Smith Goes JYA
How to Reconcile the Ideal with the Real
Anna Newman
Issue date: 11/29/07 Section: Features
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Many Italians are very anti-immigrant, especially due to criminal acts committed by immigrants, like Romanians or Albanians. The fact that a Romanian killed an Italian woman has only exacerbated the controversy over the recently passed law, as it has been viewed as only the latest in a long series of crimes committed by Romanians. There are Italians who have said that it is necessary to just expel all of the Romanians from Italy - forget only a few at a time. The debate continues, and to me, it seems even fiercer than that in the United States. The United States has been a multiethnic country for centuries, while Italy has only begun to become more diverse in the last four decades.
Despite this climate of hot tempers in Italy, it would be easy to just ignore everything during my time here. Protests are so common that most people don't bother to read the signs or listen to the chanting. I could just not read the newspapers and tune out the news when the television is on before dinner. It is easy to only think about what gelato flavor I want to try tomorrow and which train I need to take to visit another Tuscan town with medieval towers and pasta specialities.
But I can't ignore the man who stands at the traffic light every day. I know nothing about him - where he is from, how long he has been in Italy, whether he has a family. However, he has put a face on the immigration problem for me, and I know that I can't just ignore what's happening. I am a university student, I am a tourist, I am a transplanted American, but I am also now a member of the Italian society, and even though this may mean delving into issues that do not represent the sunny Tuscan ideal that I hoped to find in Italy, I can't ignore the reality that stares at me through the bus window.
Despite this climate of hot tempers in Italy, it would be easy to just ignore everything during my time here. Protests are so common that most people don't bother to read the signs or listen to the chanting. I could just not read the newspapers and tune out the news when the television is on before dinner. It is easy to only think about what gelato flavor I want to try tomorrow and which train I need to take to visit another Tuscan town with medieval towers and pasta specialities.
But I can't ignore the man who stands at the traffic light every day. I know nothing about him - where he is from, how long he has been in Italy, whether he has a family. However, he has put a face on the immigration problem for me, and I know that I can't just ignore what's happening. I am a university student, I am a tourist, I am a transplanted American, but I am also now a member of the Italian society, and even though this may mean delving into issues that do not represent the sunny Tuscan ideal that I hoped to find in Italy, I can't ignore the reality that stares at me through the bus window.