Racist! Racist!
[Cheering]
After racism was classified as a crime
and that Brazil's Supreme Court decided to equate homophobia,
transphobia and xenophobia to racism,
criminalizing these behaviors,
many people have adopted the fact of being a crime
as the main argument to condemn these practices
and relegating to the police and courts the role of fighting them.
Racism and homotransphobia are crimes.
Now it's a crime!
It's not political opinion, it's a crime!
Transphobia is a crime!
They should be arrested and thrown in jail!
The fact of a behavior being or not a crime says absolutely nothing about it,
but speaks about the morality of the society that sees it.
For example, stealing is considered a crime in a
society where private property is declared by law as sacred.
But from a certain ethics, stealing food from a
supermarket to feed someone hungry can be considered
not only fair but also commendable.
On the other hand, locking a building and leaving it in ruins.
When people are cold because they don't have
a roof and a bed to sleep in, it's perfectly
legal, but despicable if our priority is people's well-being and not
the legal guarantee of private property.
The laws and the justice system in the society
we live in exist to protect the property and the
privileges of a small portion of the population,
which wastes resources while others go hungry.
The fact that we call courts, police and prisons
"systems of security and justice"
does not mean that they exist to
defend what is fair or guarantee our security.
The state uses these words to legitimize the
privilege and repression they exert in the eyes of society.
In fact, racism is how criminal justice works, the so-called institutional racism.
The state disproportionately arrests and condemns black people
while it absolves and dismisses crimes committed by white people.
Not to mention sexual violence, beatings and other brutalities committed by
police against women and gender and sexuality dissidents.
Therefore, it makes no sense to argue
against racism, xenophobia, homophobia,
transphobia or sexism pointing out that they are crimes
and to trust the public security system to control and punish these behaviors.
This, instead of leading us to a world free of oppressions
legitimizes and strenghtens institutions,
whose primary function is to oppress and control minorities.
It also perpetuates the systemic racism
of this society and its institutions,
since it defines racism as a moral deviation by some individuals,
freeing society from questioning its racist ways and
making people believe that racist is the other.
Racist!
It reinforces institutions founded on racism
so that they can continue to determine who lives and who dies.
And creates a representation of anti-racism,
a rhetoric that condemns racism in an idealistic way,
but leaves untouched its immanent practice.
Finally, punishment is, provenly,
an inefficient measure to change behaviors.
At most, makes people avoid the aggression
if they think they'll be caught and punished,
but they will act the same if they believe that the
result of that action overcomes the risks.
It does not help the offender to see how their actions affect other people
and can lead them to reinforce their behavior
and sympathize and join fascist groups.
Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia
need to be fought in the folds of our bodies,
in daily actions, in the streets, in the neighborhood.
Anti-racist struggle must dismantle
the institutions that operate racism, work for it and with it.
Or else we'll be left only with the spectacle of anti-racism
a mirage unable to avoid that black bodies are shot by police
or are locked behind bars,
as happens every day in this territory dominated by the Brazilian racist state.