{"id":25693,"date":"2015-12-07T10:29:59","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T13:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=25693"},"modified":"2023-08-23T12:21:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T15:21:12","slug":"wave-of-protests-against-brazils-black-genocide-begins-with-energized-1000-in-madureira","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=25693","title":{"rendered":"Wave of Protests Against Brazil’s ‘Black Genocide’ Begins With Energized 1000 in Madureira"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

On Thursday December 3 approximately 1,000 people came together to\u00a0protest<\/a>\u00a0the genocide against black youth<\/a>\u00a0at the hands of\u00a0police<\/a>. The protest<\/a> took place in the North Zone<\/a> neighborhood of Madureira<\/a> in response to the killing of 5 young black men<\/a>\u00a0in Costa Barros<\/a>\u00a0on November 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe genocide needs to stop, because if not, the city will stop.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Protesters began arriving at\u00a05pm wearing all black \u201cto show that they\u2019re grieving and that the white of peace never contemplated the black population.\u201d The huge crowd gathered under the Negr\u00e3o de Lima viaduct\u00a0and formed a large circle, inviting\u00a0participants\u00a0to enter\u00a0the middle and voice their frustrations and opinions about the violence against\u00a0black youth that has been a regular\u00a0part of life in Rio for generations but has only recently been more consistently documented, leading to greater public indignation. Others created posters and held them on the crosswalk for those passing in cars to see.<\/p>\n

The march began at 7pm and was led by protesters holding a sign that read\u00a0\u201cNo Racism!\u201d The march through the neighborhood\u00a0was planned for the\u00a0time many residents were leaving work,\u00a0so they\u00a0would be able to see and join the march. Protesters chanted: \u201cCome, come to the streets, come to fight racism<\/a>,\u201d persuading bystanders to join. In front of the mass of people, a sound car and a reggae kombi led the way, amplifying the voices of protesters calling for action.<\/p>\n

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

While walking through the community, activists were united by one main chant: \u201cGenocide needs to stop, because if not, the city will stop<\/a>.\u201d Many times throughout the walk, the group paused to remember the young boys whose lives were lost. One protest leader\u00a0called\u00a0out their names\u2014\u201cWilton Esteves Domingos J\u00fanior, Wesley Castro Rodrigues, Cleiton Corr\u00eaa de Souza, Carlos Eduardo da Silva de Souza, Roberto de Souza Penha\u201d\u2014as the crowd responded “present!” to each.<\/p>\n

The protest also featured\u00a0a woman with a bowl of \u201cbloody\u201d pacifiers and plastic parts of infants\u2019 bodies draped around her own body. The woman gruesomely highlighted\u00a0the harsh reality these communities experience\u2014the frequent loss of innocent children\u2019s lives. At times, a group of six teenagers joined\u00a0her in a type of theatrical performance. The teenagers, whose bodies were painted with fake wounds, walked\u00a0around the woman in a state of desperation, asking spectators, \u201cIs it because I\u2019m poor or because I\u2019m black<\/a>?\u201d The group lay\u00a0down on the road as if dead, whispering \u201cI carry the prejudice\u00a0in my soul,\u201d referring to the stereotypes<\/a> they face every day and the fear they might not come home.<\/p>\n

Along the walk, many community members had the opportunity to take the microphone and voice\u00a0their thoughts. Coletivo Papo Reto<\/a>\u00a0member, Raull Santiago<\/a>, was one of these contributors. In his empowering speech he told the story of Eduardo, a ten-year-old boy shot<\/a> this April\u00a0in Complexo do Alem\u00e3o<\/a>, to make the point that this genocide against black youth extends across all favelas. \u201cWe must unite in this moment because we all are the favela,\u201d he told the crowd.<\/p>\n

The protest paused\u00a0in front of the Madureira Shopping center where a group of mothers from different favelas spoke about their lives after losing their children to police brutality<\/a>. Ana Paula Oliveira, whose son\u00a0Johnatha Oliveira was killed<\/a>\u00a0in 2014 in Manguinhos<\/a>, explained to the crowd\u00a0that this group of women was\u00a0\u201crepresenting the pain of all the mothers who had lost their children.\u201d She continued: \u201cMy son would have been 21 years old tomorrow and I\u2019m here today because I won\u2019t be quiet, I won\u2019t accept this.\u201d At the invitation of Amnesty International, Ana Paula recently traveled to various European cities<\/a> to speak\u00a0about her son’s death and raise international awareness of Brazil’s sky high rates of violence against black youth.<\/p>\n

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

At the entrance of the Madureira Park, protest leader Sylvia de Mendoza asked the crowd\u00a0to enter in silence, \u201cin memory of their brothers who were assassinated.”<\/p>\n

Upon reaching the auditorium inside the park, the protesters gathered one last time to chant\u00a0and some individuals\u00a0leaped onto the stage to energize the crowd with final words. At the end, members of various\u00a0organizations behind\u00a0the march gathered in the front to shout, \u201cBrazil, Africa, Central America, the black struggle is international,\u201d tying events in Brazil to\u00a0the injustices that black people face worldwide. Participants were left with a sense of unity and hope that this march\u00a0marked a significant\u00a0strengthening\u00a0of the movement to end the genocide of black\u00a0people\u00a0in Brazil.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the next day saw the protest continue<\/a>, this time\u00a0in front of\u00a0Guanabara Palace, the seat of Rio’s state government in the South Zone<\/a>. Both events were so successful that a third event building on these\u00a0has now been scheduled<\/a> for December 10, International Human Rights Day, from 3pm onwards in Madureira Park, where performances, debates, exhibitions and workshops will occupy\u00a0the public space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas On Thursday December 3 approximately 1,000 people came together to\u00a0protest\u00a0the genocide against black youth\u00a0at the hands of\u00a0police. The protest took place in the North Zone neighborhood of Madureira in response to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":25694,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288,1290,1333,336,1329],"tags":[1606,756,32,25,35,637,918,37,17,16,18,124,1189,270,268,1385],"writer":[1833,1785],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-civilsociety","9":"category-event-reports","10":"category-violations","11":"category-by-international-observers","12":"tag-coletivo-papo-reto","13":"tag-community-organizing","14":"tag-complexo-do-alemao","15":"tag-human-rights","16":"tag-madureira","17":"tag-manguinhos","18":"tag-military-police","19":"tag-north-zone","20":"tag-police-brutality","21":"tag-police-corruption","22":"tag-protest","23":"tag-race","24":"tag-racism","25":"tag-resistance","26":"tag-state-violence","27":"tag-violence","28":"writer-aldair-arriola-gomez","29":"writer-laura-gama"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25693"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=25693"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=25693"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=25693"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=25693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}