Their motto is “a good criminal is a dead criminal.” Brazil has the largest population of Black people outside Africa. But, compared to the United States, a Black Brazilian is killed by police every four hours, facing eight times the U.S. police fatality rate. And there’s an even more direct relationship between police violence in Brazil and in the U.S.
According to Reason Magazine, Brazil’s 800,000 police officers work with high-caliber weapons, aircraft, and tanks from U.S. suppliers. And though police name gang violence, also using U.S. weapons, as their primary adversary, from city to city, police are responsible for as many as 63% of violent deaths.
Not unlike the U.S., Brazilian police target poorer, Black, urban areas to the extent that it’s been called genocide. Cops themselves get contracted as killers in organized crime.
U.S. authorities also help train Brazilian cops, including using tear gas and rubber bullets for “protest control.” Their victims include activists, journalists, and even judges. They've also covered up lethal force, evidence planting, witness tampering, and witness intimidation.
It can be dispiriting to recognize how entrenched anti-Blackness and police violence is throughout the world. But acknowledging this systemic oppression also opens up opportunities to deepen solidarity across the diaspora -- not just because of our shared experiences, but also because of the shared roots of that violence.