“What would you do if racism ended today?” The answers impress

In recent days, a tweet has gone viral asking the following question: 🇧🇷If racism ended TODAY, what would you do?”🇧🇷 Answering your own question, Gilberto Porcidonio, the author of the tweet, said he would go to the mall in flip-flops.

What followed was a flood of comments on the post, containing answers that give a dimension of what racism is in Brazil. 🇧🇷I would wear a cap much more often and in different corners,” said one user. “I would open my purse in the middle of the store without fear of the security guard thinking I’m stealing,” said another. “I would run in the street with peace of mind,” wrote a third. “I would have a child,” said one woman – and several others agreed. There are thousands of responses and most are repeated, showing that countless black people live with these same problems.

Faced with the repercussions, Gilberto launched another tweet, as powerful as the first: “The countless responses that only surprise those who don’t have black skin only prove that veiled racism does not exist and never existed in Brazil. Racism is only veiled for those who do not suffer”.

Indeed, something striking about the answers to the question is the fact that white people hardly ever have to deal with such situations. It is also surprising that most white people never stop to reflect on these everyday issues.

How many are the situations in which a black person needs to think twice before acting? Answers such as “I would calmly open my backpack/purse in a store without the security guard thinking I was stealing” are among the most repeated, for example. Reports regarding fear of the police as well. One user even commented “I would use an umbrella”, in an allusion to the death of Rodrigo Alexandre da Silva Serrano. In September 2018, he was shot by a police officer who mistook his umbrella for a rifle.

Racism and police violence resonated with force last weekend. In a police operation, goers of a funk dance in Paraisópolis, São Paulo, were cornered by the police, in a truculent action. Nine people died, all young people between the ages of 14 and 23 – mostly black.