Outrage in Italy over banana attack on black minister

[Bosonic]

Source: India Times

ROME: The latest racist attack against Italy's first black minister, in which a banana was hurled at her during a rally, sparked outrage across the political spectrum Saturday.

Immigration Minister Cecile Kyenge was speaking a Democratic Party (PD) rally on Friday when an unidentified spectator threw a banana at her, missing the stage but sparking reactions of disgust from across the country.

Shocking cases of abuse have multiplied against Kyenge, an Italian citizen born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, climaxing earlier this month with a member of the anti-immigration Northern League party who likened her to an orangutan.

Kyenge, who has refused to rise to the bait or write Italy off as racist, immediately reacted to the banana attack by slamming it as "a waste of food."


Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/outrage-in-italy-over-banana-attack-on-black-minister/articleshow/21406960.cms

[DFW]

1. What is our Republican Party doing in Italy?

I remember when Howard Dean couldn't make a dinner date because he had to go to Italy. I asked him, "what are you doing in Italy?" Howard said he'd been asked to help organize a Democratic Party there. It looks like he did

It also looks like there are plenty of Italians taking their inspiration from our Republicans as well

[ForgoTheConsequence]

2. Republicans are repugnant.

But right wing Italians have been Grade A racists for a long time. They're professional racists.

[JoeyT]

5. So are Republicans.

A large part of their base and a good chunk of their representatives are still pissed about Jim Crow and slavery being gone.

Edited to add: Just reread your comment and caught the context. Sorry about that.

[Posteritatis]

9. Other nations can have horrible racists without American intervention, you know. (nt)

[bananas]

3. Wasn't me. nt

[hrmjustin]

4. This is sick!

[lebkuchen]

6. I was in St. Petersburg, Russia right after the Zimmerman verdict

I was wearing a black skirt and black "hoodie" with the hood pulled over my head because it was chilly. Four teenage boys approached my husband and me somewhat menacingly, smirking. They said, "Hello, Ni**er."

As with Florida, there are countries in Europe where you don't want to be black, or even wear a black hoodie, in my case.

[Igel]

7. Two bananas, actually.

They landed on the stage between the minister and the moderator/MC.

[surrealAmerican]

8. Well, at least it "spark(ed) reactions of disgust".

... pretty nasty, though ...

[Judi Lynn]

10. Can't imagine how hateful someone has to be to do this.

Who would want to be the person doing that, anyway?

No better than defecating in public, yet the attempt is to try to make someone else look bad. It just doesn't work out that way.

[Lugal Zaggesi]

11. She's right

it is a waste of food.

But that stupid "La Tomatina" festival in Spain is worse:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tomatina_2006.jpg

I'm not too fond of hot dog eating contests, either.

[Seeking Serenity]

13. That La Tomatina looks like fun

An organized food fight.

[laserhaas]

12. Just remember the line Dennis Hopper told Christopher Walken about how Italy

was conquered by the Moores -

they can't take reminders of their lineage.

[carla]

14. Mary Tyler

Moores? Is it that hard to check spelling? Sorry, but Moores? Really?

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

16. Moops!

[laserhaas]

15. Hey - you say - Toe mate toe and I say - Who gives a Frk....

N'est-ce pas!

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

17. Thankfully, the majority of Italians is not like this ignoramus

or the far-right idiots of the Lega Nord.

Ms. Kyenge is from my neck of the woods in Italy, where people of all colors and backgrounds are not a rarity at all, due to the esteemed universities in the region, etc.

She has done a fantastic job and has kept her poise even despite the ignorance of some people. She is a beautiful woman and I'm proud she is an Italian just as I am proud Mario Balotelli is an Italian (despite his crazy antics).

[Pterodactyl]

18. It just goes to show how far Italy has to come. Very sad.

[Nye Bevan]

19. Believe it or not, the US is one of the least racist countries in the world.

Some of the racism and anti-Semitism you see in other countries is just horrible. And how many other countries have ever elected a member of a racial minority to Head of State or Government?

[Doctor_J]

20. remember when Esquire had the annual Dubious Achievement Awards?

One year a black woman won the Miss Italy pageant. One of the judges remarked afterward that he'd voted for a different candidate, because, "Black women don't conform to the Italian ideal of beauty". Esquire's caption:


What, no mustache?

[Sunlei]

21. Italy: Ku Klux Klan 'seeks new members' (in 2007) those Fuc*s spread like cancer.

and now someone gave them massive funding in the past decade so they can have a tv station, singing groups and overseas chapters. their membership list and donators should be public (or hacked public) so the entire world knows who the freaking 'proud members' are.


"" Rome, 2 Nov. (AKI) - The American white supremacist group, Ku Klux Klan has reportedly appealed for new members to join the organisation in Italy. According to the Italian daily, La Repubblica, the KKK established operations in Europe in 2007 and after internal conflict, the movement was dissolved.

However, some members, primarily Italian and German, turned to American members known as the United Northern and Southern Knights in a bid to spread the organisation's message in Europe.

"After brief talks and negotiations, it was decided to create a parallel European Klan loyal to the American one. This initiative was ratified by the rest of the world in August 2008," said an Italian neo-Nazi forum on the Internet.

The Italian chapter's website announces an appeal for "new enrolments" to join the movement, which just like its US counterpart fights against "blacks, homosexuals and immigrants," but also "Jews".

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/CultureAndMedia/?id=3.0.3940741625