ROME, Dec. 4 -- The decision of a grand jury in the U.S. town of Ferguson not to indict a white policeman who shot dead an unarmed black teenager has aroused reflection among Italian media on the social risks generated by the combination of imparities and racism.

In a commentary published recently by Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, Loretta Napoleoni, an Italian economist and author with U.S. work experience, defined racism fed by the economic crisis as a "weak point" of the Western world.

"In fact all great civilizations at their peak were multiethnic, and exchanges of ideas between different cultures, religions, customs and habits were enriching people," Napoleoni noted.

In her view, the Ferguson case, which has triggered fierce protests in many U.S. cities, was "evidence" that the United States, like other Western countries, is becoming increasingly weak and fearful in dealing with social disparities inherently linked to racial issues.

"The American teenager, Michael Brown, as everyone knows, was unarmed, but the policeman shot him multiple times," said Enrico Beltramini, a U.S.-based political and social commentator who writes for Limes, an Italian influential geopolitical magazine.

"It seems that police enjoy a sort of permanent immunity, meaning that the authorities want to defend order, more than the rule of law, at all costs," he noted.

"Prosecutors did not feel like avoiding to take the controversial case to the grand jury, and the grand jury -- unlike in the vast majority of cases -- did not feel like charging the policeman, Darren Wilson," wrote Gianni Riotta, former director of economic newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore and a columnist of La Stampa newspaper.

Ferguson is only the latest in a series of racially charged episodes that indicate that the United States remains as divided by color and oppressed by wide-ranging anger as decades ago, Riotta highlighted.

Federico Rampini, a renowned columnist of la Repubblica newspaper, explained that the Ferguson incident has become a "symbol" of the American "broken dream" and has reopened national debate on racial issues.

"The economic recovery of the last five years has not healed the rising inequalities," Rampini pointed out. Young African-American men have the lowest wages and the highest unemployment rate, he went on saying, with percentages of arrests, prison sentences and deadly police shootings well above the national average.

The Italian experts agreed that the Ferguson unrest should raise an alarm of the risks that a country, where many barriers strip the blacks of opportunities enjoyed by the whites, could face if racial division is allowed to fester.

Italy, although being ruled by the center-left Democratic Party (PD), which is at the forefront of the drive to fight racial discrimination and repeal the strict laws on illegal immigration, has also been facing growing racial tensions in recent times, following an influx of migrants from troubled African and Middle East countries.

Days ago, anti-immigration sentiment spiraled almost out of control in Rome after groups of angered citizens blamed the migrants for insupportable levels of street crime, car theft and burglary in a district of the Italian capital.

Police had to intervene and several people, including policemen, were injured in the clashes.