Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world, with millions of people visiting different parts of the globe each year. But instead of facilitating cultural exchange, it can sometimes perpetuate discrimination.

Mahnoor Euceph, a Pakistani-American filmmaker, and her partner, who is half-Chinese, as well as his parents were subjected to a distressing encounter with three Italian women while exploring the country by train.

Euceph captured part of the incident on film and posted it on TikTok, requesting help in identifying the individuals. The women were eventually found and Euceph even had a brief exchange with one of them.

Pakistani-American filmmaker Mahnoor Euceph was on a train in Italy with her half-Chinese boyfriend and his parents

Image credits: euceph 

When the group had what Euceph called a dehumanizing encounter with three local women

Image credits: mahnooreu

Image credits: mahnooreu

It got so bad that Euceph started filming the women

Image credits: mahnooreu

She later uploaded the video to TikTok, asking people to help her identify the women

@mahnooreu Reposting we found them. On TikTok we found @lvcr3zja. On insta we found all three: margherita_gentile, llucrezja, _elisatortora_. Their universities on ig: iulm_university, unimib, unicatt Hit them up and let them know that their racist behavior was not okay. To reiterate: I was on the train from Lake Como to Milan on April 16th with my half Chinese boyfriend, his Chinese mom, and his white dad. I am Pakistani. We are all American. I noticed these girls sitting across from us staring me down and laughing and speaking Italian. At first, I ignored it. Then I stared back at them. They didn’t stop so I made my bf aware, then took a nap. I woke up from the nap to them doing the same thing but more aggressively. I asked them, “Is there a problem?” They said, “No there isn’t a problem.” At that point they started saying “Ni hao!” in an obnoxious, racist, loud voice, along with other things in Italian I couldn’t understand. They continued getting more and more aggressive, laughing at and mocking us. Eventually, I started filming them. They were the most calm during the video but you can still hear them saying ni hao and get a vibe of their general attitude. Never in my life have I experienced such blatant racism. My boyfriend said the same thing. I expected better from the younger generation. After I shared this on IG, many of my Asian friends shared their stories of experiencing racism in Italy and Europe. America may have its race issues, but Europe is so behind. Please shame these girls. It was truly disgusting behavior and I hope they learn a lesson from this. Their behavior was steeped in racist, entitled privilege, and they acted this way even on camera knowing full well they could get away with it. I hope you will show them otherwise by writing to them and their universities. Let’s show them what happens to racists in 2023. Don’t fuck with people of color. ✊🏼 #racism #stopaapihate #Italy #Milan #LakeComo #racistItalians #racistcheck #racistoftheday #racistshit #milandesignweek2023 #milandesignweek #Chinese #Pakistani #hapa #wasian #racismawareness #racismneedstostop #racismsucks ♬ original sound – Mahnoor Euceph

More than half of the Italians surveyed in a 2019 poll have said that racist acts were either sometimes or always “justifiable”, a finding that came after a series of high-profile racist and antisemitic incidents across the country.

The polling firm, SWG, questioned 1,500 people of whom 10% said racist acts were always justified, and a further 45% who said racist acts could be acceptable depending on the circumstances.

The remaining 45% feel that racist acts of any kind are completely unacceptable.

“What this means is that there has been a relaxation in attitudes towards racism – not necessarily that people have become racist, more that they are becoming more accepting of racist acts and do not consider them so scandalous,” Enzo Risso, scientific director at SWG, told The Guardian.

After the clip went viral, the internet found them on social media

Image credits: mahnooreu

Realizing what had happened, one of the women reached out to Euceph

Image credits: mahnooreu

However, she wasn’t having the gaslighting and penned the following reply

A vivid illustration of Italy’s internal attitudes came last year when several thousand black-clad fascist sympathizers chanted and sang in praise of Benito Mussolini as they marched to the slain dictator’s crypt, 100 years after Mussolini entered Rome and completed a bloodless coup that gave rise to two decades of fascist rule.

The crowd of about 2,000 to 4,000 marchers, many of whom were sporting fascist symbols and singing hymns from Italy’s colonial era, was bigger than in the recent past.

The crowd in Predappio, Mussolini’s birth and final resting place in the northern Emilia-Romagna region, also was apparently emboldened by the fact that a party with neo-fascist roots is heading an Italian government for the first time since World War II.

Image credits: mahnooreu

In a follow-up video, Euceph thanked everyone who supported her and encouraged people to call out racist behavior

So that’s that. I just want to thank you guys for all of your support. I also want to say, you know, we don’t need to bully them or stoop to their level or make comments about their appearances. You know, women have enough body image issues as it is. I think let’s just stick to the topic at hand, which is their racist behavior, and let’s try to make them take accountability for that. But thank you so much. You guys have been really, really supportive and it felt at least like a little bit of justice to get the support from the global community and a lot of really nice Italian people have reached out and apologized for these girls’ behaviors, so I really appreciate that as well.

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@mahnooreu Replying to @asocialclimber #greenscreen #stopaapihate #racistItaliangirls #racism #Chinese #pakistani #racismawareness ♬ original sound – Mahnoor Euceph

However, racists in Italy often do not fear going public. For example, fans of the Roman team Lazio targeted Samuel Umtiti – a French defender playing for Lecce and a 2018 world champion – during a match between the two teams on January 4, marking yet another new and common episode.

On loan from Barcelona to Lecce since 2022, Umtiti finished the match victorious but in tears. He refused a break offered by the referee when he and his Zambian teammate, Lameck Banda, had been subjected to racist chants from Lazio supporters.

The Roman club is known to have extremists among their supporters who adhere to a fascist-inspired subculture. However, the problem is much deeper and hasn’t been stopped for decades.

Image credits: wikipedia.or

Other sports in the country are affected too. Paola Egonu, an Italian professional volleyball player, who was under constant racist, sexist, and homophobic harassment, even considered quitting the national team.

More recently, Italian rugby player Chérif Traoré, with the Benetton Rugby in Treviso, decided to speak out on social media about the latest racist bullying he suffered. In the run-up to Christmas, one of his teammates anonymously offered him a rotten banana.

But it is indeed in the world of football, Italy’s national pride, that the vast majority of discriminatory acts are concentrated. In its report on the 2021-2022 sports season, an Italian agency against racial discrimination stated that 78.7% of the documented cases have to do with football.

Image credits: cherif_traore

Folks have been really appalled by the Italian women and their actions

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The universities that the women are attending also announced that they will be looking into the situation

Image credits: unimib

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