June 02, 2020

The Black Lives Matter protests in Brazil

topic:	Racism
located:	Brazil, USA
editor:	Ellen Nemitz

What does Brazil and the United States of America have in common? Both have presidents who do not care about lives, the environment or human rights (not a coincidence as Jair Bolsonaro holds Donald Trump as an idol of his).

The two nations also divide the podium of COVID-19: in the first place is the U.S. (counting over 1.7 million cases) and in second place Brazil, with around 500,000 cases alone. Both countries also have societies that are deeply divided by race, with black people and minorities getting hit the hardest by the pandemic.  

George Floyd, the black man murdered by a white police officer in the presence of three other complicit officers, is certainly not the only victim, but he became at the time when we were just about ready to scream, at the top of our lungs, “enough”. Not only in the United States, but also in Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom, for example, people went to the streets to protest the injustice of police killings of black individuals. In Brazil, the last weekend of May was marked by marchs against the killing of black people (and also in favour of democracy): here, the name of the moment is João Pedro, the 14-year-old boy shot by the police during an operation in his community in São Gonçalo, near the city of Rio de Janeiro.

For his memory and justice, even the actress Viola Davis shared a petition. The United Nations remembered that 2015-2024 is the International Decade for Afro-descendant Peoples and called for the States to act, preventing and punishing human rights violations. But João Pedro is also not alone. The young boy is a victim of a genocide, as we have been reporting. The art may be a way of representing at least part of this pain, like the widespread cartoon with João Pedro arriving in heaven, filled with other black girls and boys.

We are living through a pandemic, and it came to deepen – or to open wide – our inequalities. Black people are most likely to die due to coronavirus: among them, nearly 55 per cent of those infected lose their life, compared to an approximately 38 per cent rate among whites. These numbers show once again the similarities between the U.S. and Brazil, according to a study from amFAR Foundation.

In addition, it is essencial to highlight that black people, together with women, tend to suffer more with the economic recession that is already knocking on the door because even before the crisis, these groups and communities were the majority among unemployed, informal workers and in extreme poverty. Black women are the most vulnerable, as their functions are frequently related to care or domestic cleaning, considered non-essential and totally paralysed due to the pandemic. As the jobs are in most cases domestic, these women may not have labour rights respected.

“During the pandemic, we deliver [to the communities] basic food baskets, potable water, hygiene kits, cleaning kits, etc. What about the State? Rifle shots!” said an inscription carried by Raull Santiago, one of the protesters last Sunday. Wesley Teixeira, another protester, said the march was necessary “because it is impossible to stay home when they come to kill us in our homes.” He also stated that “The young black man speaking here, is not only this young black man, but a whole nation.”

Image by Black Lives Matter

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