The question most asked of the Federal Police on the night of this Saturday 29, mainly by the black community was: “Where’s Samantha?”.
Samantha Vitena Barbosa is an English teacher who was forcibly removed by three federal policemen from Gol airline flight G 1575 from Salvador to Sao Paulo. The request came from the commander of the aircraft, Mr. Sergio Pereira Gomes.
What was the reason? The woman had complained that she could not find a place to store her backpack inside the plane. “If I sent in my laptop, it would be in pieces. The flight attendants didn’t lift a finger to help me,” Samantha said.
In a video posted on social media by the journalist Elaine Hazin, Samantha can be seen talking to the federal police and trying to figure out why she was taken off the flight. The teacher complains that he has not had the help of any crew member to retrieve the luggage [mochila] to be stored and which has had the good will to do so on the part of other passengers. Other people on the flight can be heard shouting the word “racism” in the background.
“The flight attendants told me that if we landed in Guarulhos it would be my fault, because I didn’t want to check the backpack. He had the courage to tell me. It’s not my fault because the flight is more than 2 hours late. Given that it’s been over 1 hour since I put my backpack here and the flight didn’t take off. Now, there are 3 men who let me off the flight without telling me the reason. I asked and he said he won’t talk. And he said if I don’t get off that flight, he will ask everyone to get off, that I’m disobeying and committing a crime,” Samantha said in the video.
“I’m taking you off the plane on the captain’s orders,” one of the officers said. Another claimed she had been taken away for “flight safety”. During the melee, Samantha was forcibly removed from flight. as shown by a witness who shared the video, putting the takeoff delay at over an hour. “Another hour late, no satisfaction from the airline, people getting sick on the plane and here are 3 men of the Federal Police enter the plane in an extremely gruesome way to ward off the ‘threat’ of the flight – Samantha”.
Before they say “mi mi mi”, i.e. they rise up against all those who actively fight against racism and have demonstrated against the attitude of the aircraft commander. Let’s analyze the facts.
What is kicking a black woman off a flight just for complaining and refusing to check her laptop into her backpack based on that? [é notório a falta de cuidado com pertences despachados pelas companhias] in the trunk of the plane? Recalling that she did not have the help of the flight crew, and despite being helped by other passengers who sorted out her backpack, the Captain did not revoke and continued with the action of the Federal Police to have him removed from the aircraft.
In an interview with the Jornal Nacional from Rede GlobeElaine Hazin, who witnessed and filmed everything, said that a white lady who was in front of her, placed three pieces of hand luggage in the compartment and when the crew asked her to stuff one under the seat, she refused.
If the reason was the fact that Samantha refused to embark her backpack and possibly suffer damage to her personal belongings, this lady who also refused to cooperate by removing one of the three hand bags from the compartment, thus occupying the space for other passengers, it should also be picked up, isn’t it? ANDHis Excellency Mr. White Commander Sergio Pereira Gomes?
Even though we have purchasing power, we Blacks experience institutional racism, where in a situation like this we are not recognized as customers, but as Black men and women. What Samantha went through was a practice of silencing and taking away her rights so that a predominantly white system could assert who’s boss.
Since the economic rise of the working class and its consumer power, what we see most are cases of abuse and racism committed at airports and on their flights, not only by class “A” users who do not welcome the presence of this social group in the same environment, but also by the company’s mostly white employees who are used to “serving” a different audience, and are deeply uncomfortable with the presence of the working class in their work shifts, especially blacks.
I even heard from a flight attendant that it was fun to see “simple people” travel. Asked by me why grace? He told me that as an employee he felt like a collector, as these passengers seemed to be moving around and carrying everything in the house on the flight, from several children to backpacks as carry-on luggage.
According to ANAC in its report for the third quarter of 2021, Gol Companhias Aéreas was the one that received the most complaints, almost double that of second-placed LATAM, and Gol was also the one that solved the least problems reported by customers.
It is for these and other reasons that I say yes, there is racism, institutional racism! Of course, this happens not only on flights in Brazil, but all over the world, it’s a global problem, it has to stop!
And as for Samantha, another difficult day in the life of a black woman, who was silenced, her mental health shaken, she was shamed and treated like a criminal. Such an episode will forever mark the life of this teacher, who will remember or even recurringly dream about what happened to her. Pain, a feeling of helplessness and impunity accompanied him for a long time. We can only hold hands, offer our solidarity and keep fighting for better days to come and with them the end of racism.
Look at this photo on Instagram
Institutional racism is the practice of an organization, be it a private company, an association, a group or a public institution, of treating unequally and not providing a service to a particular person because of his colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can also manifest itself through discriminatory norms, practices and behaviors adopted in daily work, as a result of prejudices.
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
