© Tiziano Brodolini/Barcroft MedCécile Kyenge, who has faced repeated racial slurs since becoming minister for integration in April.
The Italian prime minister, Enrico Letta, has condemned as unacceptable comments made by a senior rightwing senator in which he suggested the country's first black government minister had "the features of an orangutan".
Cécile Kyenge, an eye surgeon who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but has Italian citizenship, has faced repeated racial slurs and threats since being appointed minister for integration by Letta in April.
She was once again on the receiving end of grossly offensive comments on Saturday when Roberto Calderoli, a former minister under Silvio Berlusconi and senate vice-president of the Northern League, told a rally in the northern town of Treviglio that Kyenge would be better off working as a minister "in her country".
According to the Corriere della Sera, which reported the event, he added: "I love animals - bears and wolves, as is known - but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of the features of an orangutan, even if I'm not saying she is one."
The remark provoked horror from the rest of the Italian political class, especially in Kyenge's centre-left Democratic party. In a statement, Letta said the remarks were unacceptable. "Full solidarity and support to Cécile," he added.
Asked about the comments, Kyenge said it was not up to her to call on Calderoli to resign, but hoped all politicians would "reflect on their use of communication". "I do not take Calderoli's words as a personal insult but they sadden me because of the image they give of Italy," she told the Ansa news agency.
Ever since she was made minister in Letta's fractious grand coalition government, Kyenge, 48, has been the target of much criticism from the League. Some of it has been directed at her policies, particularly her desire to change a harsh citizenship law to make it easier for Italian-born children of foreigners to gain full nationality before they are 18.
But some of it has been very personal and vitriolic. Mario Borghezio, a member of the European parliament for the League, said in April that Kyenge wanted to "impose her tribal traditions from the Congo" and branded Letta's coalition a "bongo bongo" government. "She seems like a great housekeeper but not a government minister."
In June a local councillor for the League was ejected from the party after she posted a message on Facebook suggesting Kyenge should be raped. Referring to an alleged attempted rape in Genoa, Dolores Valandro wrote: "Why does no one rape her, so she can understand what the victim of this atrocious crime felt?"
Asked on Sunday to explain the latest slur, Calderoli insisted he had been joking. "I was speaking at a rally and I made a joke, an unfortunate one perhaps," he told Ansa. "I did not want to cause offence and if Minister Kyenge has been offended I apologise but my joke came in the context of a much broader political speech that criticised the minister and her politics."
This is not the first time that the 57-year-old has caused controversy. In 2006 he quit the government after going on television in a T-shirt emblazoned with cartoons of the prophet Muhammad - a move credited with inspiring deadly riots outside the Italian consulate in Libya.
Later that year, after Italy's football team beat France in the World Cup, he said the opposing side had been made up of "niggers, Muslims and communists". In 2007, he called for a "Pig Day" protest against the construction of a mosque in Bologna.
And we know how they like Mr. B (aka Superman) with his Bunga-Bunga parties, you know the type, where a bunch of pretty young girls show up to have sex with old creepy rich white dudes just because they like it like that! Well, of course they do, isn't that the dream of all the little boys there too? Hasn't that been official Church policy since its inception? No, I'm not calling them a pile of pedophile collar wearing old boys who like to piss on some statue every Sunday, no, I would never do that. I like Italy. It gives us Americans a good look at what our country will look like in the future. The reflection is most telling.
And no, I'm not saying Italy is full of trash that hasn't been taken out in over 2 thousand years,but look at what they did to the last garbage-man, JC, who tried to take out their trash... Et tu Brutus? No, it seems Italians love them their stinky shit, same as the rest of the world, and they too wish to share their excess with the little people as the bill comes due.. ever so soon, but then that is why they were invited to the party so late... to pay the bill, right? Can't we just keep piling this shit up forever? Perhaps that's where all those hills and mountains come from?
I'm not surprised that politicians in Rome think raping an orangutan is the solution to their problems, for Mr. B is known for such escapades and then some, and he's beloved by so many in Italy that one must think that the empire never died, it just 'adapted', or should that be 'evolved' as in an orangutan that goes to Italy to help take out the trash and learns that no one there wants to see it go? Italians are sentimental that way, right? I'm just saying, don't take me wrong, it's just a joke, I apologise if anyone is offended, but hey most Italians have been kicked by the boot for so long that they think life is just that way and can't be any different. Apathy is like that and helps Mr. B find those 'friends' for his parties which brings smiles to the same senatorial faces that like name calling anyone that even looks like they don't belong and if she thought she could, they've let her know, "Oh, no you don't!"
Janitors and garbage collectors are always looked down upon by the well-heeled leaves on the tree, but they make up the branches that support those leaves and when the season turns, disposes of them as well. So, perhaps it is this reflection of truth that these politicians find so offensive? They see it coming in faces that don't look like them. They don't think this new face is corrupt enough to join the club and therefore is a threat to its very existence. These guys seem like Voodoo dolls and the pins are being inserted by themselves, one at at time and they are so lost in the bunga-bunga illusion they don't feel a thing or at least try not to.
Better call for last rounds at the bar, this party is about to end as the garbage collector comes to town and Santa is warning her and us about who's naughty and who's nice.