of my [black] sweet, typical 9th grade boys was excited after the game as we walked to the train and was giving high-fives to other kids through the station bars. A cop actually violently grabbed his arm (just him) and swore at him. I was shocked and didn’t react the way I wish I had. (Ie, I didn’t confront the cop because I just couldn’t process what was happening fast enough.) The kid sobbed all the way back. I imagine black kids in many parts of the US experience something similar frequently.
16
Sorry this happened to you. It is really shameful and unacceptable. I can assure you that many, many Italians I know, are completely different from those who said those terrible things to you. But look no further, minorities here may not be exposed to the verbal abuse you experienced in Italy. However, look what is happening right now in our Country. We have a president who spares no words in praising "fine people" carrying the confederate flag, in demeaning women and mocking the disabled. Yet he enjoys the support of over 45% of the population. I guess there are stupid people everywhere, some are just more vociferous than others.
19
@Mike MD, PhD
In America, the stupid people are smart enough to vote, and the smart people are to stupid to vote, hence Trump
6
@Mike MD, PhD
I believe the woman's unfortunate Italian experiences happened some years ago certainly before Donald J Trump became president.
From both of the above communicants (Bobby & Mike) we have needless inflammatory pseudointellectual and disparaging comments about the president of no connection to the author's clear narrative and also-get ready for it-people who voted for him in this great democratic republic.
David
In the presence of bad behavior, say or do something so that the Nicoles of the world know they are not alone and the harassers know they are shamed.
John Stuart Mill said "Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."
10
“What a sad era when it is easier to smash an atom than a prejudice.” — Albert Einstein
31
Sorry, Nicole, but how do you think Central American immigrants feel treated in the United States?
As you can infer from my name, I am from South America. It also happens that my skin is white. The comments and behaviors that I have seen and heard from "real" (i.e. white) Americans concerning Central or South Americans of indigenous origins, voiced in front of me thinking that it was ok because I guess "I looked OK" would horrify you just as those comments from the Italians.
This is the disgusting world in which we live. We never learn from history.
21
During one of my first weeks with my host family in Ecuador, I remember them showing me a book about their country. When they turned to a page with a picture of indigenous people, the host-sister said, “Que feo!” So I think some of those darker skinned Central/South Americans had it just as bad in their home countries. (Not that any of it is okay - I’m just agreeing that it happens to dark-skinned people everywhere.)
8
@Jose why should Central Americans be her concern? Do you call out your fellow white Latinos for their racism towards black and mestizo Latinos? If not, then save it. I’m rather annoyed by how your comment implies that Central Americans have it worse than black people. Latinos have this annoying habit of invalidating the experiences of black people by turning discussions of racism into a game of Oppression Olympics.
9
Shame on those who treated you with such disrespect. As others have written in these comments, Florentines are snobs and malign their own. Dante wrote disparagingly of them in the Divine Comedy and was exiled from the city for aligning himself with a certain political faction. Even after his political troubles passed, he never returned to the city and died and is still buried in Ravenna. City fathers often requested that his body be repatriated but the answer that always came back was NO. Must have been in his will.
65
Racism is endemic world wide. I've traveled to many different European and Asian countries and found that as long as I was courteous and did my best to adhere to the local customs, I was always treated well (I should point out that I happen to be caucasian). When I began to travel with my wife however (who happens to be asian), we experienced a distinctly different reaction on the part of the local people in European countries. We found that many people frown on or are actively hostile to mixed race couples.
81
This is just awful. I am so sorry this happened to you.
11
It seems to me, a now-retired university attorney, that the college administrator responsible for study abroad programs should provide more information to prospective students about this kind of thing. Educating students that racism is more pervasive in Florence than Rome should be done for the benefit of all the students. It's far likelier that such education will help future students than that the sexist attitudes of many Italian men will somehow, magically, change for the better.
And if the influx of migrants has changed European attitudes towards people of color, then the college should discuss this rationally with its students - who may have stars in their eyes about a study abroad experience without real knowledge of what to expect.
68
@Lenore I totally agree with you, especially given the fees charged by university/college organized study abroad programs and the representations that they make about them. It is a pity that you can't ask for your money back; frankly, they owe it to you, along with a big apology. As another commenter earlier pointed out, Toscana is - kind of like the Hudson Valley - a mix of cosmopolitan/int'l types, along with folks who have lived only there for generations, who are none too happy about things (similar to some folks in France, Spain, the good old US, etc) and who have very strong current/historic prejudice towards Africans. Colleges who run these fancy priced study abroad programs should be more responsible in researching and alerting students about cultural issues BEFORE the students go abroad, even in so-called 'safe' Western Europe.
6
@Lenore
What does being "a now-retired university attorney" have to do with anything?
Italian men all think they're charmers, so what's wrong with grabbing a woman?
They're actually uneducated slobs. Except for Italian surrealist filmmakers, Italy has had nothing to offer since the Renaissance.
So, my advice is to go see the buildings and museums, and then leave. Simple. No legal advice necessary.
4
Wish I had family vacations in the Caribbean and Mexico...
12
@simon Why do you respond to the writer's Italy experience by referencing her family vacations? Would it make a difference if her family couldn't afford those trips? If the writer was white? Troubling.
22
There is always one commenter who totally misses the point.
26
@Brooklyneer I don't believe simon missed a point. So much bigotry and hatred and anger is spurred by fear of loss. The the other is going to get what one deserved, and needed, but one did not receive. Chris Rock explained that mind set well with his penny and a nickle joke. So many layers to see through. I just got a touch of simon's hurt from her comment. Maybe when simon gets to the Caribbean and Mexico she will realize it doesn't change a thing unless received with kindness and gratitude instead of resentment and greed.
1
Having survived this experience will help you in other ways and other situations. It's not nice to be judged first on your most visible characteristics. I'd suggest that the reasons it bothered you more in Italy is because the racism was much more obvious than it is here in America unless the person(s) involved are attempting to be exceptionally insulting. America has more experience as a multi racial society even if there is still a great deal of prejudice, racism, etc., mixed in.
48
What a world we live in today. I'm so sorry, Nicole. You deserved better. Thank you for sharing your story.
33
I'm a well travelled person of color. I've only been to air bases in S. Italy but I've heard about the racism of other parts ot Italy.
It has to do with a country's immigration policies. The less we of different races learn and are exposed to one another we are, the more accepting we are.
In soccer, Italian fans, like Spanish fans are known for doing monkey chants to brown and black players - even their own.
18
@C Lee
The Italians have a very liberal immigration policy. It is EXTREMELY difficult for illegals to be deported. No one is getting shot or having dogs turned on them at the various frontiers.
The soccer culture has taken place of the Roman Arena. Instead of Gladiators we have teams playing soccer. Sorry, but the Italians OFFERED me citizenship when I married my Italian husband. Getting a Green Card for him would have been a whole big Deal.
@C Lee
The Italians have a very liberal immigration policy. It is EXTREMELY difficult for illegals to be deported. No one is getting shot or having dogs turned on them at the various frontiers.
The soccer culture has taken place of the Roman Arena. Instead of Gladiators we have tens playing soccer. Sorry but the Italians OFFERED me citizenship when I married my Italian husband. Getting a Green Card for him would have been a whole big Deal.
7
I AM So sorry this happened to you. I moved to Italy in the 80's to run away from Reagan at the time. It was THE most beautiful experience of my life. I was not treated to the overt racisms of the US. No one thought I was a criminal from the start. AND no one thought I was American either. I left my hair and looks even more African. I lived in the south where people were very curious and welcoming. It was the first place I lived where I felt totally comfortable. It was a civilized environment. I got jobs easily (I mean real ones), probably because I was American. Of course occasionally I would run into a fool at the market screaming "la Negra" or "Chocolata" but I took it with pride because trust, I was one of less than 200 Blacks in the town. Everyone knew who I was. I do hear that today Italy is completely different and I am so sorry for your experiences. May your next visit be wonderful.
61
Racism is very present in to the Italian society. Look for Cecile Kyenge case. For personal expierence I know that is not only against african american, but against latinos and asians. Even the Italians born from Italian parents out of the country, are considered second class citizens!
14
Even in beautiful places vulgar people exist. Ignorance is a universal malady of the human condition. Our better nature calls upon us to rise above bigotry, prejudice and stereotypes. Sadly politicians and others in the World have found it advantageous to exploit differences for their personal advancement. Be certain in your own self-worth. I'm sorry for your experience. Don't let the vulgar and ignorant rob you of quality memories and experience.
36
Having recently lived and studied in Florence for several years, I can confirm that Italian men are terrible about harassing young women. However this happens to many American students of all races. An African-American classmate of mine experienced street harassment like the writer describes- she also interpreted it as racist. I wondered, however, how much was racism vs the harassment everyone was subjected to.
There may be another factor contributing to the writer's experiences. Florentines generally don't like Americans because we tend to have arrogant superior attitudes that manifest in expecting to be catered to in spite of not being able to speak the local language. If you compare this with the tourists who visit from other European countries who are humble, respectful, and don't speak too loudly, you can understand why they feel that way.
21
@LisaH
Good job dismissing the authors experience. You have essentially denied that racism was a factor, rather all women deal with this and being an American is the problem. For people of color, you learn to understand that many white folks just don't care for you. You see, hear, and feel this in a million different ways. It may not always be blatant, but subtle changes in tone, body position, and overall attitude are a problem that white folks still suffer from. It's time that we stop blaming people of color when they are disrespected, and just recognize that many white folks aren't woke. The burden that people of color still carry to this day is with the ignorance and explicit as well as implicit bias that most white people still suffer from.
21
@LisaH No, it was racist!
12
@LisaH I'm living in Naples now and have for quite a while. I happen to be white, and I've been solicited as a prostitute while walking my dog in the poshest neighborhood in town dressed very conservatively, no less.
That being said, what Ms. Phillip experienced is absolutely racism. There's no beating around the bush on this one. I disagree about the superior attitudes as well. Americans can be loud, but we generally try to be friendly.
And as far as the catering is concerned...well, Americans have a tipping culture. Italians don't and that is hard for tourists to wrap their head around.
25
I'm so very, very sorry for the terrible experience. I have often wondered if I could honestly recommend some of my favorite places to people--brown, black, older, younger, single (but especially brown and black).
As a middle aged white woman, I enjoyed every part of Italy I visited, but my white neighbor recalls constant harassment as a young blond college-age woman in the 80s and 90s ,with butt pinching, ogling, whistling, and so on.
As a young white woman, I did not enjoy most of Egypt--I felt aggravated and sometimes angry about "women's place" in urban and more rural locations, even in Cairo you'd be hard pressed to find women dressed "freely" (per my definition) much less anywhere out on the street after dark, much less alone without a companion at any time.
As a young white woman working in South Africa--just before the first free elections--I felt relatively "safe" (sexism notwithstanding) as I satisfied my curiosity in both typically black and white spaces. But the black Americans and South Africans I spent time with, for obvious reasons, could not do so as easily if at all.
In Buenos Aires as a younger woman travelling with my husband, I didn't experience any of the aggression or violent muggings that befell my single female friends who had travelled there before me.
To name a few places.
And then, of course, there is America.
Ms Philip, I wish humans around the globe would be better people. I am so very, very sorry.
113
Nicole, I'm sorry to hear about your experience in Italy and I hope you don't come away thinking all Italians are racist brutes. You'd think with the global economy and the internet people are now intelligent enough to respect one another and learn to judge a person by character and not by skin color. I guess not everybody. Sadly, when reading travelogues about the best places in the world to visit, you'll have to keep in mind the gender and race of the author. If you're a woman or black, you may have an entirely different experience.
