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Racism in Brazil: "A black man's murder usually follows similar patterns everywhere"

2020-12-02T04:01:45.915Z


Supermarket security guards beat a black man to death in Brazil. Here the human rights lawyer Marco Antonio André speaks about racism and discrimination in his country.


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A woman protests outside a Carrefour supermarket following the murder of João Beto

Photo: ADRIANO MACHADO / REUTERS

It is called the "George Floyd moment" of Brazil, the violent murder of a black man and the protests that followed the act.

Security forces hit João Alberto Silveira Freitas on the head and body of João Alberto Silveira Freitas in a parking garage of a Carrefour supermarket in Porto Alegre on November 19 until the blood spattered.

They knelt on him until he could no longer call for help - the 40-year-old died on the spot.

The cell phone video of the violence sparked a huge response in Brazil: "João Beto," as everyone calls him, has become a face of the deadly racism in the country.

Since then, thousands have taken to the streets in various cities in the country, and the debate about structural discrimination, but also police violence, has flared up again, as one of the perpetrators works as a military policeman.

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Brazilians protested the violence across the country

Photo: DIEGO VARA / REUTERS

The security forces are known for their brutal crackdown on black Brazilians.

In May, around 14-year-old João Pedro Mattos Pinto was shot dead by police officers.

Numerous videos document the excessive use of force - for example, how a police officer in São Paulo stood on her neck while arrested a 51-year-old woman who was already handcuffed.

The Brazilian human rights lawyer Marco Antonio André reports in an interview why the death of João Beto is currently moving the country so much, what influence racism has on the everyday life of black Brazilians - and what urgently needs to change.

SPIEGEL:

The death of João Beto is not an isolated incident in Brazil - why did this case cause such outrage?

Marco Antonio André:

November is an important month for black Brazilians, and the media also creates more space for black issues, while they remain almost invisible for the rest of the year.

João Beto was killed the day before the "Dia Nacional da Consciência Negra", the day of black consciousness: Every year on November 20th we commemorate a rebel leader against slavery, we celebrate the black community in Brazil - and we are this year woke up to the fact that another black man had been murdered.

The act was also extremely brutal and it made us particularly upset, even though black people are killed every day in Brazil.

SPIEGEL:

Many observers speak of Brazil's “George Floyd moment” - do you see it that way too?

André:

It is not the first time that Brazil has discussed racist violence.

The case has certainly also attracted so much attention because people around the world are currently more sensitive, take a better look when racism occurs and denounce it, as in France.

The murder of a black man usually follows similar patterns everywhere: the act is often brutal, and state security forces are often involved.

SPIEGEL:

How can you imagine the Brazilian version of the Black Lives Matter movement?

André:

The resistance started when the first slaves from Africa arrived in Brazil.

Large anti-slavery resistance groups emerged in Brazil at the time, and there is still a strong anti-racism movement today.

Black Lives Matter is a digital extension.

For decades, the white elite here was very adept at disguising the social problems and marketing Brazil as a country in which people of all skin colors live together on an equal footing, in a so-called racial democracy.

But it is not, and technology is helping to prove that this is just a myth.

In every little alley there is now someone who can document acts of violence with his cell phone.

SPIEGEL:

What did President Jair Bolsonaro say about the João Beto case?

André:

The behavior of heads of state like Donald Trump in the USA and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil gives right-wing extremist movements and racists a boost.

Bolsonaro has not taken a clear position on the death of João Beto.

Vice President Hamilton Mourão has stated that there is no racism here.

He should actually know that Brazil only abolished slavery around 130 years ago - this legacy is still felt today.

The government must finally recognize that the country has a racist history and combat structural discrimination with political strategies.

SPIEGEL:

How is inequality noticeable in everyday life?

André:

Racism influences everything - work, education, security, housing or health.

Around two thirds of the population in Brazil who live in poverty are people of color, i.e. people who are not white.

And the poor population

is currently more affected by the corona crisis, for example.

The hospitals cannot care for everyone, residents who live in cramped conditions such as in favelas cannot keep a distance, and many have to continue working despite the pandemic.

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Often it is enough to be a young man from a poor neighborhood to be killed by the police

Photo: SILVIO AVILA / AFP

SPIEGEL:

Police violence in Brazil also affects young, black men in particular.

André:

If the security forces do not manage to arrest a black man immediately, they will simply be killed, exterminated.

If a police officer claims there was resistance to arrest, he will go unpunished - that's a license to kill.

Our security system is bankrupt, there is a lack of education, but also training for security forces.

They would first have to understand the structural racism that is reflected in their behavior.

Brazil also has the third largest prison system in the world with around 800,000 prisoners - around 70 percent of them are people of color.

SPIEGEL:

You work as a lawyer, to what extent do you experience discrimination yourself?

André:

Every day, like millions of other Brazilians.

As a lawyer, I enter places that are actually reserved for whites.

In courtrooms it has happened that the judge did not see me as a lawyer because I am black.

I am often ignored, but I have also been threatened.

A neo-Nazi group once put up threatening posters in front of my house - it was scary.

SPIEGEL:

Do you think that João Beto's death will change something in the long term, beyond the current debate?

André:

I think so.

The Brazilian Senate has just approved a legal reform that punishes motives such as racism or homophobia more severely.

But we still need more structural reforms.

There are a lot of headlines about all the racially motivated crimes that happen in Brazil, but perpetrators are rarely arrested or punished.

Even if the investigators in the João Beto case would clearly confirm from a legal point of view that the motive was racist, that would be a step forward.

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