Thousands across the country march for the end of the genocide of the black population
3,000 people marched down Avenida Paulista in São Paulo
Note from BW of Brazil: Yesterday, protesters all over Brazil
stopped traffic, marched with banners, screamed and sang in unison
against a perceived policy of genocide against the black population. The
chilling statistics of murder coming out of Brazil
don’t lie and for many, it’s time that Brazilian authorities took the
question of black murder more seriously. With the United States in
conflict due to a number of police murders of unarmed black men in the
past month, and the media consistently reporting (in a very one-sided
manner) on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians, it’s
time the world also learned of Brazil’s atrocious record against its
black population. Slavery ended in Brazil 126 years ago, but it’s time the country stopped criminalizing the ancestors of those Africans. Let the struggle continue!
March alerts of the genocide of black people
Recent data show that, in Brazil, the number of murders of young whites fell 32.3%, while that of young blacks increased 32.4%
By Maíra Streit
The March in the nation’s capital city of Brasília
About 300 people gathered on Friday
afternoon (22) at Zumbi dos Palmares square in Brasilia for the 2ª
Marcha Internacional Contra o Genocídio do Povo Negro (2nd International
March Against the Genocide of Black People). The event emerged in Bahia
through the campaign initiative “Reaja ou será morto (a)” (React or be
killed) and spread over 18 Brazilian states and 15 countries in all.
Among the issues adopted during the protest, are the struggle against
police violence, religious tolerance and appreciation of black women in
the society.
To the sound of drummers and slogans, the
protesters marched with banners and crosses in their hands, symbolizing
a request for the end of violence. The student Mariana Barreto, who is a
part of the Fórum de Juventude Negra do DF (Black Youth Forum of the
Federal District) and led the march, says the idea is to draw attention
to some issues discussed by the population. “The black mortality rate is
very high and a good part of it comes from the Military Police. When a
young man dies, a whole family dies behind him,” she says.
The March against black genocide in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of Minas Gerais
Besides the capital, cities like São
Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Manaus and Vitória were
also locations for the March in an attempt to alert the authorities for
the need for specific policies to combat racial inequality.
Data
The Mapa da Violência (Map of Violence)
study, conducted by the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies,
shows that proportionately 146.5% more blacks died than whites in
Brazil, in 2012 and between 2002 and 2012, the number of youth homicides
fell 32% for young white while that of young blacks increased 32.4%.
The voices of the March
Alex Ulhoa, 24, Physical Education
teacher: “The oppression of blacks begins at childhood. In stores, for
example, we do only see blonde dolls. I defend racial quotas, which many
don’t understand because of a lack of clarification. Brazil has an
eternal debt to blacks. We are still the majority in mortality
statistics in the country.”
Marisandra Layla, 31, Social educator and
member of the Fórum Nacional da Juventude Negra: “We are here to say
that, in spite of everything, we, black women, are still alive! We are
made invisible from a job interview to our relationships. The darker,
the more crespo (kinky/curly) your hair is, the more society makes you invisible.”
José Antonio Ventura, 62, Coordinator of
the Frente Nacional Quilombola (Quilombo National Front): “I was born
and raised in a quilombo in the Alto Paraíba region, in Minas Gerais. I
came because we need to awaken in the authorities new policies to
protect black people. We need to fight together for the right to
education, quality healthcare, in addition to the appreciation and
preservation of our culture.”
Mãe Baiana, 53, President of the Ile Axé Oyá Bagan terreiro: “Our
fight is the fight against intolerance and prejudice. Do they think
that we’re still slaves? Because we take lashes every day. And when we
come together, we say: ‘Here is our strength’. We want to have the right
to raise our healthy young people without seeing them killed or
arrested in the police paddy wagon.”
Genocide: In Brazil, 153.9% more young blacks die than whites
by NINJA
Avenida Paulista in São Paulo
The debate on the issue of the high
number of homicides, especially among young blacks in Brazil can no
longer be postponed. It is unacceptable that torture and summary
executions continue being part of security policies legitimized by most
state governments, often with the leniency of the federal government,
whether in the executive, legislative or judicial.
Alarming data
The idea that we are a peaceful and calm
people has hidden data that contradict that kind of statement in a
decisive way. According to the “Mapa da Violência 2013: Homicídio e
Juventude no Brasil (Map of Violence 2013: Murder and Youth in Brazil),
recently published by the Centro de Estudos Latino-Americanos (Cebela or
Center for Latin American Studies), with data from Subsistema de
Informação sobre Mortalidade (SIM or Sub-system of Information on
Mortality, the Ministério da Saúde (Ministry of Health) show that
between 1980 and 2011, unnatural and violent deaths of young people –
such as accidents, homicide or suicide – grew 207.9%.
The March in Brasília
If only homicides were considered, the
increase reaches 326.1%. Of the total of 46,920 deaths in the age group
14-25 in 2011, 63.4% were of violent causes (traffic accidents,
homicides or suicides). In the 1980s, the percentage was 30.2%. From
1979-2009, the SIM estimates that there have been about a million
murders in Brazil. Another alarming data: For every three homicides that
occur in the country, two are negros (pretos/ blacks + pardos/browns)
(youth and adults). If we take into account only the youth, the
likelihood of a young black man being a victim of homicide is 3.7 times
higher compared to whites.
The “Reaja ou será morto (a)” (React or you will be killed) campaign leads the March in Salvador, Bahia
Since 2002, with differences between the
Federal Units of Brazil, the trend shown is that there is a drop in the
absolute number of homicides in the white population and an increase in
the black population, according to the Map of Violence. In 2002, the
victimization of young blacks was 71.7%. In 2010 the index reached
153.9% (i.e., proportionately 153.9% more young blacks die that young
whites).
Marches across the country called for an end to police violence against the black population
The black population remains the preferred target of state violence
The data presented above suggest a
serious situation. If we take into account in absolute numbers,
homicides against young blacks in Brazil could be considered a
humanitarian issue. We are living in a silent genocide, a racist war
against the poor in a country that insists in saying that racism doesn’t
exist. Clearly this does not match the numbers and research, generally,
in the sociological field of violence. We need to ask ourselves if we
are not, in practice, experiencing an undeclared civil war, a veiled
racial genocide. Besides the murders, this perverse and selective system
of social control has also expressed itself in very high rates of
incarceration of black people in the country, which continues to grow,
even when crimes committed suggest that a significant number of them
should not be in a closed prison regime.
The fight against crime cannot be
conducted successfully without going through major changes in the
socioeconomic structure of society. It is urgently necessary that we
leave the repressive and punitive models and move on to the construction
of more humane and inclusive policies. The demilitarization of the
police makes itself in this context, one of the main agendas of the
public debate and the upcoming elections. The genocide of the poor,
blacks and Indians in Brazil has to stop.
(Inter) National March Against the Genocide of Black People
With the slogan “Reaja ou será morto
(a)”, the march took place simultaneously in 19 Brazilian states and in
15 countries, the whole day of August 22 was assumed the task of
fighting, resisting and constructing a political project from the point
of view of black people, under the theme “transnational struggle against
racism, the black diaspora against genocide.”
“Without the end of racism Brazilian
society will not be emancipated,” says Katiara, of the Quilombagem
collective, who also addressed the implementation of public health
policy of the black population, another public safety that doesn’t put
into practice the right to exist with dignity: “we want to work on the
myth of racial democracy that was the main reason for the emergence of
the Movimento Negro (black movement) in Brazil, to denounce that in this
country there is no racial democracy.”
Source: Portal Fórum, Ninja: Photos courtesy of Maíra Streit, Ninja and GAPTV da Gente
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