14
Peoples that support racism need to be shown in no uncertain terms that the world rejects them. The Italian people once again in less than a century have voted fascists to their government. Italy has become one of the most racist countries in the world. A boycott of Italian products and culture should be followed by all well-meaning people around the world until they get to their senses. Apartheid South Africa only let go of segregationist policies and institutionalized racism when it became clear that its citizens were not welcome in public anywhere else in the world until they renounce their ugly culture and politics. It worked then, and it will work for Italy. The irony is Italians not long ago were themselves the butt of jokes and ethnic contempt across Northern Europe and the US.
13
This is true of a lot of countries. I spent eight months in Argentina twenty years ago and was constantly complimented on my blue eyes and European features. If they were saying that to me, what were they saying to people who did not have them? It is an ugly side of so many countries. I'm sorry the author had to experience this. The northern European countries seem more enlightened.
8
@J.W. Not true. I traveled extensively through Europe. I'm an American citizen and my family ancestry is from a mixture of European countries. I was told in northern European countries that I did not look "really American". By you saying that northern European countries are "more enlightened" sounds like you carry quite a bit of bias yourself.
9
My heart broke for you reading this.
For the record, I’ve lived in Europe with my husband for over a decade. Italy is a gorgeous country, but because of far too many nasty encounters with locals (aggressive, rude, dishonest), it is our least favorite country in Europe. And we’re white!
Yes, we’ve met many, many kind people in Italy, but when we have so many other nice places to choose from, we would be perfectly happy to never return. Unfortunately for us, that’s where many of our North American friends want to go when we they come to Europe. So we dutifully pack our carry-ons and gird our loins.
20
What you experienced should not be surprising. Unfortunately racist people exist everywhere. I spent over six years living in Germany. An amazing country and people. I also made numerous trips to other European countries while there. Amazing things to see for sure. Europe has many wonders to see. Though since I made my focus to travel to countries what make up the African Diaspora. Africa, Central and South America, to include Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Travelling to places where people look like me has brought many wonderful, life experiences and connections that I would never find on the other side of the Atlantic ocean.
11
I experienced racism when I lived in a small village in interior Alaska. Stunned to be present when villagers loudly and openly talked about “dirty white people” in front of me (a white woman), I later came to understand their history of oppression at the hands of white people. I never forgot the feeling I got when the racism was directed at me, however, and appreciate knowing how that felt. This was just one important lesson learned from my beloved Alaska Native students.
11
@Mary Kovis Watson I lived in Alaska for 41 years. I have seen Eskimo and Athabascan people screaming racist remarks are each other. Overheard once, "I'd rather be a stupid Eskimo than a drunken Indian." Meaning, there are lots of different reasons people are racist. Sometimes oppression, sometimes they are just idiots who reach for the most convenient thing to hurt people and race or gender come easily to hand.
4
Ms. Phillip’s piece resonates, having studied in Paris in the early 90s. I loved it, but I came home very grateful to be American. My first evening with our Parisian host mother, she asked me and my classmate where we were “from.” “No, but where are you really from?” Having grown up in Colorado in those years, this schtick was familiar to me. My host mother was satisfied with my answers within a few more rounds—American-born of immigrants from Taiwan. My roommate, African-American and Texan, was not used to this “what is your country of origin” obsession that many people felt compelled to ask us over the course of our time there. Our host mother was lovely, and being from Texas and Colorado, we tolerated quite a bit of what she said because she was kind. “Friendly racism” is what we called it. We had many classmates of color scattered across different European campuses, and when we met up, we’d exchange stories of living in Europe while not white: men greeting us Asian women with deep bows, hands held in prayer, saying “Chong,” or worse—in Thai (even chasing us or asking “how much,”) as their only point of reference for Asian women was Thai sex workers; black students being asked about the tribal significance of their hairstyles; more hilariously, our school’s visiting basketball team being mistaken for the US Olympic Dream Team. I recall one trip to Florence when my (Asian) classmate’s host mother told us, matter-of-fact, that “Chinese are an ugly people, but you are OK.”
25
50 years ago Italy, mostly in cities, all female adolescents and women were treated disrespectfully by men: catcalls, lurking and following, ignoring physical boundaries, etc. I wonder if these masochistic males were shamed into silence eventually but now flaunt their male power over minorities. This theory doesn't explain the very nasty woman, however.
8
No matter where you go racism is always on the trip. It appears in different slights on a daily basis. Sometime people pride themselves on their ignorance and hide behind different languages. However you stood up for yourself and that is what is needed on a daily basis. Only when racist people are challenged will they begin to change their outward behavior. It takes more to change their hearts but they need to know that they have no right to insult anyone nor are they better than anyone else.
Ms. Serena Williams made the comment one year when she was being called a monkey in France that her revenge was beating them on the tennis court, which she has been doing for decades. Making us all proud of how she carries herself in racist scenarios. Racism is like the air we breath always around us waiting to strike.
Have a great time at the wedding. There are more good people in the world than the fools you unfortunately ran into.
20
Nicole, thank you for telling us about your experience. I'm sorry that it went that way. Hope you had some good experiences too.
6
I am so sorry this happened to you. I am at a point where I don’t want to travel to several countries ever, due to the racist politics and attitudes. But I am of European heritage and I know for a fact that there are racists among many in that part of the world and always had been.
Yes the migrant crisis has had a detrimental impact on those countries and there are serious problems that have come with such an influx of non native people, this would happen anywhere, but there is no excuse for this, not in Europe of the US.
I recall when I was 17 traveling in southern Italy with friends, I was surrounded by a group of children who started talking to me. I delighted in it initially and then it turned really ugly with a little boy of about 11 calling me a slang for a prostitute in Italian which I fully understood because it was the same in my native tongue. At that point I got really upset, grab the boy by the arm and told him to take me to his mother to tell her what a rude obnoxious boy he was who disrespected women. I asked him if he thought his mother was the same as the slang term. He was terrified on the brink of tears and the kids who were laughing at his name calling looked shocked and scared. I can recall my male friend looking shellshocked at my reaction but as I told him then, that kind of misogyny in children needs to dealt with. If nothing else I hope that boy grew to be a man who feels some shame at the incident and his behavior and changed his ways.
53
Happened to me when I visited Rome in January 2007. I was shopping for a shawl in a boutique and the owner treated me very rudely and disrespectfully as I handled the shawl I eventually bought, all while I was being insulted and called racist names. It was disheartening, but I was alone and afraid and just wanted to get out of there. Europe is pretty racist. I think the college's study abroad programs have the responsibility to warn black students of the kind of racism they can find in Europe and in some other parts of the world. We're racist here in the US but it's different in Europe. There's a great deal more ignorance and cruelty. It's one of the reasons I dread the Trump administration. There's a European strain to the bigotry he's introduced. We've had George Wallace and Strom Thurmond, but this is just...weird.
26
In Italy, mostly in cities, 50 years ago, all female adolescents and women were treated disrespectfully by men: catcalls, lurking and following, ignoring physical boundaries, etc. I wonder if these masochistic males were shamed into silence eventually but now flaunt their male power over minorities. This theory doesn't explain the very nasty woman, however.
8
What a horrible experience for you. I am so sorry.
17
I am sorry about your experience. One should by no means romanticize Europe, it still has not owned up to its slave-trade past. But it's made up of different countries and cultures and that makes it interesting and challenging at the same time. That's why students should prepare for they study abroad programs.
Recently I met a former colleague, a well educated cosmopolitan Italian men who complained about the immigration in present day Italy concluding that since Hitler and Mussollin, Europe hasn't seen real leaders. I was left speechlessand in a shock.
17
Europe has been involved in the most savage wars in history among themselves. No one ought to believe that Europeans have abandoned aggressive ethnocentric attitudes towards even other European nationalities. And the continent’s racial prejudices have been sharpened by acts of foreign terrorism over many decades.
One expects, however, that, based on its history, European nationalities will turn on one another once most of the Africans and Arabs, who recently migrated to Europe, have returned to their countries, and are no longer scapegoats.
Thank you Nicole Phillip for sharing your experience recently with Italian (Florentine) racism. It reminded me of Oprah Winfrey being refused entry into a Paris jewelry shop (Hermès) several years ago because of her race. I bet we will hear more such stories from Europe in the next few decades.
13
@Bayou Houma
When I heard that story, I thought that Oprah should just buy Hermes, and fire that employee, or send her to race relation courses
2
It's the last few comments in the article that touches me most.
It is a strange notion but certainly not unheard of, that the most vehement racism often exists in places where the "offending" religion/race/nationality/ethnicity are either completely absent or a tiny fraction of the population.
I think also, the having the expectation that people are open minded somewhere and going to that place to spend your time and money, only to find such deplorable individuals gives the harshest sting.
It reminds me of a time I was in Split, Croatia with my parents, trying to bargain at an outdoor market. When we paid, the vendor muttered under his breath "Jews". It's not enough that country's Jews disappeared as a result of the holocaust, it's never enough. And that is the most disgusting thing about people.
I am sorry you had to experience that.
27
What is really, really concerning when you live in Europe is that more and more French, Italian, German, Spanish, etc. people (and let's not speak of Hungarians, Polish and so on) display overtly racist behaviours and discourses and are not ashamed of it. And it's related with the populist wave that sweeps across Europe (and not only across Europe...) But I won't say, in a culturalist way, that French are racist, or that Italians are racist, and so on. If you do that, you absolve each individual of their own responsibility.
23
I fail to see the news value of this oped. It's point seems to be something like "young African-American woman travels to Europe and discovers racism isn't constrained to the US". Ok, tell me something new.
19
@Puk It's attitudes like these that prevent people of color from coming forward with complaints of racism. Racism clearly isn't news. But how we approach it in 2018 is.
18
I am not surprised by the racist behavior she encountered. I am a Sicilian American and I used to visit Milan a couple of times a year for work. While some of the northern Italians were quite happy to talk to me thinking I was just an American, when I mentioned my Sicilian heritage, their attitude instantly changed. The look of disgust they gave me is something I will never forget. Then some would condescendingly tell me that I didn’t look Sicilian, not doubt due to my Irish heritage, which I neglected to mention. So an African-American woman in Italy encountering much worse behavior is not at all surprising.
39
@Julie B, perhaps Italians are very expressive people. So even their slight is exaggerated?
I am so sorry this happened to you. I wish the world were kinder.
12
My heart goes out to you, Nicole! Experiences like these are especially painful when unexpected. Coming from NY I never gave much thought to anti-antisemitism, assuming that was the baggage of my parents and preceding generations. During my junior year abroad in London in 1973, I met a group of English college students at a party. One young man wanted to know where I was born and I told him Long Island. "Isn't that where all the Jews live," he asked loudly. Suddenly everyone nearby stared at me as if I had just landed from Mars. When I told the young man that I was Jewish, he said, "that's fascinating, why don't you tell me about it." My experience was not nearly as ugly as what you relate -- and this young man was rather sweet and naive, not ill-intentioned -- but I will never forget being made to feel like the "other," somehow less. It was so foreign to my experience. I've had a few similar experiences in my life and have perhaps deluded myself into thinking this sort of prejudice has died out. More likely, I am still living in my NYC bubble, and merely insulated from being singled out in this way. Thank you for sharing your experience, which may help enlighten others!
17
Welcome to the world of traveling while black. I have been called: svartzman by a German couple in Italy while en route to Capri, I've been called an "unauthentic black" in Israel, but I've also been called Janet Jackson and Kushi in Jerusalem, I have been stared at (to the bone), laughed at, accused, stepped away from, etc., all in the name of international travel while getting to know the world better in Western Europe and the Middle East. But, I've also met wonderful companions and made friends whose presence allowed me to "breathe" more deeply around the world then I sometimes can in my own American backyard.
20
@Cliff I am not sure if "black man" (as the German couple called you) should be taken as an insult.
