{"id":19294,"date":"2014-11-20T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=19294"},"modified":"2015-12-19T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-12-19T20:00:00","slug":"vila-kennedy-celebrates-black-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=19294","title":{"rendered":"Vila Kennedy Celebrates Black Awareness Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

When he was a kid, William Reis looked at himself in the mirror and wished his skin was lighter, his nose thinner, his hair straighter and his eyes blue. In his teenage years, he relaxed his hair and planned on getting plastic surgery for his nose when he was older. He was against affirmative action policies and started antagonizing his black friends.<\/p>\n

All of this changed once he started reading Malcolm X.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a Malcolm X book and I was astonished to learn of a black man who was intelligent, a black man who was good looking, that black men could have power, that black people have built civilizations,\u201d William said. \u201cI was astonished at how we were submissive to whites. He talked about racial segregation at the time–why is the white man born free and the black man has to go to court to be free? I found myself. And I thought–I will tell other young people who are going through the same thing I did. I want transformation\u00a0and to work with AfroReggae.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the experience William, AfroReggae<\/a> collaborator on ethnic and racial issues, told an audience in Vila Kennedy<\/a>, a favela in the West Zone<\/a> of Rio de Janeiro. His talk was part of a week-long event<\/a>,\u00a0from November 12 to 16, to celebrate Black Awareness\u00a0Month<\/a> organized by Teatro M\u00e1rio Lago<\/a> and the community group P\u00e9 na Raiz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The event included movie screenings, dance workshops, debates, performances and traditional food to celebrate Afro-Brazilian culture<\/a>. It was also an effort to stimulate the community\u2019s interest in performing arts after the local theater, Teatro M\u00e1rio Lago, was closed down<\/a> in 2012 and is now struggling to re-open and garner local interest.<\/p>\n

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P\u00e9 na Raiz<\/h3>\n

Vera Duma, from Campo Grande<\/a>, Veronica Marc\u00edlio, from Bangu<\/a>, and Rene Silva<\/a>, from Complexo do Alem\u00e3o<\/a> make up the cultural group P\u00e9 na Raiz. Instead of being rooted in one specific community, the group circulates different favelas that need their cultural services which range from theater performances, by actress Vera, to reading circles, with Portuguese teacher Veronica.<\/p>\n

\u201cP\u00e9 na Raiz works with whoever calls us. If someone calls us, we\u2019re there to articulate and work together. The group was born like that. I had some ideas about culture, Veronica had some ideas too, and we got together with Rene Silva,\u201d explains Vera.<\/p>\n

For Vila Kennedy\u2019s Black Awareness\u00a0Month<\/a> celebration, P\u00e9 na Raiz organized performances and debates. Vera performed a monologue as the black author Carolina Maria de Jesus<\/a>, a S\u00e3o Paulo favela resident who famously published her diary, Quarto de Despejo (Child of the Dark)<\/i><\/a> in 1960.<\/p>\n

Later in the week, Veronica coordinated a reading circle where the story of Esperan\u00e7a Garcia was told. Esperan\u00e7a was a slave who dared write a petition to the governor of Piau\u00ed in 1770 to report abuse by her master and plead to be taken back to her family. The reading circle included contributions from the audience about what their hopes (the direct translation of Esperan\u00e7a\u2019s name) for the future are.<\/p>\n

\"vk<\/a><\/p>\n

Hopes <\/i>for Teatro M\u00e1rio Lago<\/h3>\n

Vila Kennedy resident Guilherme Junior learned about theater and culture through Teatro M\u00e1rio Lago<\/a>, but in 2012 the venue was closed because of insufficient government funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI practically had all contact with culture through Teatro M\u00e1rio Lago, since my childhood. It played a huge part in my childhood and I always tried to come to events here,\u201d he said. \u201cIn 2012 it was closed down after years of the state and the city sharing the costs of funding–there was a time when\u00a0neither wanted to fund the theater.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, Guilherme and some friends started working together<\/a> to re-open the space. The group has been pushing to bring more events to the theater since August, counting the Black Awareness\u00a0Month celebration as a big win for the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cNowadays with the ease of communication through the Internet, through social media, we started getting known so partnerships flourished to bring events [to Vila Kennedy],\u201d said Guilherme.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Black Awareness\u00a0Month is something I am very interested in, it\u2019s a subject that includes Brazilians because a large portion of Brazilian culture is from Africa, so I thought it was really important to do something that honored Africa in Teatro M\u00e1rio Lago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"vk<\/a><\/p>\n

Guilherme hopes these events will “stir the community.” He wants to bring a diversity of topics to the theater in the future.<\/p>\n

The week-long celebration ended on Sunday November 16, with a serving of feijoada<\/em> and a showing of films with black protagonists promoted by Circuito Cinegrada<\/a>. The week also featured a showing of O Estopim<\/a><\/em>, a film about Amarildo de Souza, a bricklayer from Rocinha who went missing and was tortured and killed by UPP police in 2013<\/a>, a capoeira performance, dance workshops and evening funk<\/i> parties to celebrate Afro-Brazilian heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a delicate, important subject that should be discussed and I hope the community embraces this cause,\u201d said resident Vinicius Souza. \u201cThere\u2019s so much happening here and it\u2019s so important for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n