We stand in solidarity with #blacklivesmatter against police brutality in the U.S. and in Brazil

We, at the Defend Democracy in Brazil Committee - New York, stand in solidarity with the #blacklivesmatter movement and their demands. We hit the streets on May 30, 2020 to demand #justiceforGeorgeFloyd #justiceforBreonnaTaylor, and countless other lives taken too soon via racist police violence. We have since then participated in dozens of protests following the lead of our Black brothers and sisters. This is a continuation of our fight for equality and social justice for the Black communities in the U.S. and in Brazil.

We would also like to remind you of our support to the Brazilian Black Coalition for Rights - since its New York launch at The People’s Forum in 2019 - and ask you to support them too at www.coalizaonegrapordireitos.org.br .

Below are links to photos of these demonstrations, which will be updated periodically on this page and on new posts. Follow our collective actions! #DefendBlackLives #DefendDemocracyinBrazil #TrumpOut #RefuseFascism #BlacklivesMatter #BrazilianBlackLivesMatter #BlackCoalitionforRights

On June 10, 2020 we released a joint statement as a member of the U.S. Network for Democracy in Brazil, available below and at this link

We Stand with Those Who Carry the Spirit of Resistance.

Dear Friends of the USNDB:

The U.S. Network for Democracy in Brazil stands in solidarity with Black protestors and their allies who are fighting against the recent killing of George Floyd and police brutality that Black Americans have suffered since abolition. We also stand with Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was killed in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, and Tony McDade, a Black trans man who was just killed in Tallahassee, Florida. Black Americans are not only demanding justice for Floyd and other Black Americans violently killed by police officers. In their proclamation that “Black Lives Matter” they are also demanding equality and freedom from the daily violence of racism. 

Like Black Brazilians, Black Americans have disproportionately died from Covid-19 which is a result of institutional racism.  Like Black Brazilians, Black Americans face daily stressors every time they are in public spaces, such as stores, schools, and workplaces where they are viewed as criminals. They receive lower quality healthcare because medical practitioners believe stereotypes that Black people have higher pain thresholds than whites, so they withhold certain medicines from them. Black Americans with a head of household who has a postgraduate degree have less wealth than a white head of household with less than a high school degree. The Black unemployment rate has persistently been significantly higher than the white unemployment rate. These are not singular issues but issues that shape Black Americans’ life chances in the United States. Violence is not only enacted when police officers kill Black Americans, but it is also enacted when Black Americans receive lower quality healthcare, experience racism in schools, and if hired, in their workplaces. 

 The United States is in a political crisis as democracy crumbles and as Covid-19 ravages the country. However, Black America has been in crises since arriving here as enslaved people. Their planned revolts, conspiracies, work slowdowns during slavery, and the songs they sang to assist each other with directions to the Underground Railroad are evidence of their resilience and resistance. White racial dominance and white supremacy continue in American society and in its institutions. Black resistance also continues. 

The US Network for Democracy in Brazil is in solidarity with Black protestors and their allies participating in the current rebellion and with Black people who defy white supremacy simply by living, who are tired, but whose spirits and souls are not broken, and who continue to carry the spirit of resistance as their ancestors Sojourner Truth, Nat Turner, and Fannie Lou Hamer.

Please take care of yourselves and of your loved ones,

The U.S Network for Democracy in Brazil

We joined dozens of protests and all videos / images can be seen in our Facebook , Twitter, or Instagram pages. Don’t forget to follow and subscribe to notifications!

May 30, 2020 in Brooklyn, at the Barclays Center