1
I lived in Germany in the early eighties as a high school exchange student and can confirm that those attitudes are not new. Often there was such a lack of understanding about foreigners, it was comical. One time a bunch of my friends and I took scooters to the local "American Style" hamburger place because word had traveled that there were real, live US soldieres there and they were black - something the kids had only ever seen in the movies (it was really the first time in their lives). Hard for a white kid from NY to imagine, but they were pretty excited, and the energy was positive. Other times were less charming, occasionally downright sinister, but equally uninformed. Lots of bizarre stories.
More of these stories need to be told. Things are not getting better in the West as a whole.
14
My husband and I are a mixed race couple, and when we make yearly visits to his retired parents in Europe we always hear at least a couple of negative comments from folks who do not realize we speak their language. The one that sums it up best was from an Italian couple we were sitting next to in a small Tuscan restaurant. The husband/boyfriend concluded a discussion on what nationality my husband and I must be by saying, "They must be American. They marry anyone over there." I'd never felt so proud to be an American, and was reminded how we are the only country in the world known for our commitment to diversity, and dialogue around minority issues. We are far from perfect but this author's story is a reminder that American culture is unique in that we really care, and try to address issues of race while in even the most cultured countries the conversation has not even begun.
79
@PS Mom
Definitely not the only country in the world know for their commitment to diversity.
- Your friendly Canadian neighbor.
8
I want to share the experience of my manager. My Manager is African and her dad is a diplomat. She grow up in France and when she graduated from a top University in France she started to apply for jobs. She told me she will rarely get any interview and one interview she got when she showed up the person told her sorry the position has been filled without even interviewing her. She had it enough and came to the U.S. for master degree. Now she works and lives in California and she loves it.
14
I love Italy - have been there several times and thoroughly enjoyed it - and I am a brown guy (and nary a slight). That said, however, I have noticed (it's obvious) that most Italians avoid migrants (many, if not most, are readily identifiable - and many are from Africa). Even some of my liberal Italian friends buy into the right-wing narrative that migrants are a burden and stealing jobs - but I have also met many who express sympathy, but seem resigned at the futility of how to manage what is really an unmanageable flow of the desperate to their shores . . .
13
Yes, thanks for your story. I am white. My best encounters have been with north africans, the friendliest i've met. (same in paris, esp in montreuil) . Milan seems much more progressive. Some years back, during the height of carnaval, florence, siena, etc, were all on the carnaval bandwagon. Milano OTOH was celebrating duke ellington's 100th birthday with a jszz festival. Go figure.....
2
A few years ago on my first visit to Paris I had been warned about the rudeness even the sometimes hostility to foreigners and I figured to minority foreigners even worse. I was dead wrong. My wife and I had a marvelous time and have continued ever since on our yearly trip which now stretches to as long as months. I regret your bad experiences, but don't give up. Everyone there is not like that. We have made side trips to Rome, Milan, to Belgium, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland and it was as great as Paris. I found your lack of knowledge about racial issues in Italy a bit surprising as it has made news worldwide for years, especially in Soccer. Next time read up a bit on where you're going and be prepared but don't stop your traveling. It can be marvelous.
7
Yes, most sadly, 'what you see is what there is'...unfortunately, in my forty plus years of living and working In the 'Bel Paese' I have been astonished and repelled by the ignorance of too many of its inhabitants, with regard to people from origins dissimilar to their own whether it be race, religion or place of national origin. After four decades, I have been obliged to 'tune out' to comments that in earlier years I would have responded to with anger, or simply gotten up and walked out on. In the past three years in which I have spent working day and night to improve the lot of people from sub-Saharan Africa requesting asylum in Italy, I believe that I have been thrust back fifty years to when I was working for civil rights in Virginia, in the sixties. I frankly do not know how many generations it will take to improve this situation....In this moment of demagogues sloshing through the airwaves in Italy as well as the States, stirring up fear and animosity, I simply no longer have the answer to what may help make change, although I know one must keep trying....
24
At times I get the impression that Americans that don´t travel much seem to think that their virtues and faults are their´s only; as if they weren´t part of the human experience.
9
I'm really disappointed by the number of comments that are dismissive or condescending. A young woman of color shared some very disturbing experiences that left a deep impact on her. The institutions charged with preparing her for study abroad failed her because of a lack of understanding and imagination of the issues faced by students of color. She writes about this experience as a caution to others.
It sure doesn't help tell her to focus on the positive, or lecture her about how there is racism everywhere, to accuse her of lacking life experience, or use her stories to somehow excuse racism in the United States.
Nicole: Thank you for sharing your experiences. This piece is a valuable contribution. I hope university and study abroad administrators take notice and amend their practices to adequately prepare all students. I'm so sorry this was your experience.
86
Exactly. She’s young and was promised a post-racial world as a child. It’s only just now sinking in how much she was lied too.
14
@Ann Jun By our Supreme Court no less, that felt that it was perfectly fine to no longer enforce the Voting Rights Act pre-clearance policies on certain, historically racist, vote-suppressing states. Her college owed her much more, and now should give her a refund. It's NYU so they could certainly afford it.
1
Racism exists and has existed everywhere and at all times. Different forms, different means and different situations. It's life. It does not have to be this way but that's reality. I was born in France during WWII from white very french parents and grew up in a large city that slowly became the destination of North African migrants. A few years ago I returned to visit my ailing mother and found an apalling and intriguing antagonism by muslim youths toward late middle aged people such as myself. Being pushed off the sidewalks, scorned at the metro ticket lines and insulted when standing at the pedestrian cross walk wait light became sad facts of daily life in the town of my birth, not exceptions. I had moved to the US long before my visit and had never experienced being subjected to overt antagonism, beligerent behavior and unfortunately malavolent racism. "You can't go home again" perhaps, but ethnic conflict for the sake of asserting one's difference is no longer surprising, it is the new normal. So, racism as deplorable as we might consider it will continue to persevere. The promulgation of anti-descrimination policies not withstanding, it's life.
8
How depressing. I don’t think these sentiments are new—my sister told me decades ago about the casual racism she encountered during her year abroad in France. But she heard those comments in private. With openly racist people now in government in Italy and elsewhere, some Europeans—like some Americans—appear to have concluded that it is open season on racial minorities. It’s disgusting. Maybe it’s time to look at boycotting places where the racism is encouraged by national or local leadership. Italy is heavily dependent on tourist dollars and deeply in debt. What would happened if they had a tourism season and nobody came? Education abroad programs should look at suspending some programs until their host countries address these issues. California will not pay for public employees to attend conferences in states with laws that discriminate against gay and transgender people. Why should they fund education abroad programs to countries with racist leaders?
17
@UCB Parent
If we never traveled unless we were sure that the destination was free of racism and unjust discrimination for other reasons, the problem is there would be nowhere in the world that was "safe." And the worst places would never be exposed to people with tolerance and who espouse the qi ulaites we'd like to see.
And . . . what do we do about our own country?
3
Hello
Wouldn’t it be better to start with the racism in your own backyard? Not condoning European racism but putting your own house in order might be a good idea.
2
Thank you for this column. I have been struck, time and time again during my travels in Italy, how difficult it is to be a migrant and a person of color walking around in Italy (and I am a white woman). I am sorry you experienced this, and there, as here, the racists have been emboldened by the rise of the Northern League (and they were never very subtle to begin with). Italiani brava gente has always been a myth, and there, like here, there's been a failure to recognize and grapple with the past.
51
@Jen Let's not get carried away about our greatness and our acceptance of foreigners. We, a country of 300 milion people accepted Syrian refugees in tens of thousands. European countries despite all the grumbling did significantly more. Germans leading the way.
3
@okomit
Uhhh, what are you referencing? She clearly said nothing about "our greatness" or "our acceptance of foreigners."
Better check your facts.
2
Saddens to hear about this type of ignorance. Just shows we have a long way to go. As for the Confederate Flags in Orange County, Florida--some of that represents the history and culture, not necessarily hate. Still feel that battle flag should not be flown, but 1st amendment gives people that right.
1
@Hello
"As for the Confederate Flags in Orange County, Florida--some of that represents the history and culture, not necessarily hate." If that were so, then would that justify Germans showing their national flag from WWII with swastikas? I don't think so. Also the Confederate flag is a flag of treason no matter how one wants to spin this tale.
19
@David Salazar - Thank you for your response! The treason part is something of which I never thought!
Years ago my daughter befriended an Italian girl at school whose father was here working for a multinational. When I finally met her parents, I was shocked by their casual racism and their shameless use of slurs. When I expressed my discomfort with their language they only laughed and said Americans are just “too nice” and that Italians are just “more honest”.
24
I can only imagine the pain and humiliation that Ms. Phillip must feel from such encounters. However, I am always reminded of cynical truism that is appropriate in these circumstances: Keep in mind, that half the population has a below average intelligence. Needless to say, nobody should judge themselves by the opinions of others.
Thankfully I live in a cosmopolitan multi-cultured city.
Although I am sure there is plenty of racism in my city, generally its confined to the very dregs of society. But mostly everyone gets along very well with each other and very few people feel threatened by other people.
I think the most important thing to overcoming racism is that white people need to get plenty of exposure to people of colour and other cultures.
This, in my opinion, is why many rural areas, saturated with white people, tend to be more racist than city folk.
So the only thing people of colour can do to change things, is go back to places where they experienced racism and continue to push to integrate themselves into these societies. Eventually they will get used to you and leave you alone.
In saying this, I have no doubt how difficult this process will be. But keep in mind racism is not only confined to people of colour. At one time the Irish and the Catholics were looked down upon by WASPs. Only exposure to these cultures changed peoples views.
5
We are shocked to find that a country in a continent with a long history of ethnic conflicts and a lack of racial diversity could have such racist people in it.
8
Are you implying by such a callous remark that people of African ancestry should take racism abroad in stride or just not travel to countries where they don't easily blend in?
13
@Gerry
Callous is actually a pretty good word to use here. Reality is callous. It doesn't care about your upbringing or your origins. It doesn't care about your feelings. It just is.
The human race is callous. When divided enough, as for instance into tribes living in comparative isolation, it exhibits behaviors that make callousness look tame. Wander into the wrong valley and you're dead. Your neighbors can and will raid you for anything, women and children included. Many cultures on this planet make American racism look like a birthday party. Try anywhere in Asia outside the modern cities, and often even within them. During the Vietnam War, Vietnamese were astonished to see black and white and Asian Americans working together.
This article is about somebody getting a heavy dose of reality. Reality is callous.
2
Sadly, hate is hate no matter where you visit or live.
5
@Ken You're so right Ken!
As for Caroline, I have to respond to her here because there's something wrong with the NYT program.
@Caroline
She is not after revenge. She is sharing valuable information that, contrary to what used to be (as in the time when black artists, writers and musicians took refuge in Europe) , black folks are no longer safe from racism in Europe, not even in Italy (where there is a recrudescence of Fascism (and persecution of Roma [aka gypsies, tziganes, travelers... who have lived in Italy for generations and now there is talk of taking away their Italian citizenship).
Don't you think that black folks travelling in Italy need to know this? That doesn't mean they shouldn't visit Italy but they should be aware of the situation.
16
And I walked through a black neighborhood and had someone yell obscenities at me for no apparent reason...
You know, people can be obnoxious, people can be mean, even vile, and some people will say very offensive things. That is just how the world is. It's not only white people or Europeans who do this, and publishing articles that make it seem like that is the case, is irresponsible. I've been subject to vile behavior by black individuals, and I know many who have similar stories. Will our accounts get published on the NYT? I doubt it, because they dont' fit with the prevailing narrative that wishes to vilify only certain types of people, while shielding others from all criticism.
