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2 Ex-Police Officers Arrested in the Killing of Afro-Brazilian Councilwoman Marielle Franco
Marielle Franco, a black Brazilian councilwoman who fought for the rights of blacks, women and the poor, was viciously assassinated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 14 of last year. Now, almost a year later, Rio de Janeiro police have arrested two men they believe are responsible for killing Franco and her driver, Anderson…
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Many Afro-Brazilians Are Bracing for the Worst After the Election of a Far-Right, Racist Candidate for President
On Sunday, Brazilians elected a racist, fascist, homophobe as their 39th president. Jair Bolsonaro captured 55 percent of the vote over center-left candidate Fernando Haddad. While Bolsonaro doesnât take office until January, Brazilians are facing the instant ramifications of electing a president obsessed with machine guns and white supremacy. In ParanĂĄ, a Bolsonaro supporter shot…
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It's Complicated: Why Some Afro-Brazilians Are Willing to Vote for a Racist Presidential Candidate Who's Calling for More Police Violence
Last week, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilâs white, hard-right presidential candidate, received an unexpected American endorsement. âHe sounds like us,â said David Duke, an unabashed white supremacist and former Grand Duke Wizard of the Louisiana Ku Klux Klan. âHe is a total European descendant, he looks like any white man in the U.S., in Portugal, Spain, or…
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#Nigga, What? Afro-Brazilians Express Black Pride by Embracing a Problematic Word
Like most people who use Instagram, I peruse the platform to seek out black beautyâmen and woman. I live in Brazil, a country that is more than 50 percent black. But you wouldnât know that by the faces you see on television, in magazines and even on mainstream websites. So Instagram is where itâs at.…
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âGenocide of Black Peopleâ: The Killing of Afro-Brazilians by Police Is an Injustice Marielle Franco Was Fighting to End
They walked 2.5 miles to the site of her assassination, all the while dancing, chanting and crying. On that hot and muggy night on April 14 in Rio de Janeiro, more than 3,000 people gathered at the center of Rio to demand police action in the murder of Afro-Brazilian politician Marielle Franco and to mark…
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Say Her Name: Marielle Franco, a Brazilian Politician Who Fought for Women and the Poor, Was Killed. Her Death Sparked Protests Across Brazil
Editorâs note: This story has been updated. Marielle Franco, 38, a black politician from Rio de Janeiro, died fighting for the rights of women and favela dwellers. As a councilwoman from the MarĂ© favela, she denounced the police brutality that favela residents, most of them black, regularly experienced. On Wednesday around 9:20 p.m., armed men…
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Samba and Misogynoir: Will 2018 Be the Last Year of Blackface in Brazilâs Carnival?
The United States isnât the only country with a bad case of âblackface.â Brazil has its own version of blackface, and it is most often on display during Carnival, when some revelers sometimes dress up as âNega Maluca,â translated as âcrazy black womanâ in Portuguese. During this yearâs Carnival in Brazil, blackface made an appearance…
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Becoming an Ebony Goddess: Why This African-American Woman Competed in an Afro-Brazilian Beauty Pageant
Sheryland Neal wanted to be a Deusa do Ăbanoâan âEbony Goddess,â in Portuguese. Thatâs why Neal, an African American from Atlanta, became the first foreigner to ever compete in the A Noite da Beleza Negra (the Night of Black Beauty) beauty pageant on Saturday, Jan. 20âthe premier beauty pageant for Afro-Brazilian women in Brazilâfor the…
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Love, Afro-Brazilian Style: Afrodengo Is Making It Easier to Find Black Love in Brazil
Thaisa Moreira Xavier met her husband in a Facebook group. Although she was conscious of her Afro-Brazilian heritage, she had few black friends growing up. The city she lived in and schools she attended were mostly white. But when she moved to Campinas, a city of 1 million approximately two hours outside of Sao Paulo,…
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The Re-Emergence of the Turbante: A Brazilian Fashion Statement With a Deeply Political History
Just four years ago, Monica Almeida, 34, an Afro-Brazilian woman living in Rio de Janeiro, didnât identify as a black woman. âWhen I was an adolescent, I believed in the myth of the mulata (mixed-raced woman). It wasnât until I was 30 years old and I had already experienced so much racism, read tons of…
