Lucy posted the following on her official facebook page - she's in Italy at the moment.
So I'm walking thru Lucca, Italy tonight behind 6 well-dressed ragazzi about 18-19 yrs old. A black boy rides by on his bike. One of the boys makes a chimp sound and claps his hands once loudly over his head. And yells, "Gabon!" Another boy joins in, then a third, yelling and slow clapping in menacing unison. The other boys smile but don't join in. Maybe they don't know how better to deal with it. "Orribile, " I growl, "veramente orribile". The boys are shocked that a grown up was so close thru the whole thing and called them on it. Had I been better prepared or had I better Italian, I would have explained calmly that past generations Italians were immigrants in our countries and that their behavior tonight is a form of terrorism. They are effectively and collectively terrorizing that young black man who is not wearing popped asshole preppy collars and pastel shorts like them. Maybe they like that idea. Probably not. More likely they are just mindlessly working out their testosterone on someone they perceive as weaker -the way chimps pack hunt prey. And there's no doubt who were the chimps in this transaction. #apologiesToPrimates #giveNothingToRacism #speakUp