We stand in solidarity with #MoiseKabagambe's family #JustiçaPorMoise #JusticeForMoise
#JustiçaPorMoise #JusticeForMoise
Black People Rights are Human Rights. Black Migrants Rights are Human Rights.
“Brazil is a mother, a country that embraces everyone. I cannot understand how this mother could have killed a son as good as Moïse” – said Nkusu, Moïse Kabagambe’s mother, after her son was beaten to death in Brazil on Jan 24
Moïse was a Congolese refugee living in Rio de Janeiro. He escaped war and death hoping to find a safe place to live in Brazil. A chance to live. However, his dreams were brutally ended when five men tied his feet and hands and beat him with a baseball bat and pieces of wood simply because he demanded his payment for two days of work. Moïse did not have his rights and humanity respected. In a neighborhood commanded mostly by the militia of Rio de Janeiro, the owners of the kiosk where he worked, considered him “too entitled” to think he deserved his wages.
Moïse Kabagambe left us early and tragically– he was only 24 years old. He is one more victim of anti-Blackness that structures our society. Brazil has the largest Black population outside Africa and the second-largest in the world after Nigeria. Yet, a young Black person is killed every 23 minutes in Brazil. Black youth are up to 12 times more likely to be murdered than their white counterparts.
The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly resolution in December 1990, states that “migrant workers and members of their families shall have the right to liberty and security of person” (Article 16) and that “the right to life of migrant workers and members of their families shall be protected by law” (Article 8). However, the human rights of Black migrants and our Black siblings continue to be violated.
In an interview for the Brazilian newspaper Extra, Lotsove Lolo Lavy Ivone, Moïse’s mother says that her family arrived in Brazil in 2014, when Moïse was 11 years old, thinking that in Brazil “everyone would live together, that everyone would be the same." But this heinous act made clear that life in Brazil is very different for Black people and Black migrants.
“They killed my son here as they killed my people in my country. They took a rope, put my son on the floor, and pulled him with a rope. Why? Because he was Black? They killed my son because he was Black, because he was African” - said Lotsove Lolo Lavy Ivone.
In a note, the Congolese community in Brazil highlighted xenophobia and racism as causes of violence committed against immigrants like Moïse in Brazilian society:
“(...) This brutal act, which not only manifests the structural racism of Brazilian society but clearly demonstrates xenophobia in its forms against foreigners, we of the Congolese community will not be silent in the face of it (...)”.
As a community of Black Brazilian immigrants and allies, we at ABA, Kilomba Collective, the Defend Democracy in Brazil Committee, and the Afro-Brazilian Rights Working Group of the US Network for Democracy in Brazil stand in solidarity with Moïse Kabagambe's family and friends. No more genocide! No more war! No more death! We have the right to live!
We demand that, as stated in the Article 16 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, “Migrant workers and members of their families shall be entitled to effective protection by the State against violence, physical injury, threats, and intimidation, whether by public officials or by private individuals, groups or institutions”.
Black people’s Rights are Human Rights, and Black Migrants Rights are Human Rights.
Moïse Kabagambe will not be forgotten.
Moïse Kabagambe’s rights will be demanded.
Justice for Moïse!
In solidarity,
ABA: Afro-Brazilian Alliance (@afrobrazilianalliance)
Kilomba Collective (@kilombacollective)
Defend Democracy in Brazil Committee New York (@defenddemocracyinbrazil)
Afro-Brazilian Rights Working Group of the US Network for Democracy in Brazil
US Network for Democracy in Brazil (@democracybrazil )
Nova York, 5 de fevereiro de 2022.
Em Nova York, grupos dos movimentos negros e de aliados pela democracia no Brasil se reuniram num frio de 5 graus negativos para solidarizarem-se à familia de Moïse Kabagambe e aos protestos em todo o Brasil contra o assassinato brutal do jovem trabalhador congolês e refugiado político por membos da milícia carioca, a mando do empregador de Moïse.
O local do protesto foi escolhido por ter sido palco significativo da concentração dos protestos #BlackLivesMatter depois fo assassinato de George Floyd e outros cidadãos afro-americanos vítimas da violência policial nos Estados Unidos .
A Aliança AfroBrasileira, Coletivo Kilomba, Coalizão Negra por Direitos, Comitê Defend Democracy in Brazil de Nova York, Grupo de Direitos Afro Brasileiros da USNDB (Rede pela Democracia no Brasil dos EUA) orgnizaram e divulgaram esse protesto para conscientizar o público lical sobre a violência contra o povo negro e imigrante no Brasil.
“Edtamos cansados e não iremos mais tolerar o genocidio contra o povo negro no Brasil. Estamos aqui demonstrandi a solidariedade com a família de Moïse.” disse Carol Fonseca, do ABA e uma das representantes da Coalizão na região de Nova York.
Fotos: Divulgação/ Nova York
