Assembly of SP reacts to racism after case of deputy – 04/22/2023 – Power

The Legislative Assembly of São Paulo moved after the case of racism denounced by state deputy Thainara Faria (PT) and, in a mobilization that brought together the president of the House, André do Prado (PL) and left-wing benches, is preparing measures to curb new cases of discrimination.

Actions include the installation of a biometric identification device (by fingerprint) for parliamentarians to register their presence, the distribution of a booklet with guidelines against various forms of prejudice and the creation of a mandatory course on the subject.

Thainara, black and in her first term, revealed on March 31 that a servant tried to prevent her from signing the attendance book in the plenary for not having recognized her as a parliamentarian, although she had the golden pin used to identify the deputies .

She reported the case in a social media video, crying, and said it was not a misunderstanding, but “pure racism, and the worst kind, which is structural.” The episode led to the opening of an administrative proceeding against the employee, who could be punished internally.

But Thainara wanted to try another path, while listening to colleagues from the right in the Assembly accusing her of seeking spotlight with the complaint and of being about to destroy the servant’s life.

The congresswoman defended a solution that, for her, was pedagogical for the environment and tried to prevent her mandate from being “ghettoised”. She uses the expression to refer to the unwanted risk of having her work placed in a victimization ghetto, as if the rest of her work were secondary.

Despite the political opposition between the two, the PT gained an ally in André do Prado, who became president of the Assembly in articulation with Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans). The pressure for attitudes from the House was endorsed by the PT and PSOL benches.

André had already been citing plans to set up a corporate governance system, including a compliance package (rules of conduct in accordance with the laws and regulations).

The initial idea was to internally distribute a booklet focused on harassment of women, after the previous legislature was marked by the process of sexual harassment opened after the then deputy Isa Penna (PC do B) was groped by her then colleague Fernando Cury (União Brasil) in the plenary.

With Thainara’s case, the president heard calls for the material to be expanded and to address topics such as racism, LGBTphobia, religious intolerance and capacitism (a pejorative way of referring to people with disabilities). PT and PSOL MPs also claimed that training on the issues was offered.

While the contents were elaborated, Casa started to test the biometric identification. In the implementation phase, the digital reader still works in parallel with the attendance notebooks, but the idea is that the paper and pen scheme will be replaced by the electronic solution.

Thainara reported that, on the day she went to the books after participating in a ceremony in honor of — irony of fate — people and entities that fight against racism, the servant warned her that the signature there was “only for deputies”. When reacting, she said she heard the employee complain: “It’s difficult”.

One of the youngest parliamentarians in the House, aged 28, the petista wore braids on the day of the incident, which she believes reinforced the racial stigma linked to discrimination.

For her, who now has her hair down, biometrics will prevent others from going through the same embarrassment.

“This space is not used to having people like me passing through here”, he tells Sheet the deputy, who dresses more informally than average and leaves tattoos on display. “I, with pride, look much more like the cleaners here than the deputies.”

Thainara, graduated in law and post-graduated in the constitutional area with an extension in economics, says that she never believed that penalizing the servant would be the solution and that, due to her condition as a parliamentarian, she has the tools to seek something more effective in favor of the cause.

The deputy formally denounced the fact in SOS Racismo, an organ of the Assembly, and sent an official letter to the presidency of the House demanding measures. She says that if the case had taken place elsewhere, she would have resorted to the usual legal means, which is her recommendation to ordinary citizens who are offended.

Thainara says she hasn’t seen the employee anymore, moved to another function, and that she doesn’t even know her name, but forgives her. “I asked that the administrative process not continue, but that the Legislature take action to curb new situations and act in an educational manner.”

Last Tuesday (18), the PT member went to the podium to say that she felt “contemplated and grateful” for André do Prado’s stance and described the measures announced as effective for the House to encourage racial literacy and help to spread the cause of equality. “Our role in society is pedagogical.”

The PL deputy then spoke, confirming the filing of the lawsuit against the servant. “The actions that we will announce at the beginning of May are concrete and an important response so that cases of racism or harassment of any kind do not have space in this House”, he said.

A few days ago, the parliamentarian received a copy of the draft of the “behavioral booklet” that is being drawn up by the Assembly. She liked the first draft overall, but started asking for tweaks.

He wrinkled his nose when he read the word “clarify” in the first few pages in the section about the manual’s purpose. Part of the black militancy repudiates the use of the word, seeing it as a racist connotation, and proposes a new meaning with the expression “darken”. Thainara suggested changing it to “bring”.

In the most recent version, she noted that mentions of gender were suppressed, a word that generates uproar among Bolsonaristas and other conservative politicians involved in the fight against the so-called “gender ideology”. The deputy says she hopes that the final text will, in fact, have an inclusive content.

André’s advisory states that other deputies have participated in discussions about the booklet and the offer of courses and lectures on minorities. It is not clear, however, whether the training will be mandatory only for employees or whether deputies will also necessarily have to undergo it.

For Thainara, a change is already perceptible: “I gave voice to people who have faced racism here for a long time. And everyone understood that now there is someone who is going to put their mouth on the world”.

Monica Seixas from Movimento Pretas (PSOL), who is involved in the mobilization for answers, says that the PT “was very strong in exposing and denouncing the case” and is right in prioritizing a path that is far from punitive logic.

“None of this mitigates the pain she went through, but it shows another perspective”, says the deputy.

For Monica, who heads a collective mandate made up of seven black women, the launch of the booklet and anti-racist training is an important milestone. “I hope the president [André do Prado] go to the end in the decision he made, that touches the wound and is not just a marketing action.”