"In 1547, during #Rome’s #Carnival, crowds gathered for a ritual designed to remind #Jews of their place. Then it began: the sharp slap of bare feet against ancient cobblestones. #Jewish boys — stripped completely naked, terrified, exposed — were forced to sprint through the streets as mobs spat, laughed and jeered.

This was the #CorsadegliEbrei, the “Race of the Jews,” a ritual of humiliation and abuse that took place along the #Corso, or main street, of Rome. It was sanctioned by the #pope, funded by the state and applauded by the public.

The purpose was not entertainment. It was humiliation elevated to public policy.
Jewish dignity existed only by permission. Jewish safety existed only until revoked.

We comfort ourselves by imagining such cruelty belongs to another age. It does not. The race never really ended. Only the route changed.

Today, the setting has changed[...]"

https://www.jewishtimes.com/naked-then-exposed-now-the-race-jews-are-still-forced-to-run/