Image of a skinhead strangling a black homeless man in Belo Horizonte, Brazil causes outrage on the web

Note from BW of Brazil: So here we have yet another racist assault in Brazil and again it was perpetuated by a skinhead or Nazi. If you didn’t see it, this blog posted another neo-Nazi incident in which someone was stabbed in southern Brazil less than a month ago. And although it is a known fact that skinheads are known to attack blacks and homosexuals, for those who want to believe that this man was attacked simply because he was homeless, let’s not forget how one white-skinned, blue-eyed beggar became an internet sensation because women thought he was simply too handsome to be a drug-addicted beggar. Such is the difference of how black beggars and white beggars are treated in Brazil. The question for those want to believe this wasn’t racially motivated, is: would this man have been attacked had he been white? Or would a man with blond hair and blue eyes have been tied to a post as what happened to the black man in the state of Ceará back in February? Now, for more on this latest incident in the land of the “racial democracy”, read on…

Internet surfers were outraged on Friday after a controversial photo was posted on Facebook by a 25-year old man. In it, the man, who identifies himself as a skinhead on his own social network, appears to be strangling a homeless man in broad daylight in Savassi, in the central-south region of Belo Horizonte. In the picture a caption reads: “Quer fumar kraquinho? (Sic.) Em meio a praça pública cheio de criança? Acho que não. (You wanna smoke a little crack? Amid a public square full of children? I don’t think so).

Then the young man posted another comment which criticizes the government and society. “Já me acostumei…Falsos democratas, sociedade libertina, policiais corruptos, direitos humanos e por ai vai… O velho pão e circo para o povo humanista” (I’ve gotten used to…Fake Democrats, libertine society, corrupt police, human rights and so on … The old bread and circuses for the humanist people,”), he wrote. The image was soon online and then was taken down by the author himself. However, the photo was posted on other profiles. In the skinhead’s profile on Facebook, which he canceled on Friday (5) soon after repercussions in the media, it was possible to view several images and postings of racist overtones and prejudiced. In one, there a child who is on his shoulders raising his arm in the symbol of exaltation of Nazism.

The man has already been arrested once for stabbing a homosexual in Praça da Liberdade, and again in São Paulo, when he was part of a group that attacked skaters on Avenida Paulista. This urban tribe, which the man says he is a part of, is not small and has frequently acted in the capital city of Minas Gerais. A young student at UFMG, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, reported that he has been a victim of one of these groups. In late 2011, the boy, who is gay, walked with a black friend through the streets of the center of the capital, at around 10pm on a Sunday, when he was beaten. “They came suddenly, beat me up and left screaming that they are skinheads,” he remembered. The young man registered Boletim de Ocorrência(police report), but so far no action has been taken. The professed skinhead has been arrested twice, both times being released after his arrest.

Several internet surfers showed their indignation at the fact. “I cry when I see this kind of thing not of sorrow but of revolt to know that this will not be the last person to be attacked by a hate crime in our society. This kind of thing happens simply because the government does not take stern measures with who does this sort of thing,” commented Hemerson Luiz De Morais Dias. Diego Henrique Penafort, was outraged by the omission of the people who attended the scene. “As my noble friend said above, everyone present wanted to just watch. Interfere, take action, make a difference no one did,” he said.

Internet surfers were outraged at seeing the photo

Then Penafort, criticized the fact that took effect. “If the guy had not done anything and the picture of the supposed beggar was smoking crack in a public square, you hypocrites would be here complaining about him or the government,” he complained.

In the profile of the skinhead, which was taken down at about 8pm on Friday, the man still left a comment for the press. “I have nothing to say to you in the media, where of course, you will always distort everything. Don’t look for me anymore, there will not be an interview to sell your lies with your cheap little newspapers full of blood,” he responded.

In March of this year, another act of prejudice and Nazis quotes caused controversy in Belo Horizonte. Law students at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) painted with black ink a student during a hazing. The girl appears in images chained and pulled by an upperclassman. She wears a sign with the words “freshman Chica da Silva”, in reference to the famous slave who lived in the 18th century in Diamantina, freed after being involved with a diamond contractor. In another photo, a freshman is tied to a pillar while three other students make a Nazi salute. One wears a painted mustache similar to that of German dictator Adolf Hitler.

The UFMG opened inquiry to investigate the case and those responsible could be punished for the act.

Source: Correio Braziliense, O Tempo