In Brazil, there has been a new case of racism, this time in a Carrefour supermarket in the city of Curitiba, where a black teacher, Isabel Oliveira, reported to the Civil Police that a security guard chased her for more than 30 minutes while she was shopping in the store. The woman reported that the guard was constantly staring at her and approached him to ask if she posed a threat to the store, which he denied. After hours of the incident, Oliveira returned to the supermarket half-naked and with the phrase “Am I a threat?” written on her body to protest.
The complaint by teacher Isabel Oliveira took place on the same day that another black woman denounced being discriminated against by a Carrefour employee and protested half-naked in the store. In response to these events, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva addressed Carrefour executives to state that his country would not allow racism and what the French company is trying to “impose in Brazil.”
The company responded that they had conducted an internal investigation and found no evidence of an improper approach. In addition, they assured that they had “a zero-tolerance policy for any type of discriminatory behavior” and trained their employees to avoid such occurrences.
The Civil Police opened an investigation for the crime of racism and plans to hear statements from witnesses, managers, and the security guard, whose identity is unknown. The denunciation of the teacher Isabel Oliveira has provoked criticism in the networks and has generated great repercussions in Brazil, evidencing the need to continue fighting against racism in the country.