Racism has nothing to do with it. Seid didn't take his life for that, but his letter on migrants and his experience as a black Italian takes Italy's breath away.
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Yesterday was the funeral of Seid Visin, the young man originally from Ethiopia who was adopted by a couple from Nocera Inferiore when he was seven years old and who took his own life in his home in Nocera Inferiore on Thursday evening. He was 20 years old and had been a promising young footballer in the youth teams ofInter and Milan before returning home – in 2017 – and graduating from Sensale high school. He loved the theatre, music, and still had a great passion for football. playing for Atletico Vitalico, a five-a-side football team from Sarno.
A very long post of denunciation, written on his Facebook profile in 2018 and read in the Church of San Giovanni in Cicalesi, yesterday morning, he stirred the consciences of Italians for the accusations of racism and the feelings of the young man. Seid had denounced the climate of racism that he felt around him: "Wherever I go, wherever I am, wherever I am I feel on my shoulders, like a boulder, the weight of the skeptical, prejudiced, disgusted and frightened looks of people", he wrote.
HIS LETTER OF DENOUNCEMENT AGAINST RACISM
“In the face of this particular socio-political scenario that hovers in Italy, I, as a black person, inevitably feel called into question. I am not an immigrant. I was adopted when I was little. Before this great migratory flow, I remember with a bit of arrogance that everyone loved me. Wherever I was, wherever I went, wherever I found myself, everyone addressed me with great joy, respect and curiosity. Now, however, this atmosphere of idyllic peace seems so far away.; it seems that mystically everything has turned upside down, it seems to my eyes that winter has fallen with extreme force and vehemence, without warning, during a clear spring day”, he reflects. Seid speaks of “fear for the hatred I saw in people’s eyes towards immigrants, fear for the contempt I heard in people’s mouths”.
FATHER WALTER DENIES THAT THERE WERE ANY RACIST ELEMENTS BEHIND HIS ACTION
But the parents and in particular the father Walter have strongly denied that the causes of the young man's extreme gesture were linked to episodes of racism: "My son did not take his life because of racism, his words are being exploited", he said yesterday afternoon a few hours after the funeral. "He had personal problems, that is not the reason for his gesture. He was a wonderful man".
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The affair has inevitably created political tensions. “If you can, excuse us, Seid,” wrote the secretary of the Democratic Party Enrico Letta on Twitter. He expresses sorrow for the passing of Seid Visin the same Salvini mentioned in that very post together with CasaPound. The young law student recalled quitting his job at a bar after a customer refused to be served by him: “I’m not an immigrant but something changed inside me, as if I was ashamed of being black. I made jokes in bad taste about blacks and immigrants as if to underline that I wasn’t one of them. But it was fear. Fear of the hatred I saw in people’s eyes toward immigrants.”
Former Juventus champion Claudio Marchisio: “We are the country of integration when you are a young talent or when you score the decisive goal in an important match, but refuse to be served at a restaurant by a black boy. We are the country of integration when the athlete wins a medal at the Olympics. We are the country of integration that searches for unlikely Italian origins when the actress who moves us wins an Oscar, but that turns up its nose when there are black children in the class with its children”. While for long jumper Andrew Howe, “what happened is a total defeat. It is no longer possible. The phenomenon of racism is growing more and more despite there being a second generation. Sport should avoid these things”.
In the church crowded for the funeral, even the mayor Manlio Torquato, mayor of Nocera Inferiore: “I mourn the passing of Seid, for his very young age, for the way he left, for his story – says Manlio Torquato, mayor of Nocera Inferiore -. For his friends, the kids his age who loved and admired him for his talent, his elegance. There is perhaps something profound that cannot be answered with a sociological reflection, but by thinking about the meaning of our life”.
The last farewell to Seid Visin was touching, as his lifelong friends wore T-shirts with his face and the words “Goodbye brother” and “Ciao talento” in church.
Seid Visin was "an enormous talent with a fragile heart, who rejected the logic of football-business and considered competitiveness like De Coubertin, as a source of passion and friendship". He said Antonio Francese, the coach of Atletico Vitalica, the five-a-side football team in which Seid played after the interlude spent in the youth teams of Milan and Benevento. “He didn’t miss that world – says Francese – because he understood that he was resistant to the logic of billionaire football. He cultivated his passions with happiness: five-a-side football, theatre and dance, in addition to studying, of course”.
Francese, who is also a psychologist, rules out that he had been a victim of racist episodes in Nocera Inferiore in the past. "He was perfectly integrated, I spoke this morning with his family who rightly ruled out racism as a trigger for his suicide. I remember him, at least until before the pandemic, as a smiling and supportive young man, very committed to social issues."
Rosaria Federico
Article published on 6 June 2021 - 07:34
