Our 4th G5 Talks Meeting was held with Samuel Emílio, 24, co-founder of Educafro’s Engaja Negritude platform, the national coordinator of Movimento Acredito and a member of the RenovaBR training program. Samuel participated in the online chat, held on June 9, 2020, with Corrado Varoli, founding partner and CEO of G5 Partners, and senior partner André Benchimol.
G5 Talks is a project in which business and community leaders exchange learning experiences with G5 Partners’ team.
Samuel holds a degree in production engineering and is a fellow in the “Pró-Líder” programs, from Instituto Four, and “Guerreiros Sem Armas”, from Instituto Elos, both supported by G5 Partners. He spoke about racism, education, inclusion, diversity and inclusion.
Among the highlights of the conversation was the discussion on the differences between personal and structural racisms. According to Samuel, personal racism is when someone attacks a black person exclusively because of the color of their skin. These are personal attitudes and thoughts that lead to general discrimination. Structural racism, on the other hand, is less obvious and associated with the cultural legacy left behind from the slave era. This type of racism is established by practices, habits, situations and statements that are embedded in our customs and promote, directly or indirectly, segregation and racial prejudice. In order to understand structural racism, it is necessary to understand history.
“A curiosity is that plantation landlords claimed indemnities from the Monarchy because of Lei Áurea since slaves were considered their properties. Soon after, these same individuals, who thought these practices were normal, began to build our Institutions. They built our justice system, our public safety rules, our schools and the requirements for access to education. The institutions continued to be built by racist individuals, which, at that time, was normal. Today, we continue operating with these same institutions. We live in a modern slave model”.
Education
With his solid educational background, Samuel Emílio believes that political will and determination will allow education to be transformed in Brazil and, consequently, “solve a good portion of the underlying racial problems in the country”.
“I look at the Brazilian education system and wish that every child could rely on a public policy that believed in education as much as my mother did. That was what turned the game around for me. Unfortunately, there is no political will, but we can create that”, he concluded.
Among his projects to help society gain more awareness on racism, Samuel Emílio recently launched a program called “anti-racist diary”. During a 30-day period, registered participants receive daily content pills on their mobile phones with information on the topic. In just a few days after its launching, the program already had more than 10,000 spontaneously registered participants.
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