BBNaija Housemate Erica reveals that she was racially profiled when she travelled through Italy. Erica revealed this during a game where the housemates talked about which countries they had been to.
She talked about the time she spent travelling the world as an influencer for travel agency Travel Beta.
According to Erica, she travelled to Dubai, France, The Netherlands, and Greece; experiencing everything from seeing the famous but “underwhelming” Mona Lisa painting to marvelling at the crystal blue waters in Mykonos.
As Erica spoke of her travels, her fellow housemates rolled their eyes; some even calling her Erica the Explorer.
Unfortunately, when she got to Italy, she did not have such a good time.
Erica says she was just passing through Italy on her way back from Greece when both police and security officers at the airport harassed her.
The EU countries do not require passports for travel, but the Italian airport security forced Erica to present hers because she was the only black person there and was travelling alone.
“They demanded my passport even though they did not need it”, she said. Then they scrutinized it. Erica continued, “They even started scratching it to make sure it wasn’t fake and they didn’t do that to anyone else but me”.
Erica spoke bitterly about her experience, saying it made her not to enjoy her time there one bit; because how could she enjoy a place that was so boldly racist.
Black people, particularly Nigerians, have had to face underhanded disrespect and racism in other countries, regardless of their standing or how much they have in their account.
This behaviour is more obvious with security forces whose jobs are to protect people, not profile and target them. Erica’s story just goes to show that the Black Lives Matter movement is not just an American issue.
