University students create an organization to help victims, mostly black men and women, of photographic facial recognition

Credit: Disclosure

By: Renato Silva – Lupa do Bem / Favela em Pauta

Anti-Racist Alliance is a collective of students and activists, founded during the pandemic with the aim of providing various types of assistance to people victims of failures and crimes committed by public security services. Its focus is on the victims of recognition through photographs, when police officers arrest people after using the type of facial recognition that has been questioned in society for its ineffectiveness and production of injustice.

The problem is serious and racialized. This is a harsh statement, but supported by data from the report by the National College of Public Defenders (Condege), which brings together public defenders’ associations from all over Brazil. The data, referring to the period from 2012 to 2020, include information sent by defenders from ten different states and show that 81% of those who were unfairly arrested are black, including black and brown people as defined by the IBGE.

In view of this scenario, Mauro Pereira, graduating in Law, joined friends to found the Anti-Racist Alliance, a collective of welfare action, which has students from different areas, such as law, journalism, psychology, among others. “The aim is to bring help to this black youth, whether legal, psychological, social assistance for those who sometimes don’t know where to look for help”.

Legal, psychological and information support – keys to the work of the Anti-Racist Alliance

The multidisciplinary collective provides legal, psychological and informational support — within the possibilities of a collective of students — to victims and family members who suffer from the consecutive failures of the public security service in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

“We get to know the cases, then we go to the places, to the prisons, and ask if they want this legal and psychological help, especially in the matter of photographic recognition”, comments Mauro Pereira.

According to Mauro, one of the leaders of the collective, it is not always possible to help a family from start to finish. “As we are a group of students, our job is often to refer cases to the competent bodies, such as the Public Defender’s Office, or the Public Ministry, something that families often have no idea how to do to appeal to their rights violated by law enforcement agencies. this state that is structurally racist”, he adds in protest.

This need is so great that it is even shown in the moment of thanks for the performance, that’s what Mauro says, with emotion in his eyes. “We are grateful for the return of families who say they are lost and then come to thank us for our work. They’ve been asking ‘do we have to pay the public defender’s office?'”, says the teary-eyed leader, who recalls: “No! This is a public service, nobody has to pay anything, the public defender’s office was created to defend people who are violated for this State that is not easy for those who are black and from the favelas or periphery”.

Pereira also confesses that he wants a future in which collectives with the Anti-Racist Alliance are no longer necessary. “Seeing no innocent peripheral black behind bars. That is our main goal”. He says, remembering that the current reality inspires strength to keep fighting. “We believe so much in our potential to fight for black youth that we never tire of it. I didn’t come from Maranhão to Maré for nothing. And the Anti-Racist Alliance has this focus on fighting together with these victims and families of this state that unfairly incarcerates black youth.”

How to follow and support the Anti-Racist Alliance

Anti-Racist Alliance is a young collective that has already held, among other actions, support and referral meetings with the mothers and families of victims of the Jacarezinho massacre, in partnership with Café das Fortes. To follow and support the service provided by the collective, simply follow the  Anti-Racist Alliance profile on Instagram and contact the administrators to find the best ways to contribute to this still much-needed service.