10 contemporary facts to reflect on racism in Brazil

It is very common to hear that there is no more racism in Brazil. This could be an indication that we really live the dreamed racial democracy, but it is not! This mistaken view actually diagnoses something worrying: the absolute lack of knowledge about other people’s reality. We need to open our eyes to assess what surrounds us and we need to learn to listen to the other. This is the only way to have more knowledge about what racial oppression is. In order to better reflect on the topic, we call for debate Djamila Ribeiro🇧🇷 Deputy Secretary of the Secretary of Human Rights and Citizenship of São Paulo, master in philosophy and researcher focused on politics, feminism and black identity.

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So here are 10 notes to reflect on racism in Brazil today.

1. Lack of knowledge about what the word “racism” means.

“Many people confuse racismbron prejudice. In fact, it is a system of oppression that privileges one racial group over another. Racist slurs are just one way to signal racism🇧🇷 It is necessary to have a broader notion of this”, explains Djamila. Identifying this common error is the first step to understanding the actual problem.

2. Where are the black people?

Have you ever heard of the “neck test”? It is an exercise (proposed by activists Francisco Antero and Luh Souza) in which each person should crane their neck into places like jewelry stores, private hospitals and universities to see how many black people they find. Added to this, it is also essential to pay attention to the lack of black representation in the mainstream media and politics! This simple exercise is revealing and goes against inequality statistics. To begin with, the IBGE points out that in Brazil a black person earns, on average, 57% of the salary of a white person. The black and brown population represents 52% of the Brazilian population and 71% of the illiterate population (according to a UFRJ survey) and the IBGE also indicates that blacks are only 0.11% of masters and 0.03% of doctors in Brazil🇧🇷

3. The amazement at the Maju case.

Remember #SomosTodosMaju? Those who stopped to read the rain of comments on social networks can see that many people were surprised to see that attacks of this type are still a reality. For Djamila, there is no point in being indignant and thinking that this is an isolated case, it is necessary to recognize racism as a structural problem. “You can’t have selective indignation, revolt with what happened to the journalist, but be silent when it’s with the doorman, with the boy from the periphery”. Indignation is positive, but it is innocuous when there is no reflection on the problem. What has each of us done to change this reality that bothers us?

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4. Luana Piovani’s comment on the offenses suffered by Taís Araújo.

Taís Araújo was also the victim of attacks on social networks. At the time, Luana Piovani pinned her colleague: “(…) Did they mess with her on the internet? That’s it? Because I’m a blaster who is mocked and cursed on the net and they never came out in defense (…)”, wrote Luana on Facebook. Relativizing discrimination is just a sample of the lack of understanding about racism and racial injury. It’s not about ~dissing~, it’s about spreading hate towards a specific part of the population.

5. The myth of reverse racism.

“There is no black against white racism because this is a system of oppression. Blacks do not have the institutional power to be racist”, points out Djamila. Guys, we need to talk about privileges! For those who think that being called “white” carries the same weight as the attacks suffered by dark-skinned people, just think of how many times you felt that someone didn’t want to sit next to you on the bus because they were uncomfortable with your whiteness. How many times have you been afraid of losing a job because you are too white. How many crossed looks did you have to face for being the whitest person of all at some event. The myth of reverse racism is bizarre simply because there is no history of political-cultural persecution directed at Caucasians as an ethnic group.🇧🇷 That simple.

6. Disguised discrimination.

It’s the good old “I’m not racist, I even have black friends” combined with “wow, that was just a joke”. Just stop! It is also important to talk about another serious problem: the naturalization of racist offenses. Remember the Gremista fan who was caught calling goalkeeper Aranha (from Santos) a monkey? At the time, she publicly apologized and stated: “That word monkey was not racist on my part. It had no racist intent. It was in the heat of the game, Grêmio was losing”🇧🇷 Guys, from the moment that the subject’s ethnicity becomes a pretext for a curse, you are indeed being racist. You are contextualizing that ethnic group in a pejorative way and, with that, reinforcing an idea of ​​less value. “People don’t even understand how offensive this is, because here in Brazil we lived for a long time believing in the myth of racial democracy. It is necessary to talk more about this, because this issue has been trivialized”, says Djamila.

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7. The concept of “good” and “bad” hair.

This is another flagrant reproduction of culturally established concepts to devalue the ethnic characteristics of blacks. Stop and think: based on what is it legitimate to say that one hair is better than the other? With this, it is also important to understand that the rescue of afro hair (the so-called hair transition) is much more than a simple fashion trend. This movement concerns a much bigger revolution! “Our beauty has been stigmatized, as there is a Eurocentric standard of beauty that demeans black people. Valuing our characteristics is a political act, as we are going against this standard🇧🇷 It is also worth remembering the importance of seeing black beauty as something different. There is not a single black beauty, our characteristics are very varied”, comments Djamila.

8. Failure to comply with Law 10,639.

Did you know that there is a law providing that Afro-Brazilian history and culture be taught in all schools in Brazil? This law has been in force since 2003, but is still poorly enforced. According to Djamila, some municipalities follow up with schools, but there are no efforts at state and national level. “The school could be a very important space for change, but it ends up being an environment for the reproduction of the oppressive mentality”.

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9. Disrespect for religions of African origin.

Religious tolerance is another contemporary myth. In politics, the same group that defends the right to free expression of Christian convictions is the one that persecutes religions like Umbanda and Candomblé. A few weeks ago, evangelical councilors from Petrolina/PE asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to remove from the São Francisco River the images of Iemanjá and Nego D’Água, inaugurated three years ago. They claim that the sculptures violate the constitution, as the river is secular and should not be linked to any religion. The narrow contradiction is easily perceived, since this same river bears the name of a Catholic saint. But that doesn’t seem to bother councilors. If this premise of unconstitutionality were strictly applied, not even Christ the Redeemer would escape! “Black mythology has historically been demonized and this is another facet of structural racism. People don’t even realize it, because this demonization has already been naturalized”, points out Djamila.

10. The map of violence in Brazil.

Released this month, the most recent survey by the Mapa da Violência talks specifically about the homicide of women. It is very frightening to see that, as much as the number of homicides of white women has decreased, the total sum of homicides has grown, such was the increase in the number of black victims. In other words: not even the decrease in cases involving white women managed to reduce the total number of homicides. Between 2003 and 2013, homicides against white women fell by 11.9% and that of black women increased by 19.5%which resulted in a total increase of 8.8%.

Map of Violence 2015 – Homicide of women in Brazil

Already in 2013, the Map of Violence (in the study entitled Homicides and Youth in Brazil) reported that blacks represent 71.4% of people murdered in our country. In an interview with UOL, research coordinator Julio Jacobo Waiselfisz explained the phenomenon: “In practice, the white population that has more resources pays for extra security. This happens in stores, in malls where this public goes. In reality, the white population ends up having access to two forms of security: state and private”.

In theory, the Federal Constitution provides equal rights to people of any ethnicity. In practice, unfortunately the reality is still different. And we need to talk more about this. All of us! If you don’t feel racial oppression firsthand, logically you shouldn’t want to be a protagonist in this struggle, but, as Djamila explains, you can contribute to it gaining strength: “White people are used to being represented in all spaces, so they you need to learn to listen to the other side. Listening is very important to understand and respect the black experience🇧🇷 First, give space to the voice of the other, then reflect on our individual attitudes and, finally, change our behavior on a daily basis. Don’t wait for a personality to be attacked to show solidarity, crack down on racism today. And always!