So, first of all I want to say that this mini-essay comes from some ideas and thoughts I had during my lessons and studies, and that I am absolutely NOT an expert on the topic. I'm sure there are countless other people who know way more than me about the matter and thus could explain it better, but I'll do my best to introduce you my theory.
The problem I want to discuss is related to the increasing fear and hatred Italian people have towards black people (but also towards any person who is perceived as "black-skinned" so it includes also Roman people and the ones coming from the middle east).
I'm not saying their fear is unjustified, because, unfortunately, there is an increasing of criminal acts in the black community; what I want to put emphasis on is that, in my opinion, this whole situation of degradation is not casual.
Many may not know, but due to its position in the Mediterranean Sea, many of the immigrants coming from the same sea arrive on its shores. Italian bureaucracy is a total mess, and so are the integration plans for those who come. Many end up without a home and without work, and those who are "lucky enough" end up trapped in the 'lavoro a nero' ('black work'); 'nero', black, not for their skin but to indicate a type of working situation which is borderline illegal, meaning you have almost no rights, the impossibility to complain about the environment and a very very low pay for long shift hours.
While almost anyone, before getting a real job, goes through black work, when it comes to immigrants the situation is even worse, as there are many more barriers between the boss and the worker so that the first one can take advantage of the second. Thus, even those who work often don't get paid enough to live decently.
Now, let's observe this matter closely, and we'll find a pattern: racism is already deeply rooted in our society, so we already have prejudices; then, someone who doesn't speak our language, doesn't know about the culture, and is probably under-educated comes to our country. These barriers, mixed with the inability to efficiently accomodate the newcomers, makes it almost impossible for the immigrants to integrate in the system, thus becoming the outsiders.
The outsiders, however, are not excluded by the societal pressure: on one side they are constantly brought down by the fact that they literally cannot afford to live, on the other one they are subjected to the raging racism which paints them as "beggars and burdens to an already collapsing society". This often has few results: worsening of the homeless condition, which continues in their poverty and become even more poor; the joining of the outsider into the criminal world; the development of mental health issues due to stress and feelings of powerlessness, fear and failing (this type of mental distress is explained very clearly in the book from bell hooks Where We Stand: class matters).
If we take in consideration all of these matters, it's not surprising to see so much criminality going around. A criminality that is not contained in the least.
I can assure you that most of the times the police doesn't actually care about being racist, but when it comes to immigrants they suddenly can't do anything about their crimes because otherwise "they'd be labelled as racists". So, as the criminal acts get out of control, so does the pre-existing prejudice of the "evil immigrants" who come just to create chaos, evade taxes and steal jobs from honest workers.
Am I the only one seeing a sort of circle here?
An immigrant that, because of years of precarious life, gets into the criminal world, no one does a thing about it, they get labelled as violent, crazy and lazy which then corrodes their reputation even more, creating a prejudice not only against the single person but against the entire community; the community gets excluded and segregated so their life becomes even more precarious, so the same situation repeats, and it goes on and on.
Its a structured system of oppression that doesn't even need help, it aliments itself on its own.
The medias don't help either, because when it's something about an immigrant then you'll immediately read it in the news title, while if it's about a white person it gets overlooked or justified (and yes, especially in rape cases).
And while we complain about beggars and homeless people we forget about the politicians buying villas, evading taxes, cutting hospitals funds and introducing government strict surveillance into schools, and sons of politicians who get away with raping because it was "just a reckless kid act".
We do have a problem with criminality, and unfortunately there actually is a problem with black criminality in particular, but is it so difficult to see why we have this problem?
I'm just starting to thing the government do thrives on our fear, so that we can dump our frustrations on an external enemy while most of our problems are created by our country itself. Let's be honest: is it more simple to just hate and fear the outsider or actually understanding what's wrong with our society? So why would the government bother wasting time containing criminals and focusing on making more efficient integration plans when they can just leave things like this and do what they want behind our backs?
I'm not immune to this, I am constantly bombarded by articles and news telling me I should fear the immigrants, and as a girl I am subjected to way more risks than men are; I'm telling this to warn myself and whose reading that this system does work, even if we don't actually notice it, and we must learn and be more conscious about it.
I will repeat this: I COULD be wrong, I absolutely COULD be reading all of this wrong, so please educate yourselves on your own and don't take my words for granted, but one thing I can say confidently is that there is something fishy, and that they want us to be racist to cover up something else.