The author of this article fails to draw one conclusion that ought to be drawn by her experience: things in the USA are in some respects better than they are often portrayed to be.
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@Oakbranch
Thank you for your privileged observation.
11
@Oakbranch I'm reading your account right now, so guess the NYT is OK with it being read. If the point of your story is "other people were mean, too!!!", it doesn't sound like a very interesting piece.
10
@Oakbranch What you experienced was prejudice. What the author experienced was racism. Note the difference.
1
Sorry to hear about your experiences in Italy. I wish I could say the situation was better in Germany, but it can happen here, too. Racist incidents are also becoming more common because with all the rightwing populism, certain people feel emboldened to air their racist views whenever they feel like it. It is rather depressing.
16
How do you begin to prepare for this? I want to study abroad and I'm applying this term, but I'm very nervous. I'm non-binary and very obviously visibly queer. I don't want to be THAT person, but I'm afraid of how I'll be received or if I should even bother trying to go to certain places. I don't want to miss out on any opportunities or closet myself again, but I also don't want to get hurt. Xenophobia is bad enough as it is in America, but at least I know more or less how to navigate here. What happens when you're in a strange new place and you don't have in the very least a home field advantage? This is not rhetorical, what is anyone supposed to do?
7
@Soph - go abroad! it is worth it! I would talk to other LGBTQQ folks on your campus who have been abroad, and see how their experiences have been. You should choose your program carefully, but you can certainly go abroad. Talk openly and honestly to your study abroad advisor about your worries, and that will help.
2
I hear you. Make sure someone has your back. Don’t assume the program will do this without a plan in place. Try to go with a friend. If that isn’t going to happen, try to get a list of students heading out there and see if you can get to know any of them before the program. Research and reach out before heading out there. If the following is true, tell your program you’re not going/paying unless there’s a clear plan for your safety and you know exactly what you’re walking into. #SpeakingFromExperience
5
@Soph I live in Europe. There are plenty of black people here. There are some idiots and mostly nice people. You shouldn't be thinking about this.
Have a thick skin. And, have fun and learn.
1
this article makes me sad because I love learning about other cultures, their food and way of living. I lived vicariously through Anthony Bourdain (RIP) and Andrew Zimmern. We have traveled based on their suggestions. Italy and other European countries should know that they do themselves an injustice by contradicting the beautiful and enriching picture both Anthony and Andrew convey. I WOULD HAVE loved to visit Italy for all Anthony and Andrew shared but will NOT now. So sad...and to think that at one time Italians were racially profiled....not to mention the fact....and the biggest contradiction...it is the center of the Catholic Church. So much for the teachings of Christ. Hypocritical and ignorant. A sad sad shame.
11
Maybe another who will realize that the US is not the horrible racist cesspool the race baiters make it out to be. In fact, in the scheme of things, it probably pretty good compared to many other developed countries.
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@Mark
You're kidding, right? You don't REALLY mean to imply that because racism is more obvious in a foreign country that the US is NOT "the horrible racist cesspool that race baiters make it out to be"? These are completely separate issues, having NOTHING whatsoever to do with each other!
Likewise, the implication that we Americans should feel good about ourselves because race relations in the US are "probably pretty good compared to other developed countries" is horrific. Since when do we aspire to THAT pathetic metric?
The Horror.
17
@Mark
It's sad that this piece allows Americans, who have a terrible record in terms of racism--and who embraced slavery (Italians did not in modern times)--to feel good about themselves. And for Mark of Massachusetts to think that the U.S. is "pretty good compared to many other developed countries." That is patently ridiculous.
5
@Mark
No it's not
6
No, no, no - everyone knows (and has been taught since birth) that racism is an American sin. It doesn't exist outside of this country.
18
So maybe America isn't so bad?
14
@Jonathan Katz
THAT's what you got from this?
11
Ask the busload of black senior citizens who were stopped from voting in Georgia last week.
14
@Jonathan Katz - You could not have said that with your tongue in your cheek! Please take the time to absorb what is & has been going on in America for centuries when it comes to Black people! Not people of color, unless you’re talking about the Native peoples. What a thoughtless & (being civil here) comment! SMH!
2
Its reality, we as people of African heritage are disrespected and even hated throughout the world, just like the Jew's. When I was a young boy ( Im 71 now) living in racist segregated Indiana and my father was trying to prepare me for a lifelong battle with racism, he used the Jew's as a example of succeeding even though you are looked down on by the rest of the world. One of his examples was Miami Beach where at one time Jew's weren't allowed. He pointed out that eventually guess who ended up owning most of Miami Beach, that right the Jews. Everything has been done to destroy them but they have prevailed. Its a example black people would do well to take lessons from. Get a education, make use of any advantage you can, be smart with your money. Buy what you need not what you want until you can afford it. If you look thru Jewish history you will see that they could not be stopped because they would not stop.
51
I am very sorry that happened to you. Please listen to your mother. No black person can afford to have the view of "my eyes weren't fully open to racism," especially now. I am not surprised the Italians reacted to you the way they did. I would not single out Italy though, this behavior could happen anywhere. You have to research the black and anti-black issues/experiences of any country (or US state) before traveling there and be fully aware of what to expect. Be safe and aware on your return trip to Italy.
13
What a sad article!
The writer should have gone to France
2
I studied in France (Asian American, my roommates were African American and another American-born Asian.) As much as we loved our time in France, we definitely had a schizophrenic, love-hate relationship with the country...the hate part was directly because of the very naive typecasting and aggressive racism we experienced. However, living in a place like Paris as an American-born person of color was also an incredibly positive experience at times—I fell into a peer group of other immigrants and recent arrivals from abroad. My circle of friends were immigrants from Africa, Vietnamese refugees, North African students...a circle of peers that is harder to develop if you are native-born to a country. And it was in France where—for the first time in my life—after people got to know me or detected my accent, I was called “the American girl.” Here in the US, I am referred to as Chinese, even though I was born here. My roommate who was African-American said it was also in Paris where her Americanness trumped her skin color.
8
@Sara Ha! I've heard a similar story from an Iranian-American woman visting Sweden, so this can happen in anywhere in Europe...
4
@Sara,
In my experience, France is a lot more racist than Italy. Think about the status of people of Algerian descent in France. Incredible unemployment.
6
Not sure of the point of the article. Racism wasn't created in the US. And people are bullies everywhere. She went to Italy for an education and she got one. Over time it might become the most valuable experience of college.
30
If you lived your entire life inThe US and never encountered racism, then you never travelled much. Ignorant people are everywhere on the face of the earth. What went well on your trip? Focus on that.
20
@Sophia
This response illustrates one reason why racism persists. Any time it is spoken about, there are those who want to change the topic. When exactly should we focus on the racism?
38
@Sophia Really? That’s you comment? She should suck it up, smile more, be nice?
25
I am not surprised by this author's experiences. While traveling in Italy 10 years ago my husband and I noticed how racially segregated their businesses were. By that I mean that only white people worked in shops and restaurants, only brown people in the established open air markets, and the black people sold their wares from cardboard boxes and were frequently rousted by police. As middle aged white people from a part of the US that has a very small minority population, it was still blatantly offensive to us.
15
Having had many many pleasant experiences in Italy(I am "white") I was disappointed to read of Nicole Phillip's problems there, not the Italy of my dreams.
That said, lets not give up on respect for and travel in that country, we can hope calling attention to racist problems there is part of the solution. Another takeaway is that western democracies should be cautious about being overwhelmed by unassimilated refugees and asylum seekers for that is so likely to produce general racism and it can destabilize democracy itself.
7
@Barry Schiller
These are people from former European colonies whose economies and societies were totally destroyed by colonialism.
Read some history books.
4
@Barry Schiller- Another enlightened, well-stated comment that is so heartening to read! Thank you & take care!
This is not a really new thing in Italy, but tensions are higher due to the migrant crisis. I can remember a long time ago, 1985, in Venice. A Italian man in our hotel told me that Northern Italy was so much better than the south, and that they had a saying: "Every place in italy that is farther north is better than the place 30 km south because they are 30 km closer to Africa."
14
@James they still say that now...and it's still not true.
3
Perhaps, if you explain to these folks that when the Moors visited Italy, they were responiable for the beautiful wavy black hair many Italians now sport.
14
@Walter McCarthy "Visited" is a very curious way to put it. Should we start describing European colonialism as "visiting", or is this language only for when people are trying to minimize the barbaric conquests of the Arabs?
10
@Walter McCarthy
Joking right? The Moors did not visit Italy! They were rapists and murderers, as recorded by local sources of the times. And, after 1200 years, in the Sicilian language, we still call someone who doesn't behave civilly 'a Saracen', i.e., a Moor.
6
I feel for Nicole. For several years, I worked for a junior abroad program in Paris housing college students upon their arrival. 90% of the students were housed with families and although the French have a well-deserved reputation for being indirect and cagey, several of them made it very clear to me (in a surprisingly direct manner) that a black student would not acceptable to them. A few of them mentioned bad body odor or strange cooking smells. While I abhorred their attitude, there was nothing I could do except house the black students with families that were not racist and make it my business to know who these families were and to make sure all students felt welcome and comfortable. Their attitudes saddened me and although this was in the late 80's, I doubt much has changed since then.
30
No you were right, anti Semitism is prevalent throughout the UK, every synagogue, Jewish school and community centre has a very visible security presence. A lot of this anti Semitism is very subtle but nonetheless it exists.
11
I did a summer abroad program while in HS and was housed with an Oxford don’s widow for a week along with another girl from the program. The host was (not always) subtly rude to me the entire time and delighted with the other girl, who could do no wrong. I was a Jewish girl from NY, the other a not Jewish professors daughter from Providence. Meanwhile I was polite, quiet, helpful and obeyed the program’s rules about curfews, drugs and alcohol; the other girl was breaking every rule and not at all helpful. Maybe our hostess just didn’t like me but I wondered...
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@Julie Zuckman’s I lived in London for a year and a half in the 1980s and have travelled there extensively since. There is a great deal of anti-Semitism in the UK. Of course, I half joke that the English look down on everyone, and I certainly met with a lot of anti-American sentiment, it doesn't change the fact of their anti-Semitism.
You could find this behavior in Brooklyn in the 1950s.
I lived in Bushwick one block from Ridgewood. On the Bushwick side everyone's family was from Sicily. On the other side of St. Nicholas Avenue they were German. The dark haired kids would get beat up if they tried to go to the other nicer park. My paternal grandfather was dark skinned, even his mother's naturalization papers said she was dark. My father's mother was German with red hair.
I was blonde and hazel eyed. My mother's family ( an old New York family) was originally Danish and had moved to Normandy in the 800s where they married Franks. After they came to America they married Dutch and German people. I got that side of the family for my looks. I could walk to that park with little problem. If I was stopped I just used my grandmother's maiden name, Theobold.
I haven't lived there in over 50 years now but I'm sure it's different now especially with all the gentrification.
3
“My mother’s family was originally Danish and had moved to Normandy in the 800s where they married Franks.”
Actual Normans. As in, proper original Viking Normans? The Germanic vikings who started settling in Normandy in the 800’s? Who created the kingdom of Normandy and went on to invade England and adventure into Sicily. Dates all agree and everything, perfect context. Wow. That’s kinda awesome. Didn’t know lineages could be traced that far. Fantastic.
(Sorry, completely apropos to the article in question I know, but...wow).
It never fails to amaze and bewilder how people can invest so much vitriol in something ultimately as trivial as skin pigmentation. Some day...
