Brazilians like that sexual thing. Like the mulatta who is up
for anything, and just good for samba.
In Brazil, there’s a huge amount of prejudice against women , and against black women, it’s even worse
There’s a small circle that you're supposed to be in
when you are black, and if you try and move out of that then you run into restrictions
Hi, my name is Nayara Justino. I’m a model, dancer and actress.
This year, I will have my first role in a soap opera, called Slave Mother.
It’s our past isn’t it? It’s what our ancestors went through.
This is where you are not allowed in. But in a minute, I will come out as Luena!
This role means a lot to me.
Oh! What cold hands!
Some of my own ancestors were among the slaves brought to Brazil.
Just a bit more on the face…
Slavery ended. But racism continues to this day.
Recording
My destiny is trapped by pain. But one day, abuse must turn into hope
We are at the Academicos de Rochina Samba School. We’re going to see the coronation
of the new “Queen of the Drum Section”
There are very few black women who become Carnival Queens. White women with straight
hair and a good body make more commercial sense. They are the ones who make more more
for the Samba Schools. If you picked a black woman she would only attract attention.
Brazil’s biggest TV network has its own Queen of Carnival, Globeleza
On the TV screen in the middle of the fire, we’ll see you on Globo.
When I was six years old I used to sit in front of the TV watching Globeleza, singing,
dancing, admiring her. Trying to copy her movements, trying to samba in the same way.
Brazilian TV’s Carnival Queen has also always been light-skinned.
But that didn’t stop me applying when Globo held the first public competition to find
a new Carnival Queen in 2013
They called me and said, ‘Nayara, congratulations you are through to the final ten contestants!’
It would be an honour to represent, the biggest, most popular party in Brazil! Show us your samba!
The competition was like a fairy tale. It was an amazing month that culminated in an unforgettable victory.
The 2014 Globeleza is….Nayara!
I couldn’t believe it. All I wanted to do was look up at the big screen behind me.
I looked round and I saw my mum kneeling down in prayer. I was so happy.
Everybody was like “Wow that’s great, maybe things are changing in Brazil. You have a
very dark skinned woman representing Globeleza”
It’s pretty unusual to see a black woman on TV who is as dark-skinned as she is.
I never thought she would achieve anything like this. This was something…truly wonderful.
Those weeks were wonderful. Doing photo shoots…It was all great, until the clip went out on TV.
That’s when some things started happening which were not so fun and that started to snowball.
She was blacker than the previous Globelezas. She was properly, you could say, black. The
other Globelezas for Brazilian standards are mulatas
In traditional Brazilian fashion, it wasn’t more than a few of weeks before almost terrorist
comments started coming in on the internet.
Lots of people were talking about the colour of her skin, because she was black and there
had never been a black Globeleza before.
People came on my Facebook page, calling me ‘monkey’ and ‘darkie’, ‘Ze Pequeno’
and other pejorative terms and their intention was to say that kind of woman shouldn’t
be there, this type of woman should be in my kitchen doing the cooking.
It was the racism that hurt me most of all. And the racism wasn’t just from white people,
it came from black people too
Racism in Brazil is far more efficient because often the black population itself plays into
the racial paradigm
Black people in Brazil are ashamed of being black. There are very few black people who
are openly proud to be black.
I am not embarrassed to say I had just as much discrimination from black people as I
did from white people. Sadly, that’s what happened.
Soon after the comments - no one knows what happened, not even her. She was simply removed from the role.
So then I found out a few days later that they didn’t want me to be Globeleza any more
and they thanked me for my contribution.
The reason for the decision was not explained. Not even to her.
Shortly afterward Globo announced a new, lighter-skinned Globeleza, without a public vote.
It’s my birthday today. I’m going to be 27.
How are you feeling?
There are people who look at them disapprovingly because she is black and he is white.
They are a striking couple who attract a lot of attention
My grandma used to tell my mother 'you should marry a white man' so you can improve the race.
This continues to this day.
There is a painting called the Redemption of Cain. In the painting portrays the actual
story of Brazil. You have the dark skinned grandmother, she has her hands in the air,
next to her, seated is her mulata daughter, she obviously had a relationship with a white man,
so her daughter is progressively lighter skinned. Next to the mulata daughter is the Portuguese immigrant
and in the mulata’s arms is the white son. So after two to three generations the blackness of the family
has completely disappeared and so the black grandmother is giving thanks to god
for removing this black stain from my family.
In my family, in a few years, there will be no more black people, because they are marrying white people
Happy birthday to you!
I want to ask you if one day, no not one day, soon, if you will marry me?
I said yes four years ago when we moved in together
If people love each other, and they just want to be together it doesn’t have to be white with white,
black with black, Indian with Indian. Love doesn’t choose colour.