I recently went window shopping with Amber in Fortaleza's biggest mall, Iguatemi Shopping. I had no intention of buying anything because I couldn't afford and I knew their prices are high. Despite the fact that I didn't have money to spend, I was not denied access to the mall.
Two days ago, the women in the above video was denied access by mall security in the same mall. They claim that the women is known for begging and stopping her from entering the mall was a preventative measure. (Please read this article as well as the comments from locals) Based off some of the comments I could understand, the women had brought her two children to visit the mall Santa Clause but was denied access.
***The story is still developing, hence I will edit this article in time.
This situation has triggered a local debate of discrimination and poverty. The racial dynamics of Brazil is something I have been meaning to explore further for a while now, just for my personal satisfaction. I have been purposely holding off on writing about it because, as a foreigner, I don't want to assume or generalize without actually living in the location I intend to write about. Hence, I will be writing a series of blog posts related to the clear divide of race and social economic status in Brazil, specifically Fortaleza. I will recount my racial experiences and previous discussions I've had about race with my Brazilian and non-Brazilian friends.
I invite you all to comment and debate with me on these up coming posts.
That's really sad. It seems incredibly unfair to bar someone entrance on the possibility they may beg. I would definitely agree that it is a form of discrimination.
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ReplyDeleteWell, I have to put my opinion here.
It's natural that people tend to judge things by the appearence, and the appearence here is that the "poor lady" was "humiliated" by the "evil" guards, because she was poor.
Here in Brazil, many people tend to see scenes like that shown in this video, and "take the side of the weaker side", without knowing what is really happening.
This is specially true for middle class people with the "guilty complex".
I am from middle class too, but I know very well "the other side". I'm no longer a naive young man with a romanticized view of the world. I know every facet of the Brazilian society, specially in Fortaleza. I know people from every single district in Fortaleza, from the poorest to the wealthiest district.
From my vast experience in this city, what I have to say is: IT'S NOT WHAT APPEARS TO BE.
I saw many identical cases before in my life.
No, the guards are not "evil". And they are not "discriminating" against the "poor victim lady".
I know PLENTY of poor people, who live in "favelas" (shanty towns), and go to the Iguatemi shopping mall very frenquently, and NEVER had any problem.
I can mention the woman who works as a maid (housekeeper) in the house of my aunt. She's black, she lives in a "favela", and she ALWAYS go to the Iguatemi shopping mall with her little daughter, and she NEVER has any kind of problem with the guards.
She puts one of her best clothes, dress her daughter with her best clothes too, take the bus, and go to Iguatemi, just to walk, see the shops, and have a snack in McDonalds or other fast food restaurant.
Like her, thousands of people from the "favelas" do the same thing, in a civilized way.
The woman shown in the video, that was denied access, is a very typical case of MENTALLY ILL begger. I know lots of similar cases. I saw it many times in my life. People who are not mentally sane, and enter supermarkets and shopping malls to beg for money in a disguised way, trying to hide from the security guards.
I think the guards were TOTALLY RIGHT in denying access to her, specially if they already knew her from past times when she was begging inside the mall.
***** CONTINUES IN PART 2 ******
**** PART 2 *****
ReplyDeleteThere is NOTHING about "discrimination" or "racism" in this video.
Of course, many naive middle class young people with the "guilty complex" and a romanticized view of the world and little contact with reality, will say otherwise. I know it, because 7 or 8 years ago I was one of them, and I didn't knew anything. If I saw a video like that 7 or 8 years ago, I would be "outraged", and would take the side of the "poor lady" that was a "victim" of the "evil guards". Now I have grown up, I know the real world, and I know that my city is full of people that is called, in the local slang, as "mala". There are lots of "malas" in Fortaleza!
You can see this kind of mentally unstable people not only in shopping malls, but also in supermarkets and banks, doing things that are forbiden, like ask for money from the customers, many times PRETENDING to have a serious disease and presenting FAKE prescriptions, just to "touch" people and cheat them.
