This is not a scene from the racist America of the mid-1800s, but a news story that took place on Saturday night at a restaurant on the outskirts of Trapani.
"We don't want to be served by the black waiter"
This is the sentence uttered by one of the customers of the Vultaggio restaurant against Amza, a young Cameroonian who has been working at the restaurant for three years.
Amza has a regular residence permit, a driver's license, speaks Italian fluently, and has integrated perfectly into the local community. But for two couples of customers, in their forties at most, the color of his skin was a problem.
The owner of the restaurant, Giuseppe Vultaggio, was faced with a difficult choice: to kick the customers out of the restaurant or to try to calm things down. He chose the second option, "because we are professionals," he said.
Amza continued to do his job professionally, but the customers' words hurt him.
Giuseppe Vultaggio decided to publish a post on social media to express solidarity with Amza and condemn the racist incident. The post went viral and sparked a wave of indignation in the local community.
The whole city sided with Amza, showing that racism has no place in Trapani.
Saturday night's episode is a sad reminder that the fight against racism is not yet over. We must continue to work to build a more just and inclusive society, where skin color is not an obstacle to integration and mutual respect.