darling

Agatha Felix, 8 years old. Described as a sweet, studious, obedient little girl who did ballet and dreamed to performing in a circus. She actually was going to debut in a circus in the end of the year, but was shot in the back by mistake by a military police officer. She had just left her mother’s lap on the kombi that would take them to their neighbourhood.

Jenifer Silene Gomes, 11 years old. She was peeling onions in front of her mother’s bar when she was hit in the stomach with a lost bullet from the military police. Her mother says the police is lying about it having been during an operation. Two of Jenifer’s brothers had already been murdered in 2012 (not clear if it was police or not).

Kauê Ribeiro dos Santos, 12 years old. He worked selling candy and played soccer. He dreamed of meeting Neymar. He was going home with a friend when military officers went down the streets shooting around. He got a bullet through his head. The cops claim he was a suspect with a gun and resisted them, and that the murder was self-defense.

Kauã Vítor Rozário, 11 years old. He was riding a bike when he got hit with a lost bullet from a military police operation against drug traffickers. He spent a week in coma and died.

Kauan Peixoto, 12 years old. He had left his home to buy snacks with his brother when he was hit with three bullets (neck, belly, and leg).

As suggested to us by an anon, these are the children killed by the Military Police in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2019. None of the military officers involved in these deaths have been held accountable. Governor Wilson Witzel say these are lamentable deaths, but isolated cases, and that drug users are partly to blame for them. He has also removed incentive for the military police to reduce their lethality. 

Black activists on Twitter have been sending this link around today. It’s a long document with anti-racism resources geared toward white people who want to effectively help their Black neighbors in the fight against white supremacy.