15
Your account of racism in Italy is disturbing and resonant. I traveled to Italy in 2015 with my parents and left the country very glad to be American above all else (I am of Indian origin). While this country has its share of racism, I never felt as "other" as I did while traveling in Italy. One memory that sticks is when we visited Pisa and sat on a grassy knoll next to a well heeled Italian couple with their son who was around 10 years old. The mother was reading from the guidebook in Italian to the son. My mother and I were a few feet away talking animatedly in our native tongue. We inched closer to the couple and their son to sit in the shade and the mother was distinctly annoyed by our conversation. We were not being loud or obnoxious but talking as people do in outdoors spaces. I cannot chalk this encounter to racism but I definitely sensed a disdain from this woman which was concordant with a general sense of disdain from all Italians toward other non-European cultures.
71
I’m sorry, but if people are talking way too loudly next to me, I’m going to have an unhappy face. Regardless of the language they speak, or anything else.
5
@Aleksey - Did you miss or decide to ignore the part where ‘Me, Here on 10/25/18’ said that they were not being ‘loud or obnoxious’?
12
@Aleksey
We were not speaking loudly but we were definitely speaking in a foreign language at the exact same decibel as the woman and those around us.
6
I’m so sorry that you encountered such racism in your stay here in Italy. Italians are without a doubt become a lot more racist towards black people in the last 10 years after the beginning of the migrant crisis, before they were also racist is just that we didn’t have virtually any black people so the racism was more towards rumenians, Roma, and in the north agains the south. There are some reason for it, of course is wrong, but the number of migrants were huge and we were unable to integrate them or to deport the one that failed to get asylum so a lot of them live in very precarious condition and a significant number turned to drug selling to survive (with no possibilities for other jobs) just this week a 16 year old Italian girl has being raped and killed in a squat by drug dealers. That said is of course terrible that we became that racist and that we were unable to cope and organise the migrant crisis better. One details of your article is wrong dough (I know is an opinion piece so probably not so fact check) the episode with the Italian athlete hit by an egg, it was in a first moment thought that it was an act of racism, it was later found out that it was a group of young guys doing a stupid game of throwing eggs to passer by and that previously of hitting the black athlete they hit a series of other white people randomly so it is now tought that she was hit as the others just randomly and not for the race motive.
27
@Grete I Was vacationing with my family in Italy in 1992. I am black but I did not encounter much racism but I saw how they treated blacks from West Africa who were selling stuff on the beach, so you can not really excuse this on migrant now. This has been a long problem in Italy.
9
She encountered some idiots, this happens and I'm sorry, unfortunately we have this minister ( don't want to name him) and people feels legitimate to acts as racist.
On the other side, people tend to assumes that italians are friendly, open-mind, always positive, this is not true, especially in Florence.
Florentines, in general (exceptions exist), are snob, provincial, they tend to have their circle of friends from childhood to death, and in general their friends are for Florence.
It's very very hard to become part of an estabilished group of friends for everybody here. Other italian cities are different, Rome, Bologna for examples. So to respond to the question in the article, yeah Rome is a more cosmopolitan city.
So maybe what she thought it's racism or some sort of prejudice towards her, it's the florentine typical way of act.
I had the same experienced of being ignored while asking information in Hamburg, I'm white, I have blue eyes, I look like german more than italian, but this happened. Was it racism? Not in its exact meaning.
Racism it's not always the answer to these kind of interactions.
Diffidence, prejudice, ignorance are always existed and always will, racism is a special case of these.
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@Gabriele
Being 'ignored' is not the same thing as what this woman has described.
15
@grrluns
That's true, I'm not saying that, and I'm not say that there is no racism involved in her experience.
What I want to pointed out is that every city has its own spirit and I know for sure that Florence is not a welcoming city toward strangers (italians too) and I know because I live there.
@Gabriele did you miss the part when the man called her and her friend "disgusting white women?"
it doesn't seem like a case of being "ignored" as you say. The comment was clearly and blatantly a racist one.
5
It's very similar in Paris. I was talking w/ a French man I had just met when he asked where I was from in America when I said New York. He said are you a Jew?? We're shocked/surprised but in Europe it's very common.
83
@Julia It's everywhere. We had just moved to northern New Jersey and I gave a birthday party for my six-year old daughter. One of the girls called out at the table "Who's Jewish?" and several raised their hands. She then called out "Who's Christian?" and several more, including my daughter, raised their hands. She then remarked to my daughter that she had never seen her at the Roman Catholic church in our town. My daughter replied that was because we attended the local Episcopal church. The little girl told her "Well, if you're not Catholic you're not a Christian."
It's everywhere, and it starts young.
6
@December - You can sure say that again - about where & when intolerance begins! I’m sorry that your daughter had such a hateful thing happen at her birthday party.
That was an awful lot for a six year old to say unbidden! And to be allowed to continue …. What in Heaven’s name was her point?!? How did the other children & adults respond? It seems like such bizarre behavior from anyone of any age. SMH.
Thanks for sharing & take care!
@Julia
No one has to ask if you are black..
7
Don't judge Italy or Italians and your time abroad based upon a few bad individuals or random experiences.
Remember the good, the beautiful, the positives.
You could run into a drunk, sexist idiot anywhere in the world.
7
@MS I'm sure you mean well, but please don't dismiss Ms. Phillip's experience and her evaluation of it. It is her experience. I don't want to assume that your dismissal of her experience as common and not based on race comes from a place of not having experienced such an encounter. What a privilege that is. But it sounds like it. While you needn't be apologetic about that privilege - be it white, male, nonblack or that of simply not having been in Phillip's shoes - it would be more appropriate ... helpful even .. to relinquish any sense of entitlement you may feel to reduce her story with your limited opinion. It would be appropriate, helpful, to just listen.
24
@MS
The author said the man who threw beer on her was not drunk. She specifically said, "He did not seem drunk." - most likely in anticipation of comments like yours.
One could also run into racist idiots anywhere in the world. The white man rejected by white women then threw beer on a black woman.
11
@B. H. - Extremely well-said! Thank you & take care!
So sorry for your experience.As the Dylan song says "the times they are a'changin". Am also an African American woman and attended the Stanford campus in Florence in the 60's. At that time the problem was the outrageous sexism of the Italian men who constantly sexual harassed ALL of the women in our group, touching us inappropriately on public transportation and in crowded public places. At no time was I,nor the 2 African American men in the group, subjected to racism. I have just returned to Italy, this time the Amalfi Coast and I found the Italians to be the same generous and welcoming people as before, but this time I didn't observe women being overtly subjected to the same harassment as in the 60's.
12
@tomat4
Absolutely my experience as well. Outrageous aggressive sexism throughout Italy exemplified by the hounding, chasing and attempting to grope American girls and women by gangs of young men running loose on the streets in major metropolitan cities of southern Italy was the case for me when as a 16-year old girl I visited Italy with my 14-year old cousin and her mother in 1971. We could not walk anywhere together in peace to see and photograph the amazing Trevi Fountain, nor any of the other stunning architectural and artworks abounding in any cityscape, anywhere, without being stalked, grabbed at, heckled, and cat-called. All of this was most distressing, and for a young girl -- terrifying. I will never go back to Italy again. The essay this author writes recounting racism and the account that tomat4 describes in her experience of sexism indicate that a subculture of barbarianism in the treatment of female tourists and those of color has been permitted to hold sway in the streets of this allegedly "civilized" European nation for decades. Italy may not realize how many tourism dollars it will never see due to shared reports such as these profiling the sort of abusive behavior one can expect as a female or person of color when an international visitor to any of its southern cities.
9
I met a Slovakian student 12 years ago while studying abroad in the Netherlands who was shocked to find out that I'm Jewish. He told me that I couldn't be Jewish because I wasn't ugly and didn't have black hair. I like to think he was an outlier and this is no longer a common stereotype, but he probably wasn't and it likely is.
87
I once met a woman from New Zealand (living in the US for a year while her husband attended a public Administration mid career program at Harvard) who recoiled in horror and backed several steps away from me at the moment she learned I was Jewish. This was after I had taken her kids and their friends to ride the swan boats at the Boston Common. It happens.
23
This story breaks my heart, and it's far from the only one like it. When I learned Italian in Bologna in 1977–78, I learned the expression "voialtri" (literally "you others," but essentially "y'all") in the phrase "Voialtri americani siete razzisti" (You Americans are racist). There were very few people of color in the city in that decade, but there was a strong awareness of the differential treatment of African American soldiers by their (our) own army in Italy during and after WWII, and the civil rights movement was in front memory. By 1986, when immigration from Africa was on the rise, racism was on the rise too, and it's gathered momentum in Italy as elsewhere. The paradox that Italian immigrants in America long experienced undeserved and hateful bias, violence, and relentless stereotyping is lost on those Italians who direct the same toward recent immigrants of color.
As a white faculty member I'm grateful that this writer shared her painful experience. It's essential that travelers and students abroad be braced for some experiences very different from the sun, food, art, style, and personal warmth so often associated with life in Italy.
38
Believe me when I say that I know EXACTLY how you feel. I have stories that I don't even share with people because it is too demeaning and they are the sort of incidents that I don't feel like rehashing. I lived my entire life in Canada and the United States and I only got around to moving to Africa two years ago. I love it here and I don't ever want to go back to North America. I currently reside in Libreville, Gabon. I've also visited Senegal, Sao Tomé, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, and Togo. But there is one place that I have been to that I think you would love: South Africa. Do your own research about which cities might best suit your personality, perhaps go for a short visit, but I think if you visited South Africa you would absolutely love it. The prices of the consumer goods there are super cheap because of the exchange rate. I took an Uber in Durban and when I got out of the car and looked at my phone, it cost $2.45. The country has all the amenities that you are accustomed to: food, transportation, nature, art, music, etc. But most importantly, none of the racist indignities that you were forced to endure in Europe will ever happen to you in Africa, I promise you.
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@Christopher
South Africa also has an extremely high rate of violent crime. Not just athletes murdering their girlfriends (although that happens), but robberies and attacks on strangers.
8
I am speechless, and very sad after reading this, but as an Italian born who goes back often with my Iranian American husband I know what she is talking about. No, it did not happened to us in that overt and disgusting way, but I have observed young African migrants trying to sell some trinkets to make ends meet being shouted at even before coming close. I feel sorry for my compatriots filled with such fear of other human beings.
25
I had a similar experience in Italy. My brother and I are visibly olive skinned North Africans. No one would give us directions and we felt very unwelcome. I won’t be spending my tourist dollars there again.
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Nicole, it's expected from the readers of a progressive newspaper, but, nevertheless, I am encouraged and inspired by the support you have received here, and I trust you are. It goes to show that Mr. Roger's mother was on to something when she told her son to look for the helpers in times of distress and despair, and know that good will ultimately prevail.
In my university days, a regionally popular song with a descriptive, though socially unacceptable title("Everybody Seems to Need a Ni...."), addressed this societal ill intelligently and thoughtfully. I searched for the lyrics but was unsuccessful in finding them. Anyway, essentially, the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.
Thanks for such a personal and meaningful contribution to THE NEW YORK TIMES, Nicole. Hang in there and know you have all kinds of support from the most unlikely of places. Take care.
15
I went to France for 2 weeks recently as a brown skinned man with my white skinned wife and my white skinned mother in law. I went for a meeting , my wife and her mother for tourism. On countless occasions, the French people completely ignored me when they were talking to my wife. In a taxi ride, the driver incessantly spoke with the two of them while fully ignoring me even though I was sitting in the front. There is some element of not wanting to speak English for a change, but something tells me that my encounters had another angle which the author of this article brings up.
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@indisk
I live in France with a (white) French SO. I speak French and have been routinely ignored, while my SO hasn't. There was definitely an angle beyond the language.
I also used to live in the southern part of the country, and it was one of the worst experiences I've ever had, on par with what the article describes. I don't blame Ms. Phillip one bit -- I never want to return to that region for as long as I live.
