After assault on journalist at ritzy hotel in Salvador, Bahia, blond tells black union worker, he “belongs to an inferior race and shouldn’t even be there”

Note from BW of Brazil: So let me start again by asking, does anyone still believe that Brazilians think “we are all equal”? If you do, I can recommend some good psychological counseling for you! As I’ve written before, I don’t have the time to highlight every racist incident that happens in Brazil on a day-to-day basis, so I just post those that are revealing in how everyday people really feel about the issue of race. In recent weeks, we’ve seen some very blatant examples that people clearly don’t see black people are being equal to white people or deserving of the same social respect (see here and here). Here, we have yet another example of people believing that people shouldn’t be able to frequent the same places based on race. If I were a betting man, based on numerous examples, I would bet that if there were a proposed law to create law enforced racial segregation in Brazil there would a lot of support for such legislation. 

The hatred of the PT produces racial hatred

Woman says petroleiro is of an “inferior race”

From the site of the Coletivo de Entidades Negras (CEN):

Guests attack journalist Paulo Henrique Amorim and commits racism against trade unionist in Salvador hotel

The journalist Paulo Henrique Amorim suffered attacks of a guest at the Hotel Fiesta, located in the neighborhood of Itaigara, in Salvador, Bahia, while taking eating breakfast with his wife, on Saturday (19) before boarding a plane back to São Paulo.

In a visit to the Bahian capital to participate in an event of the Sindicato dos Petroleiros da Bahia (Sindipetro – Oil Industry Workers Union), the host of Record TV and author of the leftist blog Conversa Afiada was called “leftist” by a frantic man that defended the imprisonment of former president Lula da Silva. He also said, in a distempered tone that Paulo Henrique Amorim had received R$5 million the Rouanet Law (see note one) – which is nothing more than notícia falsa (fake news) spread criminally by groups of right wing anti-PT (Workers’s Party) and anti-Lula protesters.

According to reports of the present, a blond woman who accompanied the guest also offended a trade unionist, saying that he “belongs to an inferior race and shouldn’t even be there” – incurring a crime of racism. The case of discrimination occurred after the trade unionist by the name of Djalma, but known as Boenco, addressed the guest, requesting that he cease the aggressions against Paulo Henrique.

After a principle of confusion, all of which were forwarded to the 16th Territorial Precinct, in the Pituba region of the city. The victim made a complaint. The matter is being followed by lawyers and by the general coordinator of the Coletivo de Entidades Negras (Collective of Black Entities), Marcos Rezende, who stood in solidarity with friend Paulo Henrique Amorim (see note two) and repudiated both the fascist aggression against the journalist as well as the act of racism against the Sindipetro unionist. A similar situation occurred with the former councilwoman and until then Secretary of Labor, Employment, Sport and Income of Bahia, Olívia Santana (see note three), who was offended by a woman in a luxury hotel in Salvador.

To Mark Rezende, these cases are due to an increase of racial tension and class after the institutional coup that pushed the Brazil to an illegitimate government that attempts to take away right of workers and poor people. “Now is being exposed what has been forever denounced by the black Brazilian movement: there is no racial democracy in this country,” pointed out the activist, a graduate of history.

“Before the class debate, in a country that was the last to extinguish the legal slavery in the world, comes the racial debate, because it is the color of the skin that is the main determinant to define who will have the rights trampled by the State and by the bourgeoisie that governs it,” he defended.

Source: Brasil 247, A Tarde, Conversa Afiada

Note

1.The Rouanet Law is a Brazilian law that was intended to encourage cultural investments that can be used by firms and citizens to help finance cultural projects. This law makes possible to deduct a certain percentage of the investment off the Income Tax. All projects must be approved by Brazilian Ministry of Culture that examines technical feasibility of activities. Companies can deduct up to 4% of income tax on projects and people can deduct 6%. Source

2.Paulo Henrique Amorim is a well-respected journalist with nearly 60 years of experience and a host of the Record TV Sunday evening news journal Domingo Spectacular. In 2009, Amorim published on the site Conversa Afiada that the black TV journalist Globo Heraldo Pereira was a “negro de alma branca” (black with a white soul somewhat similar to the term “oreo cookie”) and that he couldn’t reveal anything other than being “black and of humble origin.” For many in the black community, the term is a racist insult signifying that a black person, because of his/her success, behavior and overall image, is “almost white” and better than the masses of black Brazilians because of this proximity to whiteness. The first instance of the Federal District Court denied the action, but the Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed. In another case, Amorim had to retract the offense to Heraldo Pereira. The decision of the TJ affirms that there was a crime of injúria racial (racial insult/slur) and that the disclosure of the phrase on site contributed to increase the damage to journalist Heraldo Pereira. “If the defendant divulges an article that restricts himself to criticizing the victim, without any concrete data, referring to him as being a person who failed to reveal anything other than being ‘black and of humble origin’ and using expressions such as ‘negro de alma branca’ is characterized as the crime of prejudicial injury,” says the decision. In another lawsuit, a civil suit for moral damages, the two made an agreement in which Paulo Henrique undertook to publish an apology and donate $30,000 to a charity. Explaining the case, Amorim said the following:

“I apologized because, if he, Heraldo, in the physical person as a citizen, considered himself offended by the expression ‘black with a white soul’, I regret that this happened and I apologize, now I don’t apologize for what I said. One that was not made with a racist character, and he, Herald, agrees. It’s good to be very clear to the readers of the Raça Brasil magazine. Heraldo signed a document before the court in which he says: “The expression ‘black with a white soul’ was not intended to be an offense nor is it racist.” Who says this is not just me, the one who says that this was used without a racist character was Heraldo Pereira. His signature was signed in front of me and in a court of law, therefore, the manipulation promoted by him or not is an issue to be discussed later in another forum, in another circumstance. The use of this retraction document in which he agrees with the expression ‘negro de alma branca’ was not used in a racist setting. The manipulation of my prejudice is another matter and deserved, with my lawyer’s help, a series of court notifications to retract the statement that I had been convicted of racism. I was not convicted of racism. I’m not a criminal…”

3.The state Secretary of Labor, Employment, Income and Sports of Bahia and municipal president of PCdoB (Communist Party of Brazil), Olívia Santana, used Facebook to denounce a case of discrimination that she experienced on Saturday, February 3, at an event at the Hotel Catussaba, in Salvador’s Itapuã region. According to Luciana Embilina, Olivia’s friend who was with her at the time of the assault, a woman came to the secretary and said she was a “communist” and therefore should not be in the hotel. Still according to Luciana, the woman shouted that Olívia had to go back to the “favela”. The Military Police was called and all those involved were sent to the Central de Flagrantes, on Avenida ACM, in Salvador, where they gave testimony. In videos, which were being shared on social networks, the alleged offender appears inside a police car commenting on the case. “I only said that the military intervention will come to end your stewardship, that’s all,” he said. “Do you like socialism? Why not go to the Carnival in the MST (Landless Movement) camp?”