Gotta do what you gotta do.

Seeing a black face is welcome news for me. In Sardinia, where I’m spending the winter, it's likely blacks aren’t Italians.  And the odds are good that he/she speaks English. An opportunity for me to converse. By using my fluent English instead of sparse Italian. I suspect that 80 or 90 percent of the black people I see have come to Italy from English-speaking African countries. Mostly Nigeria and Ghana. The rest are likely from Senegal, where French is the main language. The Africans tell me they’ve come to Italy to escape the poverty and religious strife (between Christians and Muslims) in their countries.  The economy is bad in Italy, too. But better than in Africa. Many of the Africans have become street peddlers in Italy. Just to earn enough to barely get by. Many of ‘em would love opportunity to migrate to English-speaking countries. Especially the U.S. or Canada. I’m researching the ways they entered Italy.  I suspect some are illegal immigrants. Which wouldn’t bother me. People have gotta do what they gotta do. In order to survive in this world. –Jim Broede