I’m very sorry you had such awful experiences in Italy. Having lived in Rome for half a year, I can vividly picture the incidences you describe. Italy has a colonial history that it never really dealt with, and it also belongs to the group of European countries with a deeply rooted Catholicism, along with Austria, France (to a certain degree), and most of the Eastern European countries. They are not and have never been the beacons of European liberalism. In regards of a culture of respect for minorities, they lag far behind the more sober, rationalistic Scandinavian countries. Germany is somewhere in the middle - people here don’t discriminate: They are simply not particularly friendly to anyone.
25
As for Germany, yes in Berlin (where Sebastian is from) people seem to be really rude and offensive to everyone (even to white Germans from elsewhere)(it is called „Berliner Schnautze“) but in the Rheinland (Cologne, Bonn, even in Duesseldorf) we are really nice (we do celebrate carnival and then, we are all friends).
Obviously, while these are relatively accurate stereotypes, they are irrelevant for the story as such, of course.
In the past I said to African American friends whom I met overseas that we do not have any relevant racism in Germany anymore but now, since 3 years and maybe triggered by immigration from Africa etc- this is unfortunately no longer true.
It is frustrating....
1
I am truly sorry you had such a terrible experience. You deserve better.
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Thank you so much for penning this piece and shining the spotlight on an important, unjustly neglected topic. As an Asian-American woman who has studied abroad in Paris and traveled to other European countries, including Italy, I was shocked by the provincial attitude exhibited by many locals. I consider myself fortunate to have never experienced the outright violent racism you have encountered. I am sorry that you had to deal with that, and can only begin to imagine how helpless, angry, and scared you must have felt at the moment. That beer-wielding ignoramus is a piece of human garbage and should be put in the stocks.
Calming down a bit … I have faced my fair share of microaggressions. I know, I know—sticks and stones—but words bite deeper than you think. My most colorful, “cross-cultural” encounters consisted of comments that fetishize Asian women, as well as silly greetings, lame pick-up lines, and coarse insults in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Let’s not forget the assumptions that am a certain nationality, eat a certain kind of food (“Have you ever had carpaccio? It’s like Italian sushi!”), and can’t speak the local language (“Actually … je parle couramment le français et ho una conoscenza di base dell’italiano.”).
This doesn’t absolve the U.S. of racism, by any stretch of the imagination. Once in a while, even in New York, I deal with ignorance and impolitesse. I do feel that generally, the U.S. is ahead of many, if not most, countries on the race relations front.
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@Sophia - I simply cannot agree with your statement that you feel, generally that the US is ahead of of many, if not most, countries regarding race because this discussion seems to be about Blacks living in or visiting European countries - not Blacks as a significant demographic who were born there.
American Blacks have, not only been a part of this country from its giddy-up, but have also been a significant force in its accumulation of wealth. Yet, as you are, no doubt aware, we come nowhere close to have ever been afforded the opportunities that we are due by right. In order for this country to accomplish this it has, again, from the giddy-up, masterminded the complete disenfranchisement of its Black citizens. Including fostering a belief system in our worthlessness as human beings. Being regarded as unworthy made & makes it easy for others to engage, not only in the behaviors described in this thread, but more insidiously, in the denial of those rights that would allow us to demonstrate the falsity of the beliefs which support this disenfranchisement.
This is at least one distinction between the treatment of American born Black people at home & the experiences those same people have when in Europe.
10
Reading your post, I felt very ashamed for what happened to you and disgusted for the behaviour of those people.
I am Italian and proudly love my country, but facts like these, nowdays, are so tragically common .
We may blame these "people" for their ignorance, but the dark side of our society , I am talking about Italian society, is getting deeper and deeper and is forgetting how Italians were treated in the past.
Egoism is growing, it is up to all of us stop it.
I do apologize for the your bad Italian memories you have,
many of us are not like them... Unfortunately, many of us are.
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@marco g. to read comments like yours from an Italian are comforting. As I stated in my post above, it is truly amazing how one group of people can wreak havoc, disdain, and prejudice upon another group after experiencing the same treatment inflicted upon them by yet another group or nationality. It's like we forget what it felt like to be disrespected, ignored, ostracized, and spat upon...and are quick to inflict the same vulgarities upon another group. We never seem to learn anything from such experiences. ...but thank you for caring.
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(continued from a previous comment)
As an Asian-American, I find it ironic that I feel least targeted and singled out when I visit Asia (and Hawaii, which is 40% Asian). People really do judge you on your outward appearance. I try not to let it get to me, but it would be a lie to say that it doesn’t. Let’s not delude ourselves—most people are not color blind.
What I’ve found helps is travelling, working abroad, learning about other cultures and customs, studying world history, and learning foreign languages. Only then can we better understand one another and bridge the ever-widening gap.
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My heart breaks for Nicole. Like all students who go abroad, we are excited about adventure and living in another culture. And then reality/daily life happens - the boring bits like waiting for a bus and the ugly parts like racism nobody talks about even in travel guides. I find schools/programs need to get participants to research their host country current/political events and meet exchange students from future host country to have a real discussion about daily life, the fun and ugly things to be aware of.
I studied in UK over 25 years ago. It was the first time I was seen as American not a minority. Some people thought I was Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese. Sadly I was reminded of California life when Welsh housemate recounted a time a girl from San Diego was complaining about Mexicans in California - the US version of the anti-immigrant sentiment that continues today. I am guilty like some Americans who romanticize Europe or any place abroad, thinking they are more cultured and sophisticated. Also before social media there are Hollywood/Disney images. I was unaware about prejudice in the UK - anti-Irish, anti-Welsh, anti-Scottish, anti-English sentiments, classism, etc. My parents tried tame my youthful idealism telling me there is good and bad everywhere.
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Very sorry to hear this terrible account. I can relate: visited Rome in 2015, went to a café one afternoon and was told they didn't serve coffee. The next morning I went to a restaurant for breakfast. It was early, so I was the only person there at first. After 15 minutes of waiting for a menu and watching staff skirt the walls of the restaurant and not coming close to me, I left, burning with anger. All the respect I was prepared to show Rome was lost.
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@LWCC Great job Rome. You forget quickly how your people were ostracized and fed to the lions for your religious beliefs. How can you treat another race of people in such a way? and this is the home of the Catholic Church...what a joke. so disappointed. this is not a good look for you Rome...or Italy...or Spain....or anywhere where you and your people conveniently FORGET the struggles your own people experienced at the hands of an enemy.
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Thank you for your essay. Italy like much of Europe has now and has long had strong populist, anti-immigrant and xenophobic currents. They often come out on the soccer field, where star players of African heritage are openly attacked with racist taunts, but it is disturbing to hear that this spills into every day life as you describe. Certainly, American study abroad programs should prepare all students for what the overt racism they might encounter (not uniquely in Italy, but in many places). It would be awful if this meant only white students felt comfortable going on these programs, as often (as in the case of your friend in Rome) the experience is overwhelmingly positive. It would also be of a benefit for everyone if students knew more about the politics and history of the countries they were visiting, not that this would protect them but at least prepare them.
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In the 13th paragraph, Ms Philip’s states that she was unaware of Italy’s past and more recent history regarding the shameful treatment of people of color. A quick check of the internet could have revealed issues she may have wanted to have been prepared for.
You must do your research before you travel and keep in mind that you’ll meet rude and stupid people along the way. That’s just life.
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@Solamente Una Voz: Easy for you to say that.
Have some empathy.
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@ABCXYZ
@Solamente Una Voz is absolutely correct. I am black and I feel it is critical to be aware of the racial atmosphere and the degree of anti-black views and actions before traveling to a specific country. It does not let the perpetrators off the hook, it provides necessary awareness for black travelers. If you can pick up and travel without a thought about your destination country, good for you, it does not work that way for some of us.
@Solamente Una Voz
Exactly, during our last driving trip through Europe, I made it a point to be well aware where the migrant routes where, and to stay clear of them, not that that has anything to do with the article...
Ironic given how many Italians have African ancestors, courtesy of the Roman slave trade.
It's one of the reasons northern Italians (blonder) view southern Italians with contempt.
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@Deborah Altman Ehrlich Your comment is at the same time close to the truth and very far from being factual. A large majority of north Italians are not blonde. Northern contempt divides Italy along geopolitical borders rather than ethnic ones: the object of contempt are the population of the poorer regions which up to the unification (or conquest, depending on the side of history one's on) were under Spanish domination. Though the South is more ethnically diverse, it not the result of the Roman's slave trade, which dates back millenia, but rather of the Spanish and Arabic (some centuries before) rules on parts of the south. Though Rome and Naples are very close one another and ethnically indistinguishable, the former are not the object of northern contempt and are not labeled as "Terroni" (which again is an insult whose origin is socio-economic, land worker, rather than racist).
To sum up, tensions between North and South, which erupted in the late '50s with mass migrations northbound, are socio-economic and along geopolitical lines. They shouldn't be conflated to the very true and scary racist sentiments which are growing lately in Italy.
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@Deborah Altman Ehrlich
Roman slavery had nothing to do with race (in fact, the concept of race was only invented in the 18th Century). North Africa was part of the Roman Empire and people flowed back and forth, so Italy, North Africa, and the rest of the European Roman Empire were a single mixed population. Because of the Sahara desert, there was no population exchange (or contact) with the darker-skinned people of sub-Saharan Africa.
Roman slaves were typically captured in war. They might have been Germanic northern Europeans as likely as North Africans (but never sub-Saharan Africans because Roman armies never went there).
The conflation of slavery with race is an American prejudice.
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@Deborah Altman Ehrlich
the ignorance and smugness of these posts is mind-blowing. No, the Romans did not practice African slave trade. True, Rome was a slave society, a distinction it shared with ancient Athens and Sparta and with... The United States of beautiful America. But unlike the USA, in Rome being a slave was not tied to race: people of all skin color could suffer that fate. Romans were not racially intolerant and in due time they extended Roman citizenship to all the countries they conquered. There were African Roman emperors, and prominent bishops like Augustine, who lived in what is now Algeria and whose mother was a Berber.
The African slave trade started after the discovery of the New World, basically in the 1600s, not before.
Get it in your mind, you proud, historically clueless Americans: you have the distinction of being the citizens of the one and only modern slave society -- a society entirely based on slavery. Period. Only America. Only in America did the state practice racism BY LAW -- Jim Crow, housing and school segregation. Only in America are black people being shot indiscriminately by the police.
There may be ignorant and stupid individuals in Italy, but racism today is widely vilified and condemned by the society at large and by the government. Southern Italians are darker because they are very close to North Africa and there was trade and contacts. In the Middle Ages Sicily was conquered by North Africa's Muslim warriors. Like Spain.
17
A skin pigment- melanin- has been the cause of wars, slavery, colonization, genocide, political turmoil, segregation and has caused more mortality than any religious divide. Pathetic. As a gastroenterologist, I am pretty sure people are exactly the same inside- I’ve seen it first hand. I have faced racism as a brown skinned Indian with a strange accent and name, more in Europe than in the US. Strangely, I feel safer and more protected from racism in the US without having a real reason to explain it. Maybe some reader can analyze this. Our constitution, civil liberties, legal system, newspaper coverage, not sure..
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@Pb America has been a heterogeneous society for a lot longer than Europe, and one based on immigration and assimilation. We're one of the first societies based on an idea rather than on "Blood and Iron."
And even though the Declaration of Independence was written for and by white male landowners, its words have by now been applied to everyone here.
So we're used to heterogeneity and our national ideology supports it. You could get hassled in some of our homogeneous backwaters, but I think the larger points still stand.
And however much Trump and his followers rail against "political correctness" it has muted the bigotry some still feel but feel less free to express.
