Black movement NGOs ask for bold compensation

With the increasing favorable results in court, the already exorbitant amounts of compensation requested by black movement NGOs become even greater. The motivation for the lawsuits ranges from “lack of diversity” in company employees to alleged involvement in slave trafficking in the 19th century. Sometimes, entities even receive more money than the victims of racism themselves. Public Ministries, whether federal or state, and the Federal Supreme Court (STF) itself support the agenda of combating “structural racism”, which promotes the audacious requests of NGOs. Recently, Uneafro presented a proposal for the Banco do Brazil created a national reparation fund for black people worth R$1.4 trillion.

Supported by the Human Rights and Racial Equality portfolios of the Lula government, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) began an investigation against Banco do Brasil for the institution’s possible involvement in slavery around the years 1853 to 1855. The public civil action opened by the MPF began after historians pointed out that the bank had participated in the transatlantic slave trade.

It was in response to a public consultation carried out by the MPF that Uneafro suggested the creation of the national fund of R$1.4 trillion. According to the calculation presented by the institution, the value of the reparatory compensation would be 30% of the bank’s net profit in 2023 multiplied by the 136 years of lack of reparation. The money would be used to directly support and encourage black-owned businesses, actions to value African-based religious communities, combating misery and poverty in black families. In defense, representatives from Banco do Brasil admitted the error, apologized and asked the court to consider the social context of the time.

In total, around 500 suggestions were received through the public consultation. Among which are measures such as anti-racist training, a marketing campaign against racism and payment of scholarships for black people. The Association of Quilombola Producers of Volta Miúda suggested that Banco do Brasil pay for the land regularization of the entity’s own land as a historical reparation. Other associations also raised actions related to paying for land regularization or building houses for the quilombola population.

“They learned from us and started doing the same”, says Educafro’s lawyer

The judicialization of several cases by black movement NGOs has increased in recent years and the amounts demanded have multiplied. In 2021, Educafro and the Santo Dias Human Rights Center received part of the R$3.5 million after an extrajudicial agreement with the Carrefour chain. The legal conflict took place after the death of João Alberto Silva, beaten in the Porto Alegre unit, in Rio Grande do Sul. Even though the delegate in the case stated that she did not see a “racial nature”, the NGOs accused the network of not having implemented actions against “structural racism”.

At the time, former federal judge Márlon Reis, who advocated for NGOs, commented that other entities began to follow the judicialization standard used by them. “Some of the entities that filed these complaints, interestingly, learned from us and started doing the same,” said Reis. Educafro is involved in the main claims for compensation for moral damages linked to situations of racism.

The companies XP and Ável Investimento also responded to a public civil action after publishing a photo of employees, who were mostly men, white and young. The reason for the action was “lack of diversity” in the companies’ workforce. The Public Ministry of Labor of Rio Grande do Sul issued a favorable opinion to the action that requested the payment of R$10 million for moral and collective damages.

In the process, XP demonstrated that it has short, medium and long-term projects to promote equity and inclusion, which pleased the authors of the lawsuit. Ável, on the other hand, needed to hire a specialized consultancy to create a “Diversity and Inclusion literacy plan” and committed to creating selection processes with exclusive vacancies for black people and women based on a signed agreement.

Educafro also took legal action against Google for the game “Slavery Simulator”, which simulated the purchase of slaves. The entity requested compensation of R$100 million for collective moral damages. The Federal Public Ministry and the Public Ministry of São Paulo also joined the action. At the time, Google removed the game from the app store and issued a note apologizing for what happened. There is still no information about the progress of the legal action.

The Judiciary has adopted an agenda to combat “structural racism”

“We are happy, because the CNJ [Conselho Nacional de Justiça] is embracing the demands of our beloved Afro-Brazilian people”, said Friar David Santos, executive director of the NGO Educafro, during a meeting of the Human Rights Observatory of the Judiciary in 2021. The observatory was created by the CNJ itself, praised by Santos .

A People’s Gazette has already shown the strength of ideological discourse in the actions of the Public Ministry. One of the actions cited in the report is the creation and dissemination of a booklet on racism in police activity in Brazil using different identity expressions. In the document prepared by the MPF, penitentiaries are called “contemporary slave quarters”.

“We have also acted, always based on the Constitution, in favor of the heroic effort of the black population for recognition and equal opportunities, validating affirmative actions, essential to overcome the structural racism that slavery and its abolition without inclusion entailed”, stated the minister Luís Roberto Barroso, during his inauguration as president of the STF.

At the request of the PT, the Court decided to analyze an action that seeks to impose on the Executive and Legislative powers the implementation of measures against “structural racism”. If the decision is favorable, public bodies from all spheres and even private companies must allocate resources to actions that prioritize black movement issues in their management. Among the PT’s requests, states and municipalities would be required to develop and implement a plan to combat institutional racism and adhere to the National System for the Promotion of Racial Equality, of the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship.