January 7, 2023

10:01

Mencius Melo – Amazon Agency

MANAUS – The black movement won one more battle in the recognition of the ancestral heritages of the Brazilian people. The law that creates the date March 21 as the National Day of Traditions of Roots of African Matrices and Candomblé Nations was sanctioned. Human rights and religious parliamentarians celebrate the proposal and the decision to establish a date to recognise and preserve black cultural heritages. “It is a broad step against racism!”, said the Amazonian religious leader Father Ronald Ty Odé.

In 2021, the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights (MDH) received 586 reports of religious intolerance in Brazil, according to the Metrópoles website. This is an increase of 141% compared to the previous year, which had 243 denunciations. The state that recorded the highest number of reports was Rio de Janeiro, with 138, followed by São Paulo, with 110. Regarding the gender of the victims, the majority are women, who sum 382 denunciations (65.19%). Men were 130. Another 74 victims did not declare their sexual orientation.

For Father Ronald, the date is another tool to be used to deconstruct structural racism and religious intolerance. “It is a great milestone also against religious intolerance proposed by some, not all, evangelical leaders, who are very infiltrated in Congress, especially in the Senate. The sanction is a very firm step that we are taking,” he celebrated.

Still according to Ty Odé, the law and sanction show that there are advances, but more is needed: “We still need more, because there are projects to be approved against racism and religious freedom”, he noted. Pai Ronald Ty Odé, praised the attitude of the new president: “Lula is a leader who respects, is a sensitive president who listens and listens to his people. It is a president saying that prejudice and racism are over”, he celebrated.

Resistance

In a report to Folha de São Paulo, the rapporteur of the Brazilian bill in the House of Representatives, Representative Erika Kokay (PT-DF), said about the law and its symbolism: “Rescuing our ancestry, rescuing what represents resistance and, at the same time, the persistence and resilience of traditional peoples of African origin is fundamental for the construction of a democracy”, she said.

The proponent of the bill recalled the historical moments that marked the repression of religions of African origin in Brazil. In presenting the proposal, Vicentinho (PT-SP) pointed out that Candomblé was quite marginalized. “Initially banned and considered a criminal act, the practice of Candomblé was even prevented by several governments, and its adherents were persecuted and arrested by the police”, he noted.