The deconstruction of the 13th of May is the agenda of the 1st Black Leadership Meeting, starting this Friday, the 26th, at the Padre Juarez Benicio Activity and Leisure Center, in Gramame, João Pessoa, Paraíba. The event ends on Sunday, with the relaunch of the Observatório Paraibano Antirrasismo – OPA.
The Executive Coordinator of the Unified March of Negritude / PB, Marli Soares, explains that racial relations in the Brazilian context are marked by profound inequalities. It is worth noting that it is still necessary to mention the racial issue because this is still a determinant for individual and subjective, institutional and structural relationships. On the one hand, whiteness impregnated with privileges and on the other, black people experiencing the worst indicators “For this reason, it is necessary to deconstruct May 13th, so that we can develop strategies that aim to face the problem of racism. Undoubtedly we are in a class society, however race informs class, this for historical reasons that designed this society” highlights the black activist.
According to Marli, the poetess Luciene Nascimento wrote that “society is construction and racism is cement, a structural component, fundamental for interior and finish” . However, the 13th of May is unfinished, because we still do not enjoy conditions worthy of existence. Rethinking and reframing this date is necessary to deconstruct the badly told story that erased the protagonism of our people, which, through struggle, intended to break with the slavery system.
The theme of the meeting is: “Deconstructing the 13th of May: New scenarios, old challenges”. restlessness and yearning for a fairer society, which kills us by action or by omission and compromises our existences. Not only today, but throughout history. All of this happens due to a type of unfinished abolition”.
Marli recalls that the history of black people in Brazil did not start yesterday, nor did the fight for freedom and rights. “Our fight didn’t start yesterday, it doesn’t start today. Our ancestors once dared to dream of freedom, and we are the fruits of those dreams. We are the result of people who proudly survived the horror, of people who dreamed of a different future. We are the result of theorists and activists such as Abdias Nascimento, Lélia Gonzáles, Guerreiro Ramos, who have long denounced the farce of abolition”.
Source: BdF Paraíba
Edition: Cida Alves
