{"id":7300,"date":"2013-07-29T14:40:44","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T14:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/racist-taunts-for-italys-first-black-minister\/"},"modified":"2013-07-29T14:40:44","modified_gmt":"2013-07-29T14:40:44","slug":"racist-taunts-for-italys-first-black-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/racist-taunts-for-italys-first-black-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Racist taunts for Italy\u2019s first black minister"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Italy’s first black minister, Cecile Kyenge \u00a0\u00a0at the weekend had bananas thrown at her by a racist during a function.
Though the two bananas did not hit her, the import of the racial \u00a0insult was not lost on Kyenge, a Congolese who became an Italian citizen in the 80s.
The ophthalmologist who became a minister of integration last April, was \u00a0born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, moved to Italy in the 1980s to study medicine.
While her ascent to a top government position reflects the success of immigrants, it also has stoked nativism.
Since she became the first black minister, Kyenge has been called a “Congolese monkey,” “Zulu\u201d, “the black anti-Italian” and \u00a0\u201c a great housekeeper”.
Recently, \u00a0Italian Sen. Roberto Calderoli likened Kyenge to an orangutan.
“I love animals — bears and wolves, as everyone knows — but when I see the pictures of Kyenge, I cannot but think of, even if I’m not saying she is one, the features of an orangutan,” he was quoted as saying.
So far, Kyenge has taken things in her stride, deciding to make the best of the situation. She even made a joke out of the banana hurling incident, saying it was \u201ca sad waste of food when so many people are dying of hunger\u201d.
Meanwhile, efforts are on to improve on her security in the wake of death threats by racists.<\/p>\n

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: National Mirror Newspaper<\/p>\n

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