February 13, 2022

11:02

Bruno Pacheco – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – “Unbelievable”, “shameful”, “grotesque”, “unacceptable”, so defined leaders of the black movement, politicians and the president of the Congolese Community in Brazil, Fernando Mupapa, in criticism of the speech of Sergio Camargo, holder of the Palmares Foundation, after he made a post on social networks calling the Congolese Moïse Kabagambe, 24, murdered in a kiosk in Rio de Janeiro, a “bum”.

For the militant jurist of the racial cause and president of the National Institute Afro Origin (Inaô), Christian Rocha, Moïse was a victim of the structural racism that exists in Brazil. “If for a Brazilian the job market is difficult, you can imagine for a native African. Moïse was not a bum, he is just the result of all this structural racism that exists in our country. Would you like an example? After this (his murder), his family quickly got a kiosk”, said Christian Rocha.

The leader of the black movement says he doesn’t understand Sérgio Camargo who, even though he is in a portfolio to promote racial equality, doesn’t act in defense of the community. “I can’t understand how someone, who is against the fight of the black community, likes to be and wants to be in charge (of the foundation). It seems that the president has a certain interest in trying to deconstruct the fight of the movement and the black community,” said the lawyer.

To CENARIUM MAGAZINE, Christian Rocha analyzed the posture of the president of the Palmares Foundation and criticized the lack of action when crimes against blacks occur. In the militant’s evaluation, Sergio Camargo is fighting with the black community, in general, in Brazil, which for centuries suffered with slavery and whose reflections from this period still remain in society.

“People revolt against the Holocaust or when they say something against the Jews, just like I do, but have you ever noticed that there isn’t the same revolt when someone talks about the black community? And Sergio Camargo takes advantage of this feeling. It seems that everyone has an authority, that everyone has a carte blanche to kill black people, and it is this ‘viralism’ that makes us sad,” Rocha lamented.

‘One more time’

For the black movement activist and president of the Union of Blacks for Equality in Amazonas (Unegro-AM), Ruan Wendell, it is unbelievable that words like Sérgio Camargo’s, once again, are seen and heard. The activist says that the statements of the president of the Palmares Foundation strengthen social inequalities and racism in Brazil.

“In 2022, it is unbelievable that we still have to see and hear publications and speeches like this. Once again we see how unprepared this government is and how irresponsible it is with human rights. Speeches like this, from a public figure, especially a black one, only strengthen social inequalities and racism in Brazil. We make it clear that these types of attitudes are strongly opposed by the Brazilian Black movement,” Ruan Wendell told CENARIUM MAGAZINE.

Wendell says that Brazil was built on three pillars of prejudice, they are: machismo, racism and patriarchy, characterized, respectively, by the refusal of equality between men and women; by prejudice and discrimination motivated by skin color or ethnic origin; and by the sociopolitical system of favoring men by putting them in power.

“For this reason, we need to develop mechanisms that bring down these systems that are implemented for people of color in Brazil. Structural racism not only isolates (people) from opportunities, it excludes and kills black men and women on a daily basis. Sergio Camargo’s posture is that of an elitist, who doesn’t know the needs of the Brazilian favelas,” commented Ruan Wendell.

“We need to make it clear that Moïse was killed with cruelty. We, from the Black movement all over the country, are moving so that this crime does not go unpunished, and that all those responsible are arrested and pay for the crime,” reinforced the activist.

Naturalized

Structural racism is the term used to designate structures of organization of society and institutions based on discrimination that privileges a certain social or ethnic group. For jurist Christian Rocha, this category of racism is naturalized in Brazil.

“People have naturalized racism in Brazil and that is why people like Sergio Camargo can make these statements, because people confuse freedom of expression with the right to offend. And our institute has been fighting against this in an educational way, taking people to a place of reflection”, Christian Rocha pointed out.

“I am very sorry for Sergio’s statement and I would very much like him to express the nobility in leaving this position and put people who really want to promote equality in Brazil. He, in this position, has nothing to do with the black community, but with the destruction of what has already been conquered,” he concluded.