# What do they say about dark-skinned Italians?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-say-about-dark-skinned-italians/366183>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 27, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-say-about-dark-skinned-italians/366183 "2006-07-27T00:34:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-say-about-dark-skinned-italians/366183/1 "2006-07-27T00:34:34Z")

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I don’t know if this is the right section for this question, but it’s from a movie so I’ll ask it here.

In Spike Lee’s _Do The Right Thing_, Spike Lee’s character is pointing out that a bunch of the Italians favorite people are black. He goes on to say that deep down the Italian wants to be black. He finishes by saying “You know what they say about dark skinned I-talians.”

What is he referring to?

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-say-about-dark-skinned-italians/366183/2 "2006-07-27T00:45:11Z")

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[QUOTE=teemingONE]  
What is he referring to?  
[/QUOTE]  
His own racism.

Seriously, anyone can say anything about any made-up group of people. The majorty of ‘what they say’ sayings refer to sexual ability or hot-temperedness or fondness for alcohol.

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**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-say-about-dark-skinned-italians/366183/3 "2006-07-27T00:46:32Z")

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They say that southern Italians are descended from Africans. Or, as it was famously put in _True Romance,_ “Sicilians are spawned from niggers.” It’s widely known by actual historians and anthropologists to be complete B.S. **Tamerlane** explained it very well in an earlier thread.

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**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-say-about-dark-skinned-italians/366183/4 "2006-07-27T00:48:49Z")

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[Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=134391&highlight=sicily+africans) is that thread, by the way.

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**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-say-about-dark-skinned-italians/366183/5 "2006-07-27T01:05:53Z")

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Ah, thank you very much. I had heard of the myth before, but I thought Spike Lee was referring to something else. Thanks all