Note from BW of Brazil: A few days ago we posted a story about a recent black empowerment march in the northeastern state of Pernambuco. The march was specifically organized to address the racist nature of Brazilian society that manifests against physical features that denote African ancestry, particularly afro-textured hair. Brazil’s African descendants have long co-existed with such sentiments but over the past few decades the cries of resistance and pride have become stronger and more organized. Today’s story simply represents yet another example of how people really feel beneath all of the rhetoric of “we are all equal”.
Woman from the state of Pernambuco is the victim of racist comments on social network
Young Pernambuco woman was a victim of racism in social networks
Courtesy of Momento Verdadeiro
An environmental manager in the northeastern state of Pernambuco Dandara Marques made a police report against a São Paulo internet user with the Delegacia de Repressão aos Crimes Cibernéticos (Police Station for Suppression of Cybercrimes) of Pernambuco, on Monday (14). The reason for the action was a case of racism in social networks, over the weekend, when the boy shared a photo of the young woman with racist comments.
In the posting, the suspect said “Give me a box of matches so I can make a progressiva (1) on this unfortunate (one),” referring to the hair of Pernambuco native, who is black. According to the victim, the words were ‘strong’. “I always went through this, but not in such an explicit way as this. He put me in a very open situation, in a social network, everyone had access to it,” she said.
The photo was originally posted on a black beauty page, on Friday (11). The next day, the man shared the image with the offending comment. Both publication as well as his profile were taken from the air and are no longer available in the social network. “People were commenting that what he was doing was wrong, and I have the pictures of comments. He deleted the profile,” the young woman said.
Dandara also sought the prosecution of Pernambuco (MPPE) to make a denouncement of the case. She said the case will be bureaucratic because it is a person who lives in another state, but still this Tuesday (15) there will be a meeting with the prosecutor to give direction to the complaint. “My idea is to continue. I felt a lot of strength. I’m representing all the black boys and girls and now I need to act,” she said.
The Afoxé Omo Nile Ogunjá, of Recife, of which Dandara is a dancer, positioned itself on the case through a note published in the social network. “Dandara integrates dance corp of our afoxé. She’s active with us, grew up with us and has for many years, constructing an identity capable of fighting attitudes such as that of this boy. And she is not alone,” the statement said.
The notes also points out that “our afoxé has struggled, together with many other partners so that education, art, communication – and so many other means and resources – be sufficient and effective devices in order install a society that really know how to live with differences.” The group also highlighted the anti-racism law and crimes under the Penal Code, such as slander and defamation.
Source: Momento Verdadeiro
Note
- Refers to the “escova progressiva” (Brazilian Keratine Hair Treatment) that is popular in Brazil. In recent years, numerous black women have stopped undergoing this treatment after the damage the process does to their hair.
Leave a Reply