Jerry Masslo

Jerry Masslo
Born(1959-12-04)4 December 1959
Mthatha, South Africa
Died25 August 1989(1989-08-25) (aged 29)
Villa Literno, Italy
Cause of deathMurder
NationalitySouth African
OccupationFruit Picker

Jerry Essan Masslo (4 December 1959 – 25 August 1989)[1] was a South African refugee living in Italy who was murdered by a gang of criminals. His case deeply affected public opinion on racism in Italy and led to a reform of Italian legislation regarding the recognition of refugee status. The killing of Masslo resulted in the acknowledgement of the need to guarantee adequate rights and duties to immigrants, whose number had grown considerably in the 1980s, reaching 600,000 by 1990 according to some sources; 1.3 million according to others.[2]

Shortly after his death, the largest anti-racist demonstration in the country was organized in Rome, attended by 200,000 people.[3] The story of the non-recognition of refugee status to citizens of countries outside Eastern Europe led the government to rapidly issue a decree-law before the end of the year, later converted into the Martelli Law.[4] The law would function as an amnesty law, and recognize the status of non-European foreigners under the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and eliminated the "geographical limitation" for political asylum seekers (as was already established by the Geneva Convention of 1951). Masslo's death is seen as the beginning of a new chapter in multi-ethnic coexistence in Italy.[5]

  1. ^ "Villa Literno, il ricordo di Jerry Masslo: "Ucciso 30 anni fa per razzismo"". la Repubblica (in Italian). 23 August 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  2. ^ Parmelee, Jennifer (31 August 1989). "'Italian Dream' Soured by Racism". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Hine, Darlene Clark; Keaton, Trica Danielle; Small, Stephen (2009). Black Europe and the African Diaspora. University of Illinois Press. pp. 125–126. ISBN 978-0-252-07657-2.
  5. ^ Bolaffi, Guido (15 December 1989). "Il Popolo dei Clandestini". Archivio – la Repubblica.it (in Italian). Retrieved 8 June 2020.