Today I want to vent. Talking about pains that torment me and make me think about the role of companies, of each individual and the sum of actions that can change this sad story.
“Black judges make up 1.4% of magistrates, according to the CNJ census”, highlights an article on the Jusbrasil website; “Federal Council of Medicine points out that only 3% of doctors are black”, displays the G1 portal; “Exclusive: 83% of people unjustly arrested for photographic recognition in Brazil are black”, says Fantástico; “Black entrepreneurs are denied credit 3 times more than whites in Brazil” and “Blacks are 75% among the poorest, whites 70% among the richest”, UOL tells us.
The examples above were used in a post made by Rodrigo França, film and theater director and screenwriter, on his social network, to exemplify how there is evident racial segregation in Brazil.
But where do I want to go? I started talking about pain and if you read these headlines and you don’t feel moved, we assume that something is wrong.
“It’s not enough not to be racist, you have to be anti-racist” is a maxim that goes beyond hashtags, it needs to be a feeling. Empathy? No, more than that. It is necessary to understand what this segregation causes. How much pain does each of these indices involve, which denote a the status quo that delimits access.
The exclusion by itself would be enough for a reflection about it. But if we cross the data from these articles with the number of black people on the margins of society or being murdered in the civil war that happens daily in this country, the so-called genocide of the black people, we will have an approximate idea of how much racism gets sick.
Muniz Sodré, sociologist, in his recent book ‘O FASCISM DA COLOR’ says that racial discrimination in Brazil is difficult to combat because it is institutional and intersubjective, having as its hallmark the denial of prejudice. That is, if you can’t see the headline correlations cited above as a living expression of racism; if you don’t wonder why our society walks this way; if you don’t seek to ally yourself to combat situations like this… then you are not anti-racist.
The other’s pain (which you usually don’t realize) “doesn’t concern you” and the privileges you enjoy keep you in your comfort zone.
Whew… rant done, now I want to call you to action. How to be anti-racist? First, start questioning the environments where you frequent. Be aware of which privileges you access (I’m not talking about giving up privileges, but about including others in those you enjoy). Observe your cycle of friendships and if you have black friends, try to find out about their stories, about the challenges, what these people’s experiences are like. Research, research, research… And, be moved.
Things are not “just like that”, they were strategically thought out – and, at this point, I am referring to the process of racial whitening that dates back to Colonial Brazil, which lasts until the present day.
Finally, if none of these words make sense to you, I challenge you: Google the phrase “situation of black people in Brazil” in images. Reading each article, article… it causes me tremendous pain, but also the mission to use my voice – as at this moment to speak alone, or to speak with a few, perhaps with many – that we must be part of the change.
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