tumblr as always for me has been a way to openly share things i like or feel without being scrutinized or commented upon by people who are close to me.
but now i just want to use it as a vent. im venting on all my social media, but here is where im less scared to do so. and now being scared is something i think about daily.
this last sunday a man called jair messias bolsonaro got elected the next president of the country i was born and live at, which means, he was elected the next president of brazil.
jair messias bolsonaro is an open racist, homophobic, misoginist and neo-fascist, who denegrates afro-religions, whose his first public act as elected president was praying with neopentencostals priests on live televison when our republic is lace. his whole campaign was based on hatred. and he got elected.
when the news that we was elected got out, i started to cry at that very instant. and i couldnt stop. a cried till i was so spent that i fell sleep of exhaustion. i screamed at my window, hearing back people celebrating and fireworks. even applause. star wars was never more accurate.
and it only got worse. in less than a week.
people are saying that before we go to the streets, before we raise any resistance, we should wait till he actually is the president. but what these people dont understand is that we cant fight after the damage is already done, we need to raise our voices before it ever comes to light! he may not have done anything concrete by now, but he pulled through a 3-year campaign based on hate speech and symbolic gestures of opression, and that is already something we need to protest against!
my parents grew up in a brazil under dictatorship. it started when they were infants, and it ended when they were already married with children. they didnt raise us to let us have the same fate. they didnt raise us so that now they are having to say to us phrases like “you shouldnt say that in public” or “you shouldnt wear that on the streets” or “be careful who listens”. they grew up with that, they thought we were past that.
i know that im priviledged. im white, upper middle class, university taught. many didnt have the same opportunities, many have been hearing this phrases long before now. but the fact is that now the masks had fallen, now brazil has openly said “im prejudiced, and thats fine by me”. again.
and living in fear is not being coward. is being human.
