Note from BW of Brazil: When you cover race-oriented stories for as long as I have, you can’t really be shocked by the everyday incidents, but this one caught me off-guard. Not because it happened, I mean let’s face, I wouldn’t even be discussing these issues for so long if it these types of things didn’t happen to black Brazilians on a regular basis. But what made me do a double take after seeing this image was the fact that a young black male was just killed in Rio after a security guard suffocated him JUST FIVE DAYS PRIOR (February 14th) to today’s story.
For decades, well, in reality, centuries, Brazil managed to skate under he radar of being labeled a racist nation, but in our modern era of cell video and social networks, incidents such as this one no longer go unnoticed. The ironic thing is that, black Brazilians have long complained that the bank is one of the places they most feel discriminated against (see here, here and here). Besides being three times more likely to be turned down for a loan, they often complain of the treatment they are given, particularly by security guards. I mean, even after moving hundreds of billions of reais with their purchases, some people still seem to believe that the bank is no place for black people.
As I’ve always maintained, whenever a black Brazilian speaks of racism or any incident in which they believe race may have played a factor, white, and even some black people, will downplay it as ‘mimimi’, or whining. But again I ask: if a white businessman, even casually dressed, walked into a bank to resolve an issue with his account, do you think bank management would call police to take such actions on this customer? Think about that for moment as you read the details of today’s story, look at the pictures and watch the video.
Man is forcibly removed from Caixa branch and denounces racial discrimination
Courtesy of BNews with extra information courtesy of Aratu Online
A man went to the social networks to denounce a case of racial discrimination (video below) that he suffered within the agency of the Caixa Econômica Federal (see note one) in Salvador, Bahia. Crispim Terral states that he was in the establishment of Largo do Relógio de São Pedro on the 19th for the eighth time in an attempt to solve a problem related to two checks that came back.
However, Terral reports that the manager of the bank left him waiting at the table for more than four hours. “I was surprised once more by Mr. Mauro, the manager responsible for my account at the time, who answered me indifferently while he left me waiting at his table for four hours and forty-seven minutes and went to meet other people at another table. Outraged by the situation, I went to the general manager’s table, Mr. João Paulo, who likewise and even more harshly answered me with more indifference. When I thought it could not get worse, I was surprised by Mr. João Paulo making the following statement: “If you don’t leave my table, I will call a garrison,” and he did so, he called the garrison. Two policemen asked me in the first moment politely so that we could go with the manager to the police station to give clarification. To that point, everything is OK. The problem was that when I got down to the ground floor of the agency, the manager, Mr. João Paulo, said that he would only go to the police station if the police would handcuff me, and that he “does not make agreements with these type of people,” he says.
The Military Police of Bahia was contacted for this report, but have not responed. Calls to the regional press office of Caixa Econômica Federal in Bahia were not returned.
See here the complete account of Crispim Terral:
Crispim reinforced the information of his post and commented that he was a victim of racism because of the treatment received by management. According to the businessman, for three months, he has tried to solve the situation of an undue debt. He says the bank cashed the value of two checks it issued, but those documents were returned for insufficient balance. In addition, the client says he has the checks in hand, since they were redeemed from their creditors (to which he issued the checks), two days after the return.
In his report, Crispim says that he visited the agency eight times, in search of a solution. On Tuesday (2/19) last week, he was accompanied by his daughter, a 15-year-old girl, who ended up in an embarrassing situation. “I was treated badly by the manager who made me wait four hours without paying attention, and then when I demanded that he take care of me, he called the police,” he said.
After the arrival of a PM garrison, the situation became more tense. Crispim reports that he was beaten in front of his daughter. Even nervous and frightened, the teenager filmed all the action with a cell phone. The case went to the police station.
Below is Crispim full report via his social network profile:
INDIGNATED !!!!
“Hello my noble brothers and friends who don’t know me, my name is Crispim Terral, I am 34 years old I am married father of 5 children, because of being a man possessed by love, I maintain respect and humility and truth with a tranquility that bothers many.
With great sadness I have come through this report to express my indignation and revolt against racial prejudice.
Going to the Caixa Econômica Federal of São Pedro’s watch on Tuesday, February 19, 2019, to seek my rights as a citizen and client, I requested a supposed proof of payment of two checks paid by Caixa Econômica Federal, as the two checks were returned for reasons 11,12 (motive 11: no funds, motive 12: no funds for the second time), being that they are in my hands I was also requesting the return of R $ 2,056.00 (two thousand and fifty six reais) unduly withdrawn from my account tfor two months and 21 days.
For the eighth time, this time in the company of my youngest daughter I was surprised once more by Mr. Mauro, the manager responsible for my account at the time, who answered me indifferently while he left me waiting at his table for four hours and forty-seven minutes and went to meet other people at another table.
Outraged at the situation, I went to the General Manager’s table. João Paulo, who in the same manner and even more harshly answered me with more indifference. When I thought it could not get worse, I was surprised by Mr. João Paulo with the following statement: “If you don’t leave my table, I will call a garrison,” and he did so, he called the garrison.
Two policemen asked me in the first moment politely so that we could go with the manager to the police station to give clarification. The problem was that when I got down to the ground floor of the agency, the manager, Mr. João Paulo, said that he would only go to the police station if the police would handcuff me, and that he “does not make agreements with these type of people,” he says. I have a video of this terrible and absurd moment, it is available for you to see in the middle of the 21st century, I was treated rudely and I clearly was a victim of racial prejudice.”
Aratu Online requested a positioning of the Military Police through the Department of Social Communication of the institution, but until the publication of this article, we did not get a response.
Source: BNews, Aratu Online
Notes
- Caixa Econômica Federal (Federal Savings Bank), also referred to as Caixa or CEF, is a Brazilian bank headquartered in the nation’s capital, Brasília. It is the largest 100% government-owned financial institution in Latin America. It is the third largest bank in Brazil in terms of assets and one of the five largest in Latin America.
Banking while black, the same situation goes on in America. And this is happening in Bahia, which has the highest black population 2nd to Nigeria