For Black Brazilians, Covid-19 Is Deepening Painful Inequalities
- Health care access, informal housing skew virus impact by race
- Looming economic crisis expected to hit Black Brazilians hard
A resident observes a passing train from a window in the Favela do Moinho of Sao Paulo, on June 25.
Photographer: Marcelo RochaOne country largely untouched by anti-racism protests so far has been Brazil, a striking fact for a society so scarred by the history of slavery and economically divided along race lines.
Black men are murdered more than three times as often as White men in Brazil while in Rio de Janeiro, the country’s second-biggest city, three-quarters of the people killed by police in 2019 were Black or mixed-race, according to national and city data. But even in a nation where street protests are a regular Sunday afternoon affair, the echo of George Floyd’s death in the U.S. has remained fairly contained. No statues have been pulled down, no national revolt.