The 111 gunshots fired against Wesley Rodrigues, Cleiton de Souza, Carlos Souza, Roberto Penha and Wilton Júnior add to the infinite gunshots fired against young Black people in Brazil. In 2015, murders in Fortaleza, Barueri, Osasco and Salvador were headlines in the news. Murders perpetrated by the State with societal complacency and inactivity are routine: Carandiru, Candelária, Amarildo, Claúdia, Douglas, Eduardo and all who were murdered, violated and dehumanized do not make the country stop and reflect. Brazil does not cry for silenced Black lives.
Organized by Black audiovisual professionals and activists, Project 111 questions the normalization of media and Brazilian society when Black Brazilians are killed by producing videos of activism and organizing rallies. Project 111 held an exhibition on December 20th, twenty two days after the Costa Barros slaughter in Rio de Janeiro. On this date Roberto Penha would have turned seventeen years old. The artistic protests happened in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Salvador, Porto Alegre, Goiania, New York and Los Angeles. There is also an online campaign in social media through posting and sharing the video “To live is an act of existence and resistance” and official hashtags: #jovemnegrovivo #projetaco111 #qualeacordasuaindignacao #seraqueeracismo.
In front of dehumanization, Black Brazilians stand-up and say:
“ENOUGH! Your passivity kills, your neutrality consent, and your convenience exterminates.”
Collaborators
Ana Paula Barreto, Student of International Affairs