America remains one of a handful of countries on Earth where anyone from anywhere looking like anything can migrate to, get citizenship, and in that instant become an American. The bulk of countries' people will never accept you as one of their own, no matter how long you live there or how well you learn the language and the culture. We will. And do, all the time.
Lastly, our crowning gift to the world is our informality, and that helps a lot. We don't stand on titles and "position" and inherited whatever. It's all about what you can do, not what your pedigree is.
And you never know how much an American you are until your travel abroad, as Ms. Phillip found out. I wish more Republicans would travel abroad. I think it would help give them perspective.
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sorry but you are factually incorrect about the history of Europe. (So are many Europeans too.) just think about how heterogeneous the Roman army was, 2000 years ago or more. There have been people of colour from African and other nations present in many European countries for hundreds, if not thousands of years, though we Europeans have generally been very slow to acknowledge them and their contributions to our societies.
2
@Pb What came to mind based on my observations is that you are not a Black person. In the US it seems important to emphasize in every way to every person that Black people are worthless. I infer this from, among other things, the business opportunities available to many other people of color from around the world. Not that these same people aren't disparaged & discriminated against by whites. However, to me, nothing speaks louder in this respect than the number of successful small businesses apparently owned by often barely English-speaking immigrants compared to the almost total lack of the same by Black people. The lack of opportunities available to Black citizens to do the same is the actual reason we aren’t able to open as many similar small businesses. However, based on the disdain that I have frequently experienced in these businesses, I cannot but conclude that this treatment by those with whom I & mine share a great deal of the ‘American experience’, is based on the easy to draw conclusion that Blacks are indeed worthless drags on American society who, with all of this wonderful opportunity available to them just can’t get it together to grab a piece of the American dream so obviously available to any & all who really desire/deserve it. These subtle, but insidious implications are, IMO, directed mainly at immigrants - it is unnecessary to do so with Americans who masterminded this invidious drama and, if not, have been thoroughly indoctrinated in it for centuries.
8
I am so sorry for your experience, Nicole, but I too, can relate. As a returning college student, I had the opportunity to participate in a study abroad program in Prague. While there, we visited Vienna and Dresden where I experienced the worst of several racist confrontations. Like you, I grew up in the United States and had lived through the usual American racism and bigotry. However, the open racist and vile ignorance of some Europeans was just too much to bear at times. After the semester was over, I returned home a much wiser person. I have also since realized that as bad as we have it here, at least I have a much better knowledge of what the ignorance and hate in this country is composed of.
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@dbeyers And, perhaps, from which it stems.
4
I find it sadly amusing that this young lady was so unprepared for racism abroad. I've lived in both Europe and Asia, racism and stereotyping abounds. Years ago I had friends in Germany tell me how much nicer Italy was because they kept the immigrants (Africans) out. I am often astounded at how little these university kids seem to know, and at NYU too. I guess they've just been raised to believe only the US is racist.
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@Moira Rogow
Amusing?
It's not 'amusing' when you are denigrated and insulted, perhaps threatened with physical violence in public in a FOREIGN LAND. Who do you think the police will support, a citizen, or a 'minority' or non-caucasian foreigner in the event of an assault.
Even contemplating the situation is disturbing—almost as disturbing as contemplating the same here in 'AmeriKKKa,' in the event the attacker/assaulter is 'white' and a 'minority' is the victim of the crime. In the past, I never understood why black friends of mine would never call the police in a situation wherein they were confronted or threatened by whites, because they rightly knew they would probably be the ones dragged off to jail. Which as at least some of us here in NYC are aware can mean that if you are poor or black or otherwise viewed as 'less than' by the greater segment of society, you can rot for more than a year in jail with NO CHARGES FILED. And no escape. Recently a young man who was held for over one year at Rikers—improperly, as he committed no crime—when he was finally released, he committed suicide, as his life had been destroyed.
Now, I wouldn't commit suicide in such a case, but as to what I would do...? Well, they say that when you turn the violence away from yourself and outward to the perpetrator of your abuse, that is progress.
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@Jon B I don't think Moira was suggesting that racism is amusing, I think she was saying that ignorance of racism outside the US is amusing. There's a difference.
4
@Jon B
Hey. It's okay for people to have opinions that are different than yours.
For the record, I was surprised to learn how much racism there is around the world just recently. Our narrative here is America-focused, so sometimes it feels like some of the worst parts of us are exclusive to us (which, of course, is not true).
2
So sorry to hear about your experience. I also had my first experience of brutal/unsubtle racism when I spent a year (on scholarship) as a student in Pavia, Italy - about 20 years ago. It left me with some serious anxiety and the realization that racism is REAL (alive and well) and that to be white is to be at the top of an unspoken global hierarchy. Eye-opening. I was never the same, for better or worse.
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@Zamboanga
Why would you assume that Africans discriminate against white people when you’ve never been there?
2
@Jasmine
Not really. Being white in Korea doesn’t put you on top of the “unspoken global hierarchy”. I’ve seen signs in restaurants that say Koreans only and was actually denied service in Pusan. And although I’ve never traveled in Africa I doubt that I’d be at the top of the heap in Nigeria. Racism isn’t just a white problem as is constantly hammered into us here. Protesting against that idea will only result in one being called a racist or not being woke, however.
18
This article saddens me not only as an Italian immigrant in the United States, but also as a mother of a bi-racial daughter. Italy is a beautiful country but some of the events that are taking place lately embarrass me and make me worry for the future of our world as a whole.
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I did a study abroad program with Broward Community College Florida in 1981 in Seville, Spain. One of my classmates was from Jamaica and had recently moved to South Florida. She was lots of fun and full of life and excited
about what the semester had to offer . She experienced some of the same looks , but luckily no physical acts towards her. It is sad to see the racial stereotypes are only being inflamed both in Europe and of course in our country all these years later. Like the author I was raised and still work in Orange County , Florida as well and still see these things daily . I do have hope however.
9
@jmarty386 You have hope in this time in our country based on what?
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@Marienne Branch
You have to have hope if you're going to work at changing things.
Giving up emboldens evil (which is what we are experiencing now in our govt.)
The United States is far and away the most advanced country in the field of race relations, even considering how much more we have yet to go in achieving genuine equality.
And the reason should be obvious: We have the highest mixture of so many different races, ethnicities and cultures among out citizens.
I am reminded of what my mother once told me: The first time she saw a black man was on the boat to America. She was thirty years old, and the year was 1938. At that time, it was almost impossible to meet a black person in continental Europe, let alone in Hungary, then as now one of the most xenophobic countries in the world.
When I walk the streets of New York, my hometown, and observe the huge variety of human cultures on display, I always feel grateful to be living in such a society, where all are members, all are welcome and, even if we still do indeed have a way to go, all are treated with some semblance of equality.
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@Allen Roth
While I admire your optimism, I think it unrealistic outside of more cosmopolitan areas.
Acceptance of non-caucasian / atypical people really is dependent upon where in the United States you are. I would not want to live in most rural parts of this country - anywhere. And there are many cities which likewise I would avoid. Why spend my time or money in places where people's first and innate response is to reject me?! No thanks.
24
@Allen Roth What an incredibly sheltered life you must live, if you are grateful to be living in a country where ALL are treated with some semblance of equality. It has been IN YOUR FACE CLEAR, certainly since your SEXUAL PREDATOR, LIAR and EXTREMELY RACIST PRESIDENT was voted in, that life is not safe or welcoming to anyone of colour.
Ask the mothers of black children, how they feel when their kids simply walk out the door.
Ask the mothers of kids who have been stolen from them at the border.
Visit a prison and take note what colour stands out!
Ask the people in the South who have watched in horror as the they have seen the KKK number of supporters explode since your President was elected.
As a Canadian who has lived at the border my whole life, very informed in U.S. Politics and visited the States on a regular basis, I have now given up my passport in protest at the ignorance and hate displayed in the last few years. Add to that the number of guns in the hands of these less than bright people and boy do you have a problem that no holiday in Florida or New York City is worth.
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@Jon B, I should have read your comment before I responded to Allen Roth. You said it so much better! Thanks! Take care!
It's really hard to imagine that in this day and age the author wasn't more aware of the rampant racism both here in the U.S. and abroad.
In any case, just a few suggestions: Don't let this experience scar your impressions and go back to Italy because it's beautiful country -- but brush up on your Italian first.
Don't forget that hearts can heal...And enjoy the wedding.
12
Not surprised by this perspective. I think anyone who says the US is the most racist country in the world probably just hasn't been a lot of places.
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@Russell Nicholas - Racism against Black Americans in the US is not exactly the same as the skin color discrimination in Europe that I’m beginning to learn about on this thread. What that theory seems to imply is what this thread is diccussing that is going on in Europe against Black tourists, immigrants & citizens.
I explained in a couple of few comments above my views on the difference between racism in the US & some of what goes on in Europe based on this thread. If you’re at all interested.
Many U. S. citizens cannot afford to travel the world to gain a more balanced view of racism. But I don’t think that it’s necessary for them to do so because I’ve not heard of any European country with the same history of the disenfranchisement of its Black citizens as that of the US. IMO, that distinguishes it from Europe & its immigration & other race problems
6
@Marienne
This is funny. Europe has no history of disenfranchisement of black people because there were no black people in Europe until relatively recently.
Europeans have done their level best to discriminate and disenfranchise other vast groups of people, and some of them continue doing so to this day.
5
@Russell Nicholas
I'm a Black woman raised in New York who has been to dozens of countries all around the world, both alone and with others, and by far America is THE MOST racist place I've ever been. Both in overt, covert and microaggressions lobbed within a specific time period. (I know, I've counted).
I know of other well educated, traveled Black women in corporate America that feel and say the same. So you definitely have the wrong viewpoint there. You might want to consider whom is was you've asked that question.
With that said, I feel deeply for the author of the piece and I'm sorry she had to undergo such horrible treatment. There is simply no excuse for the ignorant and thuggish behavior she had to endure.
26
Nicole, thank you for sharing your experience. I'm really sorry to hear this happened to you, and I'm almost in tears.
I'm an African-American woman who shares a similar experience. I visited Rome about 15 years ago. While I was waiting at a train station, a man cornered me, pointed a gun one inch from my head, and threatened to kill me, all the while yelling the word "slave" in nearly every language other than English. The police and others looked away. Confronting the man, I imagined that the gun was made of plastic and that he was a lunatic. But suddenly I felt the meaning of the swastikas I'd seen scrawled throughout the city. I recalled that African immigrants were kicked and yelled at. But I also wondered why none of my friends had warned me about Italy. My travel companion blocked out the incident. I felt betrayed.
I've lived and traveled extensively throughout numerous major cities and countries. I've never experienced anything like what happened in Rome. Throughout I was harassed, even in museums and restaurants. I didn't just see racism. I witnessed and viscerally experienced the open and routine denigration of people of African ancestry. It was frightening. But what was more frightening is when no one else seemed to notice or even care.
These are not uncommon occurrences in Italy, yet people are reluctant to acknowledge them. I'm glad that you had the courage to work with NYU and to publish this essay so that others may be informed. Happy future travels!
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@Michelle Sorry this happened to you and the author of this note. It is really shameful and unacceptable. However, I can assure you that many, many Italians I know, are completely different from those who did and said those terrible things to both of you. But look no further, minorities here may not be exposed to the abuse you experienced in Italy. However, look what is happening right now in our Country. We have a president who spares no words in praising "fine people" carrying the confederate flag, in demeaning women and mocking the disabled. Yet he enjoys the support of WELL OVER 45% of the population. I guess there are brainless people everywhere, some are just more vociferous in certain cultures.