The reaction of the woman in the video was VERY TYPICAL of many other cases that I have seen: when they perceive that they have an "audience", specially when they see a camera, they start their "show", to create scandal, and typically they commit agressions against the guards (just like that woman did).
I hope I have helped to clarify some points about this episode.
It would be very interesting to read other posts in the future about Veronica's impressions on the "race" issue in Fortaleza. I would love to discuss that. I have my points of view about that (specifically: I think that Fortaleza is one of the LESS racist cities in the ENTIRE WORLD), and would love to defend them! :-)
Regards!
Amanda, I agree with you on that one. I don’t support discrimination of any kind.
ReplyDeleteHello Oldtube, thanks for sharing your opinion. It was both insightful and interesting. However, I don’t agree with some of the points that you made.
In relation to the video, I do not think the guards are evil. They were simply following orders to keep this woman from entering the mall. However, I don’t think it’s necessary to have that many guards for a woman and her two kids. The video starts with the woman on the ground, unfortunately it’s not clear as to why she’s on the floor. It’s also unclear as to how this whole situation started, or even how it ended since the video doesn’t capture the whole situation. Although I don’t think she should have hit the guard, I do not blame the woman for her reaction. To have 4 big guards (from what I could count in the video) come up to you, before you can even enter the mall, can be a very uncomfortable feeling. Yes, she could have walked away and accepted the embarrassment of being restricted from entering the mall without challenging the reason behind it...but people act differently to situations that are intimidating, such as these.
As to whether there’s actual history between the woman and the mall, I don’t know. For me, unless the mall can produce some kind of record, like mall surveillance or document clearly stating she was previously banned, I’m not buying their story.
How are you certain that this woman is mentally ill? I don’t think it’s fair to assume that she is or everyone that begs isn’t mentally sane.
Can you further define the word mala for me? I’ve never heard this term.
As for racism, I didn’t say that Brazilians are racist. I was mainly referring to the division of wealth and race that I am witnessing. I’ll expand upon this point in an upcoming blog. But for now, I’m still researching on the topic at hand. If you’re interested in what I’m currently having a very difficult time reading, because it’s only in Portuguese, please check out this report:
Relatorio de Desenvolvimento Humano: Racismo, pobreza e violencia
http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/national/latinamericathecaribbean/brazil/name,3373,en.html
Thanks for your responses guys!
Hello Vera...
ReplyDeleteI really don't have any proof that this specific woman has a previous background of begging and asking for money on Iguatemi.
My conclusions are based in the following aspects:
- I have seen many similar cases before in my life. Not only in shopping malls. I saw people who begged me for money, using fake medical prescriptions, inside shopping malls, supermarkets and even banks. I personally know a few people who do that and I even know where they live, the exact address, because I'm familiar to the peripheric neighborhoods of Fortaleza (I have many friends there). And I already saw previous cases of security guards denying access to people that they knew that were beggars.
- I don't see any other reason for a security guard from Iguatemi mall denying access to anyone. I have a friend of mine who worked a few years ago as a security guard in that mall, and they are not oriented to deny access to anyone without a good reason. And also I know many poor people, from all "races" and skin colors, that live in favelas, and go to Iguatemi regularly, and never have a problem to enter the mall. The maid who works on my aunt's house is just one example.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that it's very unlikely that I'm wrong. It's very unlikely that the security guards from Iguatemi shopping mall would deny access to someone that is not a previously known beggar.
Regarding the wealth divide and "race divide" that you commented about...
In my point of view, the fact that "whiter" people tend to be more wealthy than "darker" people in Brazil, in general, and Fortaleza, in particular, is something caused by historical reasons, and by the lack of social mobility that marked the Brazilian society during many decades. Slavery in Brazil was abolished just 120 years ago. And social ascension in Brazil was very difficult during the whole 20th century, regardless of "race" or skin color. If you was born poor, it was very likely that you would die poor. That was caused, among other factors, by the lack of schools for the poor, the lack of public education. Even today, when there are public schools for the poor, those schools have a low quality, much lower than the private schools for those who can pay.
I hope I can help you to understand better the Brazilian society.
Regards!
Very interesting post. Thanks for sharing.
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