Jerry Masslo

Jerry Essan Masslo (4 December 195925 August 1989) 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.

Shortly after his death, the largest anti-racist demonstration in the country was organized in Rome, attended by 200,000 people. 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.

Early life and immigration Jerry Masslo was born in 1959 in Umtata (present-day Mthatha in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa), which was between 1976 and 1994 the capital of Transkei, a former bantustan (nominally independent land, set aside for black people during the apartheid regime). He lived there in impoverished conditions in a hut made of wood and metal sheets, but yet managed to continue his studies in schools that were 'for blacks only'. Masslo's father died during a black rights demonstration together with Masslo's seven-year-old daughter,

At 3 May 1988, Masslo was welcomed by the Community of Sant'Egidio at the request of Amnesty in their 'Tent of Abraham' at the via Veneziani in the center of Rome.

Each morning, Masslo would join hundreds of immigrants at the crossroads of the village, nicknamed by locals as "piazza degli schiavi" (slaves' square) where the "caporalato" (illegal intermediary recruiter) would collect them to go to the fields for the harvest. The job could last up to 14 hours per day and was paid per box. In order to collect a daily wage of 40,000 lire (at the time equivalent to about $30–40), The situation was getting the attention of the media, and a Tg2 camera crew interviewed immigrants, including Masslo, about their conditions. Some of the migrants immediately handed over the money (an estimated 1.5 million lire), while others refused. Consequently, the thieves struck the 29-year-old Sudanese Ayuel Bol Yansen with the back of a gun. The situation deteriorated and one of the robbers shot his 7.65 caliber pistol three times at Masslo and another worker. The thugs fled in fear of a mass response by the immigrants. The Kenyan Kirago Antony Yrugo survived but Masslo died.

The Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) asked for a state funeral for Masslo, which was held on 28 August in the presence of Minister of Foreign Affairs Gianni De Michelis and other representatives and media. Tg2 broadcast the funeral live, Prominent figures spoke out against the act, including Pope John Paul II, who condemned the murder and called Masslo a "victim of intolerance"

In the subsequent summer, a tent city in Villa Literno called "Village of Solidarity" was built and named after Jerry Masslo to welcome the immigrant workers and provide them support. In the following years, despite the media attention, the condition of immigrants in the countryside around Villa Literno did not get adequate support. The difficult sanitary conditions of the settlement in which the labourers lived made it receive the name Ghetto di Villa Literno.