Along Brazil’s Northeastern Coast is Salvador de Bahia, the Blackest city outside of Africa. Over 80% of the city identifies as Afro-Brazilian, but it’s no utopia for our people.
Known to many as ‘Black Rome,’ Salvador is a hub of Black culture. With no reason needed for celebrating, a walk through the city means hearing drums roar, buying Afro-inspired goods from boutiques, and eating local dishes made with ingredients that show up around the diaspora, like black-eyed peas and okra.
But Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, and the cloud of anti-Blackness still hovers over the city.
Like our people fighting for liberation in the U.S., Afro-Brazilians have also been fighting. From working from sunup to sundown since the dawn of the 17th century on sugar plantations to fighting modern-day systemic racism, this struggle is all ours.
Black Brazilians have inequitable access to healthcare and are three times more likely to be killed by police. Salvador proves that representation alone isn’t enough to sway systemic change.
Despite where we ended up, Black folks across the African diaspora have always experienced the world similarly. We all must go to work in our communities to fight for liberation because none of us will be free without the other.