5
What possibly could have motivated you to say "these are not common occurrences in Italy"? What data support that apology for Italy's pervasive racism? Are we, America's inteligencia, so bound to self flagellation and pseudo-cultural "sensitivity" that we can't make obvious observations or condemn obvious evils? Have we really become a bunch of pandering sycophants wandering Europe like Rick Steves fawning over the banal and unable to comment on horrible behavior?
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@TJ Michelle said "these are not UNcommon occurrences", I assume based on her experiences that she recounted.
2
If it makes you feel any better (and it shouldn't) I had similar experiences as a fat person. No one seemed to be the least bit shy about expressing their distaste at my appearance verbally or physically. I am a staid 60 year old with an academic look, nice clothes, pretty good manners, always try to speak a little of the language, etc. And, when you come right down to it I'm not really very fat at all. I was bumped, punched in the arm, verbally assaulted multiple times during my two week stay in Florence (I love art). I did not experience this outside of Florence, I will say, so maybe their tourist overload has them angry and on the alert for us offensive types. Or maybe they are just so much more superior than all the rest of this they have license to express their feelings in this way (yes, that's sarcasm).
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@Charlotte K, Dear One, I am sorry that you had such an experience! I suggest that you read the above 10/23/18 comment of PC from Florida - it speaks specifically of Florence, Italy at some length. I hope that your future travels are distinctly more pleasant. Take care!
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@Marienne Aw, you're sweet. I travel all the time and love doing it. What I experienced in Florence was just not very nice. I've been there before, and I don't need to go back. What was interesting to me is that for years I've heard how prejudiced the French are against the overweight and on a recent trip there, I was treated with kindness and respect at every turn. I think the Florentines must still think they are the superiors of all due to the Renaissance. Unfortunately their prejudice against me (and others) has made me prejudiced against them! :-)
Nicole Phillip, racism in all its many forms exists in every country. You refer repeatedly to "racial encounters" presumably because you, like me, were born in America and were brought up in a country where every one of us is assigned to a "race".
Italians and Swedes who display racist behavior do not do so because they necessarily believe there are races - there are not, at least in any scientific sense, but rather because of any and all of the following: skin tone, language, religion, country of birth, and more. Erik Bleich explains all this in The Freedom to Be Racist, his study of racism in Europe and in the USA. He, a Political Scientist at Middlebury College in Vermont makes a very strong point that racists are experts at finding some difference on which they can justify their racist behavior.
I make this point because I read that you are the editor at the Reader Center and should therefore realize that the Times and its writers need to free themselves from slavish dependence on the USCB nomenclature and concepts.
In Sweden right now, the two strongest forms of racism are very likely religion based anti semitism and anti Muslim with color, not "race" as perhaps next after those.
We need an Erik Bleich article in the Times, bringing readers an up-to-date version of his book. Then maybe Americans abroad would become a little better informed about international racisms.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US Se
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@Larry Lundgren
I don’t see how a fine parsing of the labeling of hatred makes any difference.
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@Larry Lundgren, What does USCB mean? Thank you!
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@Marienne Maybe, United States Census Bureau?
Italy seems to be in a bad place just now, with many immigrants 'of color' from Africa and the Middle East, and a new government fanning flames of hatred. Check out the news stories about Lodi, where the right-wing mayor has enforced rules that humiliate small children of immigrants in the schools. Video footage on the show 'Piazza Pulita' documents the anger and abuse of certain townspeople toward these refugee families. But the good news? All over Italy people responded with crowd-sourced funds to support the immigrant families. Some rise to the occasion, others sink. Don't judge the whole country by s few jerks.
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@brent
Italy has been in a bad place for a while, with that exactattitude. Considering she is the one that experienced the violent treatment she definitely has the right to judge the country and decide if it's worth her time and money in the future.
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I have always loved Florence and had thought the people charming, but the treatment you have experienced, Nicole, has left a nasty taste in my mouth. Hopefully, these racists are in the minority, although if you are on the receiving end of their behaviour, one racist is one too many. I cannot understand how anyone can behave disrespectfully to a stranger, especially when they are a guest in their country.
Florence is a beautiful and wealthy city, but the behaviour of some of its inhabitants does little for its reputation ...
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Thank you for your thoughts, Nicole. I just got back from several weeks in Italy myself. I'm very sorry that racism reared its ugly head while you were there.
I do not mean to treat your misfortune lightly. But it would be a terrible shame for you to let unkind words and some splashed beer leave a permanent "deep scar" on your psyche.
I'm going to dare to ask you for some perspective. Many people are mugged while traveling, some in situations where they fear for their life. Others are assaulted. These things have happened to me. Many young women are raped while traveling.
You on the other hand were insulted.
For as long as you live there will racists around. You can't control that. You can, however, control your own reaction to these racists. I challenge you, for your own good, to let their slights (and their beer) roll right off you. Don't be a victim. Be strong. Be bigger than those small-minded people who insulted you. Pity them, perhaps even return their hate with love, and above all, refuse to let stupid words from a stranger leave a "deep scar" on your heart. Don't give them that power.
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@Ted Morgan
Agree! Thank you for this thoughtful advice. As the mother of 2 young girls who have gone from being 'model minority' to 'maybe Middle Eastern?' this is what I tell them too - pity them for their ignorance. Do not let them define you.
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@Rice Cooker
when their "defining you" includes physical threats and acts it's kind of hard not to "let them." Sticks and stones may break my bones, and I don't want my bones broken.
I will take the much maligned "political correctness" gladly, myself. In my day, we called it "good manners."
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Apologies, but simply because the author was not raped it does not mean she was not scarred.
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I am sorry your visit to Italy was so dreadful. I think being in more cosmopolitan areas helps. While traveling in Iceland, I was routinely harassed by white teenage boys in one small town. But thankfully, I could barely understand them. When enough of our green money no longer looks black, perhaps it will change, but I doubt even then that it will. While reading your essay, I thought of the scene in the movie “Love and Basketball.” The fictitious African American baller playing in Italy says, “Them Italian men can’t get enough of me.” Or something along those lines. In her case, it was her way of taking charge of her sexuality no matter the stereotypes. There didn’t appear to be violent hate at stake, but it could be part of the subtext. I will say this: I used to love to travel abroad. Not anymore. This world is strange. Our country is definitely strange. I don’t know how this will end. A bad cycle? Or a slow and ugly descent? Onlookers should do more if they want to share a better world. They will be part of any ugliness ahead whether they speak up or not.
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@Milgaldo
I'm curious, I have thought about traveling to Iceland, where I had imagined people were largely free of racist hate against other ethnicities. So is this something which any non-caucasian can expect to encounter?
I had a very nice experience in Sweden (which I know is very different from Iceland!), I don't think I had any negative reactions based on my apparent non-Swedishness.
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I never knew how bold people overseas act when it comes to a different race. I empathize with your experience.
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@Larry Lundgren
And 40% is not the majority of Americans.
@Freddie
You really need to travel more!
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@Freddie - Freddie, I use Sweden as one example of the difference between the USA and most European countries. You as American write "when it comes to race".
In Sweden people are not classified by "race", that is a specialty of the US Census Bureau, Racism has many more forms than the one focused on in the USA, racism based on the belief that there is a white race and a black race.
In a comment just submitted I refer to Erik Bleich' book, The Freedom to Be Racist in which he reports on comparison of racism in the USA and in some European countries. Racism here but also in the USA is discrimination based on difference - religion, country of birth, skin tone, language spoken. The racism that Nicole Phillip met is very likely based simply on skin tone not some belief that she belongs to a race.
As for boldness, the USA has a president who is more bold in displaying racism than the man who threw beer at Ms. Phillips. He was just an individual whose background we know nothing about.
Donald Trump is not "just an individual" but a man who speaks for at least the 40 percent who put him in office.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
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10 years ago I too had similar (but not nearly as bad) experiences in Italy. My wife and I were on honeymoon in Rome and enjoyed our time there immensely. All those whom we encountered were courteous and helpful. We communicated mostly in Spanish and broken Italian.
However upon entering Florence, the experience changed. One shop keeper ran us out of his leather goods store for touching a bag. I don't understand what the difference is between the cities.
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@JM
I've been to Italy a dozen times now and have never experienced anything that has been mentioned by you or Nicole. Florentines have the reputation of being the nicest people in all of Italy the Venetians not so much. I am quite surprised by the reactions you got. I can say that the migrants who have entered the country have made the place quite different. They sell knockoffs inches from storefronts that is not a good thing nor should it be tolerated. There are racists everywhere and I hope Nicole should she return find the environment different than her first visit.
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@JM, Have you read the above 10/23/18 comment by PC of Florida? She lived in Florence for 22 years & shares a perspective of its people that might shed light on your experience. Take care!
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I was sorry to learn of Ms. Phillip's bad experience.
NYU seems largely to blame, for its obvious failure to prepare students studying abroad to deal with different cultures and mores, especially as they relate to race.
Almost 50 years ago I (and many others) helped Peace Corps develop and implement a variety of orientation and training techniques to help Volunteers understand and adapt to the widely varied countries and cultures into which they were sent.
These techniques were well-established several decades ago and have been widely used by other organizations and corporations, so I am dumbfounded that a university of the stature of NYU was (and may still be) unaware of them. I certainly hope that other colleges and universities with study-abroad programs offer such training to their students, and that NYU has become woke about this.
Actually, racial problems abroad are not always black-and-white, literally and figuratively. There are several countries in Africa and Latin America where some "black" people blatantly discriminate against other "black" people based on the darkness and tint of skin color. One of the saddest examples I saw was an African-American Peace Corps staffer and several Volunteers who were regularly called awful racial epithets because their skin color was so much darker than that of most local inhabitants. This seemed to be mostly a problem of assignment; I am not sure training and orientation can prepare anyone for such blatant discrimination.
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@Ro Ma
NYU may need to change it’s practices, but it’s not to blame for other people’s racism.
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What are you proposing NYU do? Single out their students who want to travel abroad and are not white and say "dont go." What you propose is more complicated than you think.
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@Ro Ma, many would argue that the Peace Corps itself was racist. Let's hope it's changed tremendously in the past 50 years. Also, as we know, for instance, from the genocide that took place in Rwanda, the examples of colorism you describe were stoked by colonial favoritism based upon white standards of beauty or intelligence. Further, there are several countries in Europe where darker black citizens experience racism more than those lighter in skin tone Inasmuch, those examples are indeed, black and white.
Racism and other forms of discrimination exist everywhere. In the US, they are hidden behind the mask of political correctness. In other countries, where such concept does not exist, people express it openly. Regardless of the race, the beer spilling is a type of an assault and the author should have notified the police. I read this article with a heavy heart and I did not doubt what the author had experienced, but my experience in Italy, as a poor immigrant from the USSR was remarkably different. Maybe because we stayed in a small town where we were welcomed with open arms by our Italian neighbors.
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@Irina
You read her story and that's what you came up with?
"Maybe because we stayed in a small town where we were welcomed with open arms by our Italian neighbors. "
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@Irina, maybe it's because you aren't black?
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Interesting, you would think that a young black well dressed women would not suffer from such comments in a cosmopolitan setting. My father came over after WWII, and did not like blacks. Until Martin Luther King, he liked him and it helped to turn his opinion around. That and he said it was wrong to put dogs on to people. He spent most of his formative years in Somalia.
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I’m currently in Italy, and as an older black male who’s been to many foreign countries I can totally see through the lense of this young lady view on Italy. Mind you, I’m still here in Sorrento.
In the two weeks that I have been here (Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi, I see zero reason to came back.
No more complaining about the rube people in the US, The Italian people that we encountered thus far are rube, and have zero since of hospitality. If you’re not spending money with or for them keep it moving.
This will be my first and last trip to this country.
PS, thus far the best time I’m having is with other tourists NOT Italians.
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