Exactly two years after the murder of George Floyd, another Black man was killed by police – only this time, in another part of the world: Sergipe, Brazil. And the police officers’ method of torture? A cruel improvised gas chamber.
When Brazilian police stopped 38-year-old Genivaldo de Jesus Santos on his motorcycle, his only “crime” was riding without a helmet. But when they found drugs on him – medication he was prescribed for his schizophrenia, “the torture session began,” said his nephew.
Police beat him to the ground, tied his legs, then threw him into the trunk of their car. Then, they threw a smoking tear gas canister inside. Holding the trunk’s door over his body, they watched Santos scream and choke to death.
The image is horrifying – but when Brazilians took to the streets to protest the violence that killed Santos, it wasn’t the first time.
In 2020, Brazilian police killed 6,416 people, and 80% of them were Black! In comparison, police killed 1,132 people in the U.S. that year. Several other countries share a concerning death toll.
Police don’t just kill us in the U.S. – their violence is international. But even though that means there's nowhere for Black people to escape it, that also means we have strength in numbers: communities all over the world that can fight back!