Date: Wed, 24 Sep 97 12:28:09 +0200 From: Fiocco-AT-ccuws4.unical.it (Fiocco Laura) Subject: Re: AUT: what kids are thinking in Italy ... It may be true racism is increasing in Italy but this kind of "study" got something wrong. What will *you* do if your parents suddenly become green? Will you not be scared dead? Think how a child could be! ciao laura >ROME, (Sep. 19) IPS - "If my parents turned black I would have them >>arrested by the police and would make them beat them and then kill them," >>said one boy who took part in a study on racism among children in Italy. >> The results of the study have been published in a new book entitled >>"The Right Skin," whose publication has come only days after a city in >>northern Italy offered to pay a "bounty" to anyone who reported illegal >>immigrants. >> The reward, offered by a mayor belonging to the Northern League, a >>party advocating independence for the country's rich northern region, >>drew harsh criticism from the center-left government of Romano Prodi. >> One boy who participated in the seven-year study wrote, "I wouldn't >>want my parents to turn black, because black people are really ugly. I >>would help them get their color back. Maybe I could take them to a >>veterinarian." >> "Maybe it would be better to be a dinosaur than to be black," said a >>six-year-old girl from the northern community of Ferrara. >> The study, carried out by anthropologist Paola Tabet in primary and >>secondary schools with the help of hundreds of teachers, gathered the >>impressions of 7,000 children aged seven to 13. >> Tabet did not ask for opinions on racism itself, but rather formulated >>questions designed to get the children to express themselves freely. >> The children commented on hypothetical situations such as "if your >>mother and father were black," "one day in Africa," "an African family >>comes to live near your house," "imagine how extraterrestrials would >>describe black people and how they would describe white people," "if your >>parents were from the United States," and "if they were black and rich." >> The selected children were born between 1985 and 1991, a period in >>which the term "extracomunitario" -- people from outside the European >>Union, generally from the developing world -- began to take on >>disparaging connotations. >> The local press tends to stress an immigrant's "extracomunitario" >>status when it reports on alleged criminal behavior by non-Italians. >> There are currently 1.2 million immigrants out of a total population >>of 56 million in Italy. >> The flow of migrants towards Italy has picked up in recent years, >>prompting racist and xenophobic comments from right-wing political >>parties and the separatist Northern League. >> One of the children consulted said he would put his parents in a >>washing machine if they turned black, and mentioned several leading >>brands of soap. >> Another said he would simply "throw them out of the house, with a kick >>in the rear end." >> "If my parents were black, I would always be afraid," he added. "Maybe >>they'd be poor, and thus murderers, criminals and thieves, and I would >>look down on them." >> An eight-year-old girl from the northern industrial city of Turin >>resolved the problem with "common sense: if they were black, I would keep >>them as slaves." >> "If I asked my (black) mother for something to drink and she touched >>the glass with some part of her body, I wouldn't drink it, because if >>someone is black I can't tell if they're dirty or not," she added. >> "If my mother were Moroccan and had to vacuum, like all housewives do, >>she wouldn't know how to plug the vacuum cleaner in," another student >>responded. >> "Blacks steal or sell drugs for a living. That's why the government >>doesn't want blacks to come to Italy," said one boy. >> A six-year-old from Rome said, "If I were black, I would kill myself." >> An 11-year-old said, "If I had a black father, I would throw myself >>from the third floor." >> Not all the children referred to such drastic measures. Many responded >>that they would run away, disappear, take refuge in the homes of their >>grandparents or uncles, and, in the words of one, would only agree to see >>their "disgusting looking" parents at Christmas. >> Tabet urged parents to teach their children better, and to >>counterbalance the frequently negative messages broadcast by the media. >> But the problem is even tougher if the parents are racist, she >>stressed, adding that only a few children withstand such negative >>influences. >> And even when children are raised in families that accept the idea of >>a multi-racial society, the influence of the media seems to prevail. "My >>dad told me that all men are equal, white or black, but the TV shows that >>blacks kill, and I'm afraid of them," said one child. >> Some children took a different stance, however. When blacks "come to >>sell handkerchiefs or to beg, I think we should be more kind, more >>attentive to these problems. I feel sorry for those poor people," reads >>an atypical response. COPYRIGHT 1997 IPS/GIN >> Copyright 1997 >> >> >> >> >> >> >In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is >distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior >interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and >educational purposes only. > >Be PART of the solution -- People Against Racist Terror/ >PO Box 1055/Culver City CA 90232-1055/310-288-5003/ >Order our journal "Turning the Tide." mnovickttt-AT-igc.org > >Free Mumia Abu Jamal! Free All POW's and Political Prisoners! Abolish the >Racist Death Penalty! > > > > --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu --- --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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