In episode #30 of the Economisto podcast, IDP professor and host Pedro Fernando Nery welcomes journalist Cecília Olliveira, founder and director of Fogo Cruzado, former contributing editor of The Intercept Brasil, and professor in the Postgraduate Program in Investigative Journalism at IDP, to discuss public safety, violence, and its racial dimension.
The inequality of death
The inequality map of São Paulo shows that the average age at which Brazilians die is much lower in poorer neighborhoods. A significant part of the explanation lies in the higher mortality rate of young black men due to violent causes.
“Brazilians don’t all die the same way, and the reason for that is that Brazilians don’t usually solve problems and sweep everything under the rug,” explains Cecilia. Inequality is historical in the country, rooted in the “invasion of Brazil,” because since the “liberation” of enslaved people, the country has been living from fallacy to fallacy. Brazilians invented the concept of “racial democracy” at the same time that priority access to schools for white people was enshrined in law.
The 1984 Constitution guaranteed free primary education, but stipulated "stimulating eugenic education." The government, even before then, had been betting on "racial improvement." Brazilian history shows that, even in speeches by deputies, the plan was to make the country lighter-skinned within a few years. The idea was to avoid having such a dark-skinned population, and thus, various mechanisms were used to create a population that was as unmixed as possible.
Various laws and decrees were established to control and regulate the lives of Black people in the cities. Barriers were put in place to prevent insurrection, protests, and revolts. People who were freed and who led uprisings were punished.
Subsequent laws reaffirmed mechanisms to keep Black people under control. Decree No. 145, of June 11, 1893, mandated the arrest of "beggars," "troublemakers," "vagrants," "loafers," and "capoeira practitioners," names given to this category of people. The drug law of 2000 reiterates the racist idea of keeping people under control.
Public Security Policies
Public Security Policies
According to Cecília, public security policies are based on racist policies, and it is impossible to separate reality from a system that relies on racism.
The journalist explains that racism is structural, a social construct, and occurs involuntarily. These are absorbed concepts, not an individual decision.
Cecília reports that in 2020, 22 children were shot in Greater Rio and 8 of them died. This happens in isolated areas and involves people of color who are not part of the daily lives of many people. The need for these numbers to be reported is extremely important, because behind these numbers are stories and destroyed families, and policies are needed to prevent this from happening.
For Cecília, security falls into the lap of those who accept security as a "good criminal is a dead criminal," and she believes that some laws need to be reviewed, especially since many of them are the basis for structural racism. But, more than that, Cecília emphasizes the need for anti-racist education. "It's necessary to see people as equals. To leave aside the lies that are convenient for us, the fairy tales," says Cecília.
Liberalism in Brazil
“The connection between liberalism and real life seems very distant to me, quite academic and far removed from where life happens,” comments Cecília. The core of individual freedoms in Brazilian liberalism is not 100%, as there are still people who position themselves as “liberal in economics and conservative in customs.” Brazil is a very complex country and, therefore, local studies and solutions are needed for local problems.
The economy is based on Black people, ever since they were seen as commodities, and even today, in Brazil, there are still legal and other rules that prevent Black people from achieving social and economic advancement and, at the same time, make it easier for them to be incarcerated.
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