Aida Diouf Mbengue,19, with her hijab, is anything but a regular teen. Mbengue of African origin, who lives in Italy, hopes to break stereotypes by being an influencer on TikTok. Mbengue has about 330,000 followers. The self-styled Afro-influencer is one of a group of young people of African origin who have come together in Italy to try to increase their social media clout.
“I am representing girls with the veil,” Mbengue told AP. “I have a large Italian following, and this makes me happy because most Italians do not have anything in common with me.”
Mbengue is clear of her identity, “I am Muslim, I wear a veil, and I am also Black,” she says. About three decades ago, immigration was a new phenomenon in Italy, a predominantly white, Catholic nation. Today, about 9 per cent of Italy's population are foreign nationals. Mbengue came to Italy from Kaolack, Senegal, with her family at age 3. The high-school student says she wasn't discriminated against in school.
Her TikTok feed is another story — she has been called the 'N word', 'monkey' and received comments like ‘Go back to your country,’ ‘I will throw a banana in your face'.
”But then you realize it is just the usual people who want to make you feel bad, so you laugh about it or you just let it go, and that’s it, said the teen, who also gets supportive comments on her feed. Mbengue, who started wearing a hijab when she was seven, started making TikTok videos in 2019. "I realised I could use TikTok to open some minds,'' said Mbengue, who is bothered by comments from other hijab-wearers, who accuse her of using the headscarf to grab attention.
Stella Jean, an Italian fashion designer and Black Lives Matter activist said, “Seeing someone doing TikTok might seem like something frivolous and superficial. She had to fight and push herself to get to this point.''
