Lula Measures to pay racially equal historic debts in Brazil

Lula: Measures to pay racially equal historic debts in Brazil

“We just want to reshape the reality of a democratic society,” Lula said in a ceremony at Planalto Palace, the executive headquarters, on National Black Consciousness Day.

The 13 measures, presented by Minister of Racial Equality Anielle Franco in collaboration with 10 other departments and organizations, include national programs, qualifications for Quilombola areas (Afro-Brazilian areas), exchange scholarships and cooperation agreements.

In addition, interministerial working groups and other initiatives that guarantee or expand the right to life, inclusion, memory, land and reparation.

“Everything we sign now is like planting a tree.” For it to work, that tree has to be planted. You need to fill in water. There must be sun. You must have fertilizer. And you are the fertilizer that makes public policy work,” emphasized Lula.

He noted that the initialed shares “in order to continue operating, cannot stop charging fees for the process.”

He clarified: “We are not differentiated by our skin, our hair, our clothes. Because we are brothers. “We have the same father, we live on the same planet and our blood is the same color,” he noted.

He reiterated that it is about rebuilding the things that have been taken away and “putting them back in their place,” the founder of the Workers’ Party concluded.

On November 20th of each year in Brazil, the death of Zumbi de los Palmares in 1665 is commemorated, a slave who, together with his companion Dandara, became leader of the Quilombo de los Palmares.

The day also calls for action to highlight the struggle of black people against the racial discrimination and social inequality that still prevails in the South American giant.

Official statistics show that blacks are a minority in the country (54 percent of a population of nearly 213 million people) in jobs, higher education, salaries and other aspects of life, among other things.

However, they are in the majority in prisons, unemployment, poverty, and the percentage of murder victims.

Of the 4,219 people killed by police in eight states in 2022, 2,700 were black and people of mixed race, accounting for 65.7 percent of the fatalities in Brazil, a study found.

According to the Center for Security and Citizenship Studies’ Network of Security Observatories, the percentage of dead blacks rises to 87.4 percent when only those with specified skin color/race are taken into account.

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