There are also groups I met that fight against police brutatility towards Black women, especially those that came from favalas. A favala is makeshirt neighborhood, usually on the outskirts of a major Brazilian city, where very poor people live. The conflicts between people in favalas and the police in Brazil is a long and devestating story. In fact, I recently came across an article in a Black newspaper from the 1880s that described a situation where enslaved men went to the local authorities for the abuse they were experiencing from the man that owned them. Rather than help, the police assisted in beating them before returning them back to the fazenda (plantation). The friends I met in Sao Paulo continue to work against bias and racist perceptions that persist within some police forces.
Just as previous generations of Black Brazilians have had their own forms of communication and publication with their journals and newspapers, the same is true today. While print is no longer as popular as it used to be, there are several groups that have an online presence and emailing lists for those seriously interested in advocating for Black Justice. Just as earlier Afro-Brazilians resisted against Black erasure through communities, education, and the arts, the same can be seen today trough the ongoing politics, emphasis on Black theater and film, and advocacy for accepting Black culture in day to day life without shame or ridicule.
