In yet another example of Brazil’s “racial democracy”, another black women is called a monkey after being involved in a car accident. If you have followed this blog for any time, you will note an obvious pattern here. From what I’ve seen over the years, it seems that every minute of the day, an Afro-Brazilian somewhere in the country is the victim of a racial insult. And although people will most likely acknowledge that the country has a problem with race, no one assumes that they themselves could possibly be racist and if even it exists, they will say that it is usually manifested in a veiled way. My question is this: if people consider calling a black man or woman a monkey to be veiled racism, I don’t think I want to see what they see as blatant racism!
President of the CRESS is a victim of racism after a traffic accident
The verbal abuse happened after a car crash on Saturday, February 11th. The victim says she was called “monkey”.
by Geisa Chaves
The President of the Regional Council of Social Service of Piaui*, Maria José do Nascimento, reported today that she suffered the crime of racial discrimination during a traffic accident in the neighborhood of Cristo Rei (Christ the King), in the southern region of Teresina. She states that the aggressor, a retiree, called her a “black monkey.” The complaint will be registered with the Delegacia de Combate às Práticas Discriminatórias (Bureau of Anti-Discriminatory Practices) in the city’s downtown.
“I was had the right of way when she [Maria de Jesus] cut me off. I used my signal, and honked the horn but she went anyway. When she hit on my car I asked if she was crazy. She got out and said ‘you’re the one that’s crazy you black monkey,’” says Maria José.
The victim, who is also president of the Regional Council of Social Service, drove a gray Siena, with the license plate ODV – 2219 from the city of Teresina. She points out that in addition to the verbal abuse, she also suffered physical abuse from the pensioner.
“I was making a delivery when I saw this confusion, I walked up and separated the two. They were slapping each other,” says José Filho, a delivery man and an eyewitness of the altercation.
The collision occurred between the vehicles in front of the Piçarra Market, in the south region of Teresina. The accused Maria de Jesus de Carvalho drove a gray Eco Sport, license plate MWM – 1759, also Teresina, is also accused of having run away from the scene before local authorities arrived on the scene.
“The documentation of Maria de Jesus’ car has been expired since 2010. She was standing here and called her boss. He ordered someone to come and take her away and left a representative,” said the soldier Andrade da Ciptran.
The standard procedure is to wait for the documentation of the accused to appear. If proven that the car is illegal, it will be impounded by DMV. “To make it worse: she ran away and no one knows if she was capable (of driving) or not,” says the soldier.
“I am an activist. I made this complaint because people have to fight for their rights. This kind of discrimination is common. People cannot let this type of thing go,” said Maria José do Nascimento.
* – State in the northeastern region of the country
Source: Black Women of Brazil
Leave a Reply