“It could only be a black thing” said the woman on the right to the other woman
In another blatant example that contradicts the idea that only subtle racism exists in Brazil, in a supermarket located in the Salvador, Bahia, in Brazil’s northeast, a woman was caught by a store representative insulting a black woman. Although it is not clear exactly what happened between the two women, the representative, as well as witnesses confirmed that a woman standing in a check-out line screamed in the direction of a black woman:
“This could only be a black thing, because of this type of thing, blacks are stupid.”
The phrase aggressor uttered, “Só pode ser coisa de preto”, meaning, “it could only be a black thing” or “it could only be a black”, is a very common insult directed at black Brazilians as I pointed out in a previous case of racism against a black woman. The woman was quickly apprehended and although she refused to explain the incident to reporters on the scene, she was arrested and taken to a police station and charged with an act of racism. The crowd at the supermarket applauded the actions of the police. As one witness put it:
“It’s racism and she needs to be punished. Our Bahia needs to resolve these things.”
Salvador is considered the Black Mecca or Black Rome of the Americas; a city whose population is 80% Afro-Brazilian. Salvador is located in the northeastern state of Bahia, a state said to be 73.4% Afro-Brazilian.
In the video below check out a few key time points:
First, looking at the woman accused of insulting the other woman, although light skinned, this woman is clearly not white. But as Brazil is a country where whiteness is the standard despite non-whites representing the majority of the population, would this be more of a case of “colorism”? Although there’s no way to know for sure, it is very probable that this woman doesn’t identify herself as a black woman. Next, in the first 10 seconds of the video, the reporter attempts to question the accused about what happened and if she thought what she said was racist. She responds:
“Nothing, I don’t know….I don’t know….Nothing, ask them.”
She doesn’t want to speak on the incident so she tells the reporter to talk to witnesses. From 11 to 27 seconds, a witness explained what he saw and heard, as described above. You also see images of the woman who was the target of the lighter-skinned woman’s insult. As the reporter continues trying to get more details from witnesses, from 36-46 seconds, the camera catches the crowd cheering as the woman is being led to a police car. At 46 seconds, as she is being put in a police car, the reporter again asks the accused twice what she thinks of racism. She says nothing. At the 53 second mark, another witness repeats that he heard the woman screaming that this was “a black thing” of someone that “lacked education.” At the 1.10 mark we see both the victim and the accused sitting next to each other. At 1.20, the reported asked the aggressor if she in fact said, “because of this, blacks are stupid.” No comment! At 1.28, we see more images of the crowd cheering as the accused is taken to a police station.
Clearly, Brazil doesn’t have a race problem!
Source: Black Women of Brazil
Source: Black Women of Brazil
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