Brazilian Black Movement

[nattyreb]

The Black Brazilian Movement sounds like an organization worth checking out!
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From: TheBlack List

Denounce Racism in a Brazilian Store

On September 13, 2005, I, Lucianna Da Cruz Brito a black citizen of Bahia,
Brazil, left my home with a friend of mine, Grace Sanders, a black American
citizen, who asked me to go with her to C&A department store, located in
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, in order to exchange a skirt she had purchased the
week before. After exchanging the dress, we planned to do laundry at a
friend's house. Thus, we were carrying two grocery sized bags of clothing.
Upon entering the store, I noted that we were being followed by a white
security guard who worked for C&A.

After asking him why he was following us, he arrogantly accused us of
stealing clothes from the store saying, "I know you are stealing clothes and
I got you." He proceeded to tell me to listen into his microphone, at which
time the person on the other end said, "You are a bitch. You are a thief.
We got you. Aren't you ashamed of what you have done?" At this time we were forced to follow him to the side of the store and he continued to accuse me and my friend of stealing from the store and that he had everything recorded on a video monitor. After he continued to harass my friend and I, I asked him who had just cursed me out on the "walkie talkie," he responded
that it was a policeman who was coming downstairs to arrest us. (It is
important to note that up until this moment, I was speaking to the security officer and my friend in Portuguese.) Shocked that he was making such accusations, I requested that the policeman come downstairs with the tape of our alleged theft and that we should begin the legal process right there in the store.

At this time I turned to my friend, and began to speak to her in English
about the events that were taking place. Ironically after we began speaking
English, he immediately said that the accusation was a mistake and that he
had confused us with someone else. However, I kept insisting that the
policeman arrive. He continued to refuse me, at which time I began to raise
my voice because I was, one, becoming increasingly afraid for our safety and
two, I was trying to explain to people (who were now gathering around) that
we had been accused of something that we did not do. Coincidently, as I was
talking with the security guard, a friend of mine who is a member of the
Brazilian Black Movement called me and I insisted that she come with other
members of the Brazilian Black Movement and the police.

When members of the Brazilian Black movement arrived, we demanded that the manager of the store come out. Upon his arrival, we were asked to move from the front of the store to a satellite police precinct, because a crowd had gathered outside of the store and were screaming "Racismo!!
Racismo!," and threatening to attack the white security guard. When we
arrived at the satellite police precinct the white manager pointed to me and
asked, "Are you the defendant?" Alarmed I responded, "What do you mean the defendant?" He arrogantly responded, "Okay, I will speak in popular
terms for you and then you will understand." His racist, classest and sexist
response showed that he could not believe that a black Brazilian woman could be educated or have enough money to shop in his store. At this time I
quickly informed him that I am a graduate of both the Federal University
of Bahia, Brazil and Howard University, where I will return in the Spring
Semester 2006 to begin my Master's research in African Diasporic History.

Following this exchange we were moved once again to the official police
precinct, where the interrogator refused to acknowledge that this was a
case of racial profiling. I am writing you to express that the propaganda
that many of you receive, and accept, of Brazil as a paradise of racial
democracy is false. Bahia, Salvador, Brazil is a state that is 84 percent
black, however for example, only 2 percent of the only federal university in
the state is composed of black students. Everyday in Brazil, black people are humiliated in stores, banks, restaurants, theaters and other public arenas. At no moment did anyone apologize for the accusations, which were found to be false.

This letter is not only to inform you of the way black people are being
treated in Brazil, but it is also a call to action to combat racism around
the world. In the last five years, Brazil, and Bahia in particular, has
become a rapidly growing black American tourist destination. Unfortunately,
many black Americans come to Bahia/Brazil with two major misunderstandings, one: that there are no black people in Brazil, and two: that the black people that are here experience no racial discrimination. My friend who was with me is not a tourist, but a student and she like myself fell victim to this discrimination for no other reason, but for the color of our skin.
Through conversations with this friend, many of my black American friends,
and through my own personal experience in the United States, I realize
that the concept of discrimination in the United States is no new concept.
However, the concept that racism and discrimination in Brazil is a reality,
but it is rarely accepted as such because citizens of Brazil and the world
have fallen victim to the false concepts of ``racial democracy.`` I
believe we have suffered these things so that we can show the world the correct response. I am extremely shocked, but I am reacting and I expect that you will to.

In solidarity,

Luciana da Cruz Brito.
Member of Black Movement - Brazil
cruzluciana@yahoo.com.br