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xi Introduction DIASPORIC BLACKNESS AND AFRO-BRAZILIAN AGENCY Racial Encounters One afternoon in August 2000, during a short research visit to Salvador , I accompanied my friends Ana Cristina and Luciana to the Bank of Brazil in Salvador’s commercial center. In Salvador to get beyond the ATM lobby and access the tellers, you must first pass through a security door and be scanned by a metal detector. Ana Cristina and Luciana—black women considerably lighter skinned than I—passed through the door. When I attempted to pass, the door locked, and the armed security guard asked me to remove all metal objects from my bag. I removed an umbrella and a key and tried to pass again, but the door locked a second time. I removed a small spiral notebook, but the door locked a third time as a long line formed behind me. Left with an empty bag, a small pair of gold earrings in my ears, and a few miniscule chips of silver fillings in my mouth, I was furious when the female guard demanded that I open my bag a fourth time. Ana Cristina and Luciana protested, but I complied. Finding the bag was empty, she finally allowed me to enter the bank. As we were leaving the bank, I stopped to ask the guard why I had been singled out for a prolonged security check. Luciana pointed out that she had not removed her cell phone and keys and had walked through the door without setting off the metal detector. I asked the guard whether being detained had anything to do with my being a black woman. As the guard defended the racial and gender objectivity of the metal detector, I noticed that she held a remote control button behind her back that she pressed to open and close the revolving doors.Whenthemanager,alight-skinnedmale,approachedtoinquire about my complaints, I said that the security guards were in fact using this manually controlled button to profile bank customers and refuse entry to black people, especially those who were darker skinned. By this time the bank was crowded, and almost all eyes and ears were xii INTRODUCTION focused on our fierce discussion about the explicit racism of the bank’s security practices. A second armed security guard—a dark-skinned black man—approached us and said, “That’s why you all should stay on the streets.” The conversation became louder as we denounced racial profiling and the idea that our rightful place was on the streets and not insidetheBankofBrazil.Afterleavingthebank,weregisteredaformal criminal complaint of racial discrimination against the bank with the police (Figure 1) and, later on, with the government agency charged with investigating cases of racism. Later that afternoon, we boarded a city bus to head home, and I gave the bus conductor a five-real bill (worth approximately $1.50 at the time). I told Ana Cristina and Luciana that I would pay their fares because I had taken up so much of their time with what should have been a simple visit to the local bank. The conductor held the bill up to the light to check if it was counterfeit. The three of us looked at each other and burst out laughing. Ana Cristina exclaimed, “Oh man, you too? You’re checking a fivereal bill?” I was speechless. When we sat down, Ana Cristina said to me, “I am a black woman, but spending one day with you in this city makes me realize just how bad things are for black women, especially those who are darker skinned.” I retorted, “Well, that’s why I’m glad you’re here, so you can be a witness.” She replied, “Right, because otherwise people would think you make this stuff up.” This account of my personal experience with racial profiling at the Bank of Brazil and on the bus illustrates that racism is part of the everyday experiences of Afro-Brazilians and African Americans who conduct research in Brazil. I try to avoid going to banks in Salvador, but if I must, I give my bag to a lighter-skinned friend and walk through the security door empty-handed. We do what we must to avoid the everyday social indignitiesthatblackwomenexperienceinBrazil.Theseexamplesshow therealityofhowgenderedracism,racialconsciousness,andantiracism resistance operate. It is especially noteworthy that the players involved in reinforcing racism in these two incidents were both male and female and both black and white. This complexity of antiblack racism is not unlike what has been observed in other majority...

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