São Paulo owes a debt to black history and protagonism – 01/25/2024 – Guia Negro

São Paulo’s birthday is always marked by stories, traditions, traditions and the definition of what the largest metropolis in South America is and what it is like. An important story, but little remembered on this date, is that of black protagonism. The urgency of the racial issue in recent years puts pressure on contributions to be recognized, at the same time that many of the demands of the black movement still have an uncertain future.

To begin with, it is necessary to remember that of the city’s 11.4 million inhabitants, 4.9 million are black people (43% of the total population), according to data from the 2022 Census, which makes São Paulo the city with the most the largest black population in the country. But this high number of black people is still not seen in the name of streets, squares, monuments, with their history known or their present valued.

In the Liberdade neighborhood, for example, black occupation in the 18th and 19th centuries has gained more attention. The neighborhood was the first inhabited by this portion of the population and also had systems of pain during slavery, such as the pillory, the gallows, the public chair and the cemetery of the afflicted dedicated to black and indigenous people. The neighborhood’s main square was renamed Liberdade Africa Japan in 2023, evoking this memory, but the subway read Japan Liberdade, erasing the other cultures that contributed to the neighborhood.

The Memorial dos Aflitos is perhaps the most important work to be done by the municipal government today, but it suffers from few resources and due attention. After the São Paulo Architecture Office withdrew from the process due to errors highlighted by social movements, architect Igor Carolo’s project will be implemented, even without black people leading the team. Other points that need to be highlighted are: the delay in the process and the amount allocated.

The 9 bones that were part of the cemetery of the afflicted were found in 2018 on the land where the memorial will be built and only now is the museum really starting to come to fruition. Furthermore, the value of the project, which is part of the Municipal Culture Secretariat, is only R$4 million, while what was initially promised was R$28 million. It shows the importance, or not, of black history for São Paulo City Hall.

The Capela dos Aflitos had its renovation finally started this January. The restoration of the structure should take at least a year and a half, during which time it will be closed. The resources do not guarantee, however, the conservation of the furniture and integrated goods, as is the case of the altarpiece (altar) of Santo Antônio de Categeró, which is taken over by termites. This part of the church alone has an estimated renovation cost of R$200,000. A crowdfunder tries to raise the funds.

The cult of Francisco José das Chagas, known as Chaguinhas, held in the chapel and which includes knocking three times on a wooden door, making requests on pieces of paper is beginning to be analyzed to become intangible heritage by Condephaat (Council for the Defense of Heritage Historical, Archaeological, Artistic and Tourist of São Paulo), which approved last Monday (22) the opening of a study process.

Meanwhile, Rua dos Aflitos, which ends at the chapel and the future memorial, is part of the “Ruas Abertas” project, which prevents the circulation of cars on Sundays and creates leisure routes for the population, but the project to make it a boardwalk and removing the Japanese lamps from the place that was the entrance to the cemetery for black and indigenous people still seems like just a dream.

In Bixiga, where Quilombo da Saracura and the Vai-Vai samba school operated, the processes are not very different. The discovery of traces of the quilombo in the subway work of the future Line 19-Orange sparked the need to rescue this history. The Saracura Vai-Vai movement, formed by neighborhood residents and social leaders, calls for changing the name of the new station, from 14 Bis to Saracura Vai-Vai; a museum at the location of the finds to display the pieces and heritage education to disseminate this information.

Excavations at the historic site continue, but so far around 20,000 pieces have been found, including an Exu (orixá of communication), elements of iron and agate, used in settlements, in a surprising quantity, and artifacts associated with religions of origin. African.

Also at the center, the Republic still needs to be understood as a territory in which African immigration made an important contribution, with new restaurants, shops and prints, languages ​​and religions. While Barra Funda, a new cultural hub, needs to have its black history and present more recognized, so that imminent gentrification does not erase us from the neighborhood once and for all.

There are also other urgent needs, such as revitalizing Hip Hop’s ground zero, an inscription on the ground made on the corner of Dom José de Barros and 24 de Maio streets, which, due to its current state, shows how the erasure of black history takes place in practice. The change of name of Rua Rego Freitas, who was a judge who defended the slavery regime and acted against the requests for freedom of black people, being executioner of the lawyer, journalist and abolitionist Luiz Gama; the return of the Tebas fountain, built in the 18th century by the black architect Joaquim Pinto de Oliveira in Largo da Misericórdia; in addition to the implementation of new monuments (larger and more visible) in honor of black people, which also need to have more street and square names.

No, I won’t forget what happens in the outskirts, after all the highest percentage of black people are in neighborhoods like Jardim Ângela, Grajau, Parelheiros, Lajeado and Cidade Tiradentes. The manifestations of culture – black – in these locations need to be better known and valued, as is the case of Samba da Rua 2, in Jardim Nakamura; Cooperifa, in Jardim São Luís; the Sankofa Hub and Pagode da 27, in Grajau; Casa Solano Trindade, in Campo Limpo; Quilombaque, in Perus; of the Guilhermina Slam, in Vila Guilhermina, among many other events.

The truth is that São Paulo still needs to look at its little-known black stories; value the construction of the present, making the necessary transformations so that in the near future it reflects and is more welcoming to its black population, knowing how it became what it is: a black city.