What was hailed as a giant step forward for Racial Integration in Italy has also exposed the nasty, ugly racism problem that Italy really needs to work on.

New Prime Minister Enrico Letta appointed Dr. Cecile Kyenge as his government’s Minister of Information.  She was born in Congo, and came to Italy at age 18 to become an ophthalmologist, marrying an Italian man and taking a side trip into politics along the way.

She won a lower house seat in the February elections.  Letta’s hybrid center-left and center-right recruited her as a “new concept about the confines of barriers giving way to hope, of unsurpassable limits giving way to a bridge between diverse communities.”

And then came the incredibly stupid comments.

Mario Borghezio from the Northern League party that actually was part of the previous administration derided what he called Italy's new "bonga bonga government,” worrying that the highly educated surgeon would “impose tribal traditions” onto Italy.

Far-right Internet comment boards were even worse.

The Northern League also opposes Kyenge’s plan to make it easier for children of immigrants to become Italian citizens.

Some sociologists blame the Northern League for xenophobic rhetoric that gave political legitimacy to the racism that many Italians might have felt under the radar.  Italy is new to immigration; in the past, Italians mostly left to seek new lives in other countries.

Kyenge is not going to let the hate drown out the positive.  She used Twitter to respond to the insults, thanking those who had come to her defense and taking a veiled jab at the vulgarity of her critics. “I believe even criticism can inform if it's done with respect,” she tweeted.