(Leia este post em português aqui: Quem é Charô Nunes).
I’ve just read that question at a blog writen by a “mulatologist” (in Portuguese), a professional specialized in casting black samba dancers to work at events, like “mulatas shows”. He’s offended by Charô’s recent blog post claiming that mulatology is sexism, that strongly ressembles the slave markets that took place not that long ago in Brazil.
Charô Nunes is one of the people who taught me about what is racism and how to fight it. I met her in person in a bloggers event. Contrary to what that guy sugests, there’s nothing obtuse about her. She’s a beautiful, polite, eloquent woman, who lives life like any of us, filled with joys and challenges, always fighting for a fulfilling life, a life free of hate and discrimination.
But none of that matters, because the answer to the question at the top of this page is: we are all Charô Nunes.
Every black girl who
faces discrimination when job hunting, groceries shopping or simply existing. Every black guy who is constantly questioned by policemen just for “looking suspicious”, every mixed race couple who was publicly embarrassed. Every kid who grows up seeing only white dolls at the stores and every teenager who only sees white people on magazine covers. All of those who are called mean, racist nicknames at school and hearing that they have “bad hair“.
Charô is also every one of us, the non black people like me that never experienced anything like that, but that acknowledged the existent of this horrible thing called racism (sometimes, even inside ourselves) and understood that we, too, have a role in the fight against it.
Charô Nunes is every person who sees something seriously wrong with a profession that consists in select and “sell” black women in a hypersexualized way, as if they were some exotic thing…
(PS: Today, November 20th, we celebrate the “Black Awareness Day” bank holiday in Brazil).