Homeless man is savagely beaten in São José, Brazil; aggressor posts video on You Tube

Note from BW of Brazil: Brutal. Repugnant. Simply savage! Curious to know what words come to your mind after seeing these photos and video. The video and photos featured in today’s story circulated through various social network profiles a few days ago and was picked up by a major media outlet. The content of this video once again brings into question idea of the Brazilian “cordial man”. It is simply an example of low state of humanity among segments of the population. What’s worse is that, after the recording of his beating this man nearly to death, the perpetrator saw fit to post the video on You Tube! Several questions come to mind after watching this 41 second clip. 

One, is the aggressor so sure that nothing will happen to him that he can actually call the police and post this savagery online?  Two, what was the reason for this? I ask this question because, in Brazil, when these types of assaults happen, whether by police or by civilians, the first thing the news will report is whether or not the victim had a police record. The other questions are simply to know if people believe there is justification for such an act. For example, three, if this man had police record for stealing, but not from the man who beat him, would this beating be justified?

Four, if he in fact had stolen something from the man who beat him (he’s homeless after all), let’s say he stole a piece of bread, would such a beating then be justified? I ask these questions because we still don’t know the reason that this assault happened and I wonder if people believe there is any justification for such an act. 

This video is far more shocking than a past incident we posted on a white supremacist attacking a black homeless man and posting the photos online. It also re-visits vigilante lynchings that have been been so common in Brazil over the past few years. It also once again brings into focus the issue of race and human value accorded to people according to race. Of course, in typical Brazilian fashion, no one will want to address the issue of race in this display of savagery, as it “shouldn’t matter what race the aggressor or victim are”. But this sort of thinking would be absurd because we’ve also seen the differences in treatment that the homeless and/or drug users (see here and here) or simply lost children get when the skin is white or black. We also cannot dismiss the fact that it happened in the southern state of Santa Catarina, one the country’s whitest states where some aren’t ashamed of their racist sentiments. We will wait for more details to come out on this case but regardless of the reasoning, this sort of treatment of another human is just sickening. 

Homeless man is beaten São José (Santa Catarina) and aggressor posts it on YouTube

By Camila Rodrigues da Silva

A homeless man was beaten by an unidentified man in the Nossa Senhora do Rosário neighborhood of São José, Santa Catarina, 14 km from the capital city of Florianópolis. The violence, which lasted about a minute, was filmed by an accomplice and published on YouTube on Monday (07).

Armed with a piece of wood, the perpetrator alternates between blows and kicks to the head repeatedly until the beggar passes out. All the action was filmed without hiding the identity of the offender and with the approval of the cameraman, who says at the end of video. “Finished. Now let’s call the police.”

The police report on the case was registered at the 3rd police precinct, on Wednesday (10), at the regional delegate of São José, Fabiano Rocha, based on the video.

The case was referred to the Criminal Investigation Division of São José and is being investigated by the police chief Manoel Galeno. He said the truck that appears in the image has already been identified and the owner of the vehicle will be called for investigation. Galeno also said the victim, whose name was not released, survived the attack and is hospitalized at the Hospital Regional de São José.

Source: UOL