Note from BW of Brazil: Realistically, who’s surprised by this? There are plenty of stories on this blog that expose the racism that many many Brazilian denies when they go overseas, but yet and still we read these types of stories everyday. The fact is, if it were necessarily, this blog could probably publish a new story about some racist incident everyday from some area of Brazil, but there are definitely better things to cover.
Today’s story is yet another exposure of the lie that says if a black person achieves an education, money and or/fame and success, they will no longer be a victim of the racism that “doesn’t exist”. We’ve seen it happen with the president of the Supreme Court, doctors, lawyers and even a governor’s daughter.
The target of this most recent case is a two-time Olympic winning athlete, the holder of numerous other gold and silver medals as well as a host of individual awards for her talents on the volleyball court. But, as a black woman, that’s still not enough to shield her from racist insults.
Two-time Olympic champion, Fabiana says she suffered racist abuse in a volleyball game
Courtesy of Estadão
The two-time Olympic champion and captain of the Brazilian national volleyball Fabiana Claudino said on Wednesday that she had been a victim of racism during a Women’s Superliga (Super League) game. The Sesi (SP) middle blocker said he was insulted by a fan during the game Tuesday against Minas in Belo Horizonte (state of Minas Gerais). According to the player, she was frequently the target of racism during the match.
“During the game against Minas, a man fired a machine gun of racist insults towards me. It was monkey wants banana, monkey throws bananas, among other offenses. This kind of ignorance hit me especially because my family was watching the match,” wrote Fabiana in a text published in a social network.
In the text, the player thanked the opposing club, who withdrew from the gym the author of the insults and took him to a police station. A Minas Gerais native from Santa Luzia, the player started her career at Mines. Sesi lost 3 sets to 1 and the middle blocker was the highest scorer of the game with 19 points.
“I reflected a lot about disclosing it or not, but I think that talking about racism helps to put in discussion the world we live in and want for our children. I don’t need to be respected for being a two-time Olympic champion or for titles I won, that’s nonsense! I demand respect for being Fabiana Marcelino Claudino, a citizen, a human being,” she said.
Fabiana said she’s still shaken by the event. “To this man, I deeply regret that you think that the lashes that our ancestors took for centuries, are no use today so that another black never again subjects himself the heavy hand of any other skin color. Enough with the hate! No more intolerance!,” she commented.
Fabiana’s colleague on the seleção (Brazil’s national team), Sheilla Castro, also published on a social network her support in a friendly message. “I think it’s inadmissible that racism still exists. Yesterday my friend Fabiana Claudino in the game in her home state, suffered this with a fan. I was very angry and sad. Still it was good that the Minas Tênis Clube removed the individual and sent him the police station.”
The Superliga had two episodes of prejudicial acts in recent years. In 2011, Vôlei Futuro’s Michael heard homophobic insults from the Cruzeiro crowd. The following year, also in the Minas gym, a fan insulted Cruzeiro’s Wallace, calling him “macaco” (monkey).
Source: JC Net
Leave a Reply