Mourão laments the murder of blacks in a supermarket, but says that ‘in Brazil there is no racism’ | Politics

Mourão called the death “regrettable” and said he saw a case of “totally unprepared security.” When questioned by journalists, the vice president repeatedly denied that the crime could have been racially motivated.

“Regrettable, right? Regrettable. This is regrettable. At first, security is not fully prepared for the activity it has to do. […] For me, in Brazil there is no racism. This is something they want to import to Brazil. That doesn’t exist here, “Mourão told reporters.

One of the reporters continued to insist on the question, asking Mourão to confirm that he does not believe in the existence of racism in the country.

“No, I tell you very calmly: there is no racism here,” he repeated.

Mourão was then asked, once again, if the murder of João Alberto Freitas had no racial component. And he replied:

“I tell you the following, because I lived in the United States: there is racism there. I lived in the United States for two years, and in the school where I lived there, the ‘people of color’ were separated, [o] I’ve never seen it here in Brazil. I left Brazil, I went to live there, I was a teenager and that impressed me. That was in the late 60s, ”he said.

“In addition, people of color sat behind the bus, they did not sit in front of the bus. This is racism, there is no such thing here. Here you can drink and say this: there is inequality. This is something that exists in the country,” he continued Mourão.

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The welder João Alberto Silveira Freitas, 40, black, was beaten to death by two white security guards in a unit at the Carrefour supermarket in Porto Alegre, on Thursday night (19).

The images of the attack were recorded and disseminated on social networks (see video above; the images are strong).

The two suspects, one 24 and the other 30, were arrested on the spot. One of them is the military police officer Giovani Gaspar da Silva and he was transferred to a military prison. The other is the security guard at the Magno Braz Borges store and is in a Civil Police building. The investigation treats the crime as a qualified homicide. Carrefour and police have not released the names of the attackers.