Racial overtones

last updated 8 January 2015

Rome

It’s not racist to call someone a “dirty negro,” Italy’s highest court ruled this week. A group of Italian men were on trial for “spreading racism,” a crime in Italy, for insulting several women from Colombia whom they went on to assault. “Dirty negroes. What are these negroes doing here?” one of the men said before they attacked the women. The court said that simply expressing “generic dislike, intolerance, or rejection based on race” did not amount to racism unless it was motivated by “real hatred.” Virtually every politician in Italy condemned the ruling. “A subtle poison has seeped into our jurisprudence,” said Luigi Bobbio of the conservative National Alliance Party.