Note from BW of Brazil: When I first set out to create a blog about black Brazilian women for the English-speaking world, I also knew that it would be important to include stories and reports that demonstrate the challenges of being black in Brazil. And one of the unfortunate ills that come with being black in Brazil is constantly being the target of racist sentiments. The internet has made the expression of such sentiments even easier but also easier to denounce. Below is simply another example of the “we’re all equal”, “no one is racist here” mentality that is as Brazilian as feijoada.
Luane Dias, of Esquenta, is a victim of a racist attack on internet
Luane Dias receives racist attacks on the web and says she will resolve the case in court
Courtesy of Catraca Livre, Na Telinha, Extra and Hoje Mais
Luane Dias, the singer who was known for her participation on the Rede Globo TV program Esquenta, was the victim of a racist attack online on Sunday the 22nd. In her personal email, the young woman received a message that began: “Olá negra macaca”, meaning “Hello black monkey”.
The text referred to the YouTuber with pejorative terms and also insulted Luane’s family. She posted all the content on Instagram.
In her Instagram post, she showed a message that says: “You are a person who looks black monkey and so go whore go give birth of (sic) your families are racism may your relatives will soon die!”. (see note one)
The aggressive text sent by direct message also says: “Go black monkey on top of a tree (sic) of your families that are black racism of blacks that are slaves of Brazilians.”
This is not the first time she has been a victim of a racial offense on the web. According to the newspaper Extra, the YouTuber made a formal denouncement at the Delegacia de Repressão aos Crimes de Informátic (Precinct of Prevention of Informatics Crimes) in Rio de Janeiro.
To Extra, Dias said: “I’m shocked, we always think that this kind of thing will never happen to us, I’ve been targeted by racial offenses on my Facebook page, talking about my hair and my skin color…But this time, I received an email from a person calling me a ‘negra macaca’ (black monkey) I can’t let that go. Racism is a crime and we can’t let it go (unchallenged). My family is outraged. I am going to the police station to make a denouncement. Racism must end.”
The 22 year old YouTuber is from the Cidade Alta region of Cordovil in Rio de Janeiro and is being assisted by her followers on Instagram in identifying the person responsible. Luana said she already has clues about the criminal. “I shared the email on my Instagram, and my followers found the Facebook profile of this guy. I don’t know if it’s fake, it doesn’t look like it, but the curious thing is that he’s also black.”
She is the latest in a long line of famous black Brazilians who have been attacked with racist insults on the internet. Among those celebrities are journalist Maju Coutinho, actresses Taís Araújo, Sheron Menezzes, Cris Vianna, Juliana Alves.
Note from BW of Brazil: So for the second time in less than a week, we see a report of a black person being verbally assaulted with racist insults from another black person. On January 21st, I presented a story reporting that the person who had insulted the adopted African daughter of actor couple Bruno Gagliasso and Giovanna Ewbank was caught and it was discovered that the person was a teenage black female who expressed no regrets about insulting another black person in terms normally spewed by white people. This, (black on black violence/black on black racism), is yet another aspect of living under five centuries of racist oppression that people don’t like to discuss. This is one of the main problems in any attempt of trying to discuss racism and white supremacy in Brazil; everyone wants to simply believe that there is no problem and “we are all equal”.
The fact is that, once one deals with the simple existence of racism and white supremacy, we must then deal with the multi-faceted manners that these social diseases affect the population. And as we can see, the oppressed taking on attitudes of the oppressor is yet another side of the problem. The way I see this, this is an issue that the black community itself must deal with. My question is that, why is that whenever the discussion is racism in Brazil, people immediately want to discuss the issue in a “let’s all hold hands”, “We Are the World” type manner? In my view, there are moments when black people must turn to other black people to address problems of black people. Of course I can already hear, “you’re a radical”, “you’re a reverse racist”. But to this accusation, I would ask any white person who truly cared about this issue, does empowerment of the black community really concern you or would rather things remain as they are? As such, white people can choose to be friendly or racist to black people whenever they so choose. Just as there are certain issues that women need to discuss with other women, issues in which a Muslim may better relate to another Muslim, there are also times when black people need to discuss issues that affect black people with other black people. And as racism/white supremacy benefits persons who consider themselves white, why should this be a discussion in which the very people who created and benefit from such discriminatory acts be included in the discussion?
Source: Catraca Livre, Na Telinha, Extra, Hoje Mais
Note
- The translation of the text is not bad on my part but rather the original Portuguese of the person who sent the message to Luane is terrible. Even the screenshot that she posted, several of Luane’s followers commented on how bad the grammar of the text is. One suggested that the person take a Portuguese class, another wrote that the imbecile is illiterate and a third wrote that his Portuguese is terrible.
Great story!!