Italy: Teen in hijab aims to be 'Afro-influencer' on TikTok

MILAN (AP) — In Milan’s chic Victor Emmanuel II Gallery, a spacious mall that would be jammed with shoppers were it not for the pandemic, a young Black woman wearing a violet hijab and matching lipstick propped up her phone and moved her hips to a tinny-sounding beat coming from the device.

Aida Diouf Mbengue, 19, was recording a TikTok video to share with her 330,000 followers. She is making a name for herself as a self-styled “Afro-influencer,” one of a group of young people of African origin who have come together in Italy to try to increase their social media clout.

Their campaign is not just about views and followers, Mbengue said. With her posts, she is trying to destroy stereotypes.

“I am representing girls with the veil,” Mbengue said in a recent interview with The Associated Press, “I have a large Italian following, and this makes me happy because most Italians do not have anything in common with me.”

As to her own identify, she is clear: “I am Muslim, I wear a veil, and I am also Black.”

Some three decades ago, immigration was a new phenomenon in Italy, a predominantly white, Catholic nation with a long history of emigration. Today, about 9% of Italy's 60 million people are foreign nationals, according to the country’s national statistics agency, ISTAT.

Nearly one-fifth of those foreigners come from African countries, including Mbengue, She came to Italy from Kaolack, Senegal, with her family at age 3.

Mbengue, who is in high school, said she didn't feel discriminated against as a student. But she says she started receiving racist messages once she started posting videos of herself in a hijab.

“The discriminatory phrases included the N-word, or ‘monkey,’ ‘Go back to your country,’ ‘I will throw a banana in your face,’"...