Former AC Milan youth player, Seid Visin, has committed suicide after suffering years of racist abuse.
Visin, who played for the youth academies of both Milan and Benevento, was recently found dead at his home in Campania, Italy at the age of 20.
Visin was born in Ethiopia and later moved to Italy as a child. He was adopted by parents Walter and Maddalena in Nocera Inferiore, where he went on to pursue his dream of being a footballer.
However, in 2016, Visin decided to retire from football and focus on his studies. He only kept playing five-a-side football with Atletico Vitalica.
Atletico Vitalica announced his tragic death, with reports in Italy suggesting he took his own life at his family home in Nocera after suffering constant racist abuse over the years.
According to Corriere, a heartbreaking letter Visin wrote was read at his funeral on Saturday, June 5.
It read: “Now, wherever I go, wherever I am, wherever I am I feel on my shoulders, like a boulder, the weight of people’s skeptical, prejudiced, disgusted and frightened looks.”
Visin also explained that he felt the racism he was suffering was a result of the increase of migrants moving to Italy. He recounted a story when an elderly white woman refused to be served by him while he was working as a waiter.
Visin said that he felt like he had to “prove to people, that they didn’t know me, that I was like them, that I was Italian, that I was white”.
He added that it was as if he was “ashamed of being black, as if I was afraid of being mistaken for an immigrant”.
Reports in Italy claim Visin first wrote the letter, which was sent to some of his friends and his psychotherapist, back in January 2019.