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<h1 id="reader-title">Brazil 'Genocide' of Black Youth Kills 1
Every 23 Minutes</h1>
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<p>June 7, 2016<br>
</p>
<p>The crisis of fatal violence against Afro-descendents
in Brazil that sees one Black youth killed every 23
minutes in what some have called an “undeclared civil
war,” according to a new Senate committee report
announced on Monday, is leading experts to raise alarm
over a “genocide” suffered by young Black people in the
South American country. </p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>GALLERY: <br>
<a target="_blank"
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/multimedia/Brazilian-Youth-Rise-Up-Against-Police-Brutality--20151204-0018.html">Brazilian
Youth Rise Up Against Police Brutality</a></strong>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The report, carried out over the past year by a Senate
commission on youth murder in consultation with victims
of violence and their families, counsellors,
researchers, lawyers, police, and other representatives,
finds that over 23,000 Black youths are killed in the
country every year, BBC Brazil reported. That’s more
than three quarters of the total 50,000 annual youth
murders. </p>
<p>According to the commission, some participants in the
study referred to the crisis as the de facto
“extermination of poor and Black youth.” </p>
<p>The report, based on data from the Violence Map
compiled by sociologist Julio Jacobo Waiselfisz using
official figures, found that the vast majority of
victims are men, and that Black men are three times more
likely to be killed than white men. Close to half of the
50,000 youth deaths per year are suffered by teenage
victims just 16 to 17 years old. </p>
<p>Waiselfisz told BBC Brazil that the homicide rate in
the country increased nearly 600 percent between 1980
and 2014. Meanwhile, the rapporteur of the commission,
Senator Lindbergh Farias of <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazilian-Senate-Votes-for-Rousseff-Impeachment-Trial-20160510-0055.html">suspended
President Dilma Rousseff’s</a> Workers’ Party, told
the newspaper that the findings of the new report
highlight the “true genocide” against Black youth. </p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>RELATED: <br>
<a target="_blank"
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Black-Women-March-Against-Violence-in-Brazil-20151118-0049.html">Black
Women March Against Violence in Brazil</a></strong>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The report aims to respond to “what is considered by
many to be a culture of violence based on racism and
prejudice” and points to a key role for the state in
addressing the crisis through effective policy on issues
including drug reform, public security, and policing. </p>
<p>One such suggestion arising from the report is a
proposed review of the ability of police to claim that
they acted in self-defense in order to justify injuries
or deaths. Advocates argue that such a step could help
reduce victim blaming and hold perpetrators of <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazilian-Police-Fire-Rubber-Bullets-at-Protesters--20160121-0046.html">police
violence and brutality</a> accountable. </p>
<p>The report also found lesser-educated groups are more
vulnerable to violence and that youth who neither go to
school nor have jobs are the most likely to face
criminalization and get caught up in gang activities.
The findings highlight the need for education
initiatives and social programming for underprivileged
youth, according to the commission. </p>
<p>The results of the study come as an <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Brazils-New-Coup-Imposed-Government-Set-to-Be-All-White-Men-20160512-0014.html">all
white male government</a> with a fierce neoliberal
austerity agenda has been installed in Brazil after the
suspension of Dilma Rousseff, which one prominent Black
woman leader dubbed a <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Black-Woman-Leader-Slams-Multidimensional-Coup-Against-Brazil-20160526-0032.html">multi-dimensional
coup</a> with race, gender, and class consequences. </p>
<p>The commission's findings on youth murders in Brazil is
set to be released in full later this week. </p>
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