AND THIS IS WHY SO MANY OF US LOVE YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!!

thats the ish right there bra, its all around the world, but sometimes I don't think it racism but just fear of the unknown, I'm black in a punk band in london and when we do a tour around other town in England its like that.

peeps just stare, minding your own business walking around town, the look I get, but you know these guys don't see alot of black peeps except for the negetive stereotypes pumped up consistantly in the media, so I don't expect much

but once you get to know, and speak to these folks who never seen black folks in their life they are nice people

HMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMM lets see.........

Webster Online

Main Entry: nig·ger
Pronunciation: 'ni-g&r
Function: noun

3 : a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons

Not knowing the 1900-1970 is over......... a great social disadvantage!!!! 

Yep they fit the bill!!!

Go Blessed with Peace,

Tamika LaShelle 

Only giving kudos cause you spoke out!

My mom (gorgeous corporate black woman, still looks like she's in her late 20's) worked in Europe for a while, said the exact same thing about Italy.."I didn't think there was a place on earth where it was still ok to whisper 'look at that nigger'"...

But, what to expect when Rome (and Greece, Britain, Spain, France) are the birthplaces of Western civilization--the newest group on earth to join "civilization"--them that robbed the fuck out of African and then Native civilizations to get past that whole Cave Man thing, then decided it might be best to own or off us all so we don't suddenly come together and take back our shit!!  Man, Italy practically invented hating Afrikans... Sad state of the world.. good thing there's still beautiful people, love, music, art, compassion, wisdom, LIFE, adventure, and humor through it all.  Good luck not knockin anybody out.. if you get arrested for beating some Italian nigger down, just use this blog as proof that you were provoked!

FINALLY someone else makes a sith reference to the new pope....

david brenner = hahahahah

f italy

Man! I love Italian food.

Brother, I feel the pain. Just keep being you what else can you do? The country is old, it embraces the past like the world stopped when Jesus was crucified. The history they have is a blessing and a curse.

The same as the African American history that keeps us suffering and creating simultaneously.

I'm just proud that you keep making your presence known across the world as well as here at home (south side!!!!).

Keep doing your thing brother and watch your pockets those gypsies are a bitch!  

(Bernard)

oh wow...i didn't know it was like that over there

it's weird huh? do you say that your happy to live in america knowing that this isn't true, as a black person....yet it' not as bad as being in italy

hmmm...makes me think

while studying abroad in Kenya circa 1993 with a predominatley white group (there were two blk girls and one biracial girl and that was that), it blew my mind how africans had internalized thier racism, and had the nerve to treat the blk americans (that's what they called us) in the group WAY WORSE than they'd ever treat the white kids. we'd go to restaurants and get shotty service. we actually saw one waiter hastily take our order with an expression of incredulity and then in the next instant smile all big and wide for the white kids in our group. we got called "niggerniggernigger" by beggars as some sort of attempt to identify with us for the purposes of getting us to just give them money. it was the most surreal experience i'd ever had. plus, i had just gone natural and my hair started loc'ing up in the dry assed kenyan heat, so the women thought i was some sort of freak for not having a perm/braids. yo, i ended up putting in like 10 perms while i was there b/c i couldn't stand seeing these girls burn their scalps to death from leaving it in too long. talk about irony. i saw women who had bleached thier skin so badly that it appeared gray. i saw women who were BALD from too-tight braiding/dying (but of course you can see this in NYC on a daily basis so that's not just an African problem). they laughed at me when i said that i considered myself african, pointed to my eyes and legs and said that african women didn't have "football player legs" or "squinty eyes".

i want to collect stories of international ignorance/racism from blk folks who have travelled abroad extensively...sort of like a cautionary tale...or maybe just a good read. i dunno.  but i say all of this to say that we should all share more of our stories b/c they are instructive. peace and light.

Funny, I deal with the same things here in the American workplace as a black professional.  There are certain rules to follow, so that no one will complain to HR that they are being made to feel uncomfortable:

Never look at white women below the neck in the workplace no matter how sluttily they dress.

Kill 'em with kindness and politeness.

Use 'We' instead of 'You'.

Don't get into personal beliefs, politics or religion too far.

It's a damn shame, but the establishment will "fire" you   

It's not surprising.  The mainstream media would have us believe that racism doesn't exist.  But because it's so deeply rooted in the worlds phyche (sp?), it's almost sublimnal in effect.  It hasn't been a fifty years since the racist civil rights movement.  The scales of freedom are severly unbalanced - 400 plus years of slavery, and how many years of "freedom".  Yes I used quotes, because Reconstruction and the Civil Rights movements, were slave-like periods. 

We cannot ignore, the unbalance. 

I do stay hopeful, biblically speaking.  I know God is real and that in His time He will establish His kingdom. 

One Love, Gods Love

Av

Speaking of which,  was just commenting the other day how there are no black people in the Winter Olympics...and it got me thinking.  Yea I am a white girl, but from  Cali where it's pretty diverse and where I am from, quite accepting of most races as being equal.  At least that is how I WAS raised.  But why no black or "African American" representation?  Well, I think it's socioeconomics.  It's expensive to ski and snowboard.  Who has the dough to train in these elite sports and not work for years on end?  Not me, not many folks, certainly not the typical guy/girl from most middle class places.

I think Maybe Italy and the Winter Olympic folks may want to think of a new name for it all, how about the "Elitist Games"? 

 Don't even start me on the Vatican and that whole mess, money is a POWERFUL thing.  Non taxable MONEY especially....

Wow, sorry you had such a bad experience, being Sicilian, (or a nigger as you say) I am ashamed and disturbed, but all I can say is that our family was not raised that way, we are a family of lovers, lovers to each other, and for the earth, we have a very fine appreciation for good food and wine, music, art, and very much appreciate the company of other genuinely good people, love sees NO color!  I'm sorry you witnessed such ignorance!

He did describe a part of Italy, that part that WE refuse to see, that part of Italy that made me look for my life somewhere else. I grew up in Rome, now happy Connecticut resident. It's all true.. Look at the soccer matches.. what do you see: nazis, fascists, celtic crosses, ignorance.. That pairs with the Vatican (Oh, the Vatican!), the connections between the so-called "moderate right" and Mussolini's idea of empire (and consequent idea of Africans as inferior), the southern (I was born in Napoli) mindset of black people either on the street as prostitutes or on the tomato fields as exploited workers.. It's all true. I've seen it, I've heard that "Hey Boob Maaarley" a hundred times..

Italy is a complicated country.. more than any one could think. The civil war between fascists and anti-fascists never ended, it's just somewhere else, on the streets, in the graffitis on the walls, within walls, around family dinner tables, inside people's minds..

We'll have to deal with it sooner or later. After all, it's no longer 1948.

PS. Man, next time give a buzz to my bro.. He'll give you a tour of the Rome we love.

Peace.

hi there you so very nice .....

jianna

Wow, I always shocked to hear the stories of racial ignorance from different areas across the world -- why can't people just THINK about their prejudices/racism before they let it take root in their lives?  I mean, does ANYONE ever wake up in the morning thinking, "Ahh, such a great day to be (fill in ethnicity of choice here)!!!"  No, of course not!  (aside from racial extremists, perhaps)  So why do people look at others of a different skin pigmentation and assume that those "different-looking" people (side note--doesn't EVERYONE in the world look different--why is skin color such a big deal today anymore?!?!?!) DO think of themselves through that kind of foolish label? 

Thanks for helping publicize the truth about these situations so that maybe some people will learn to think more correctly about how they perceive people in the world. 

Peace,

~Neil