In the sky with opal

5/6/2021 Today in Rio de Janeiro, the police massacred 25 Black people from the favela in violation of a court order. It is one of the city’s most deadly attacks.

In a barbaric and dehumanizing display, one of the police officers propped up a dead Black man on a purple plastic garden chair, with one finger placed inside his mouth.

There were executions of people who had already surrendered. Please pay attention to Brazil. Please pay attention to these Black lives. Please. I am begging you. They are Black lives that mattered.

If you are not Brazilian and trying to support and donate:

Here is a thread with a list of places international people can donate (you may need to use google translate for some of them) Remember that 1 USD is 5.28 BRL so US dollars go a long way!!

Here is a thread teaching international people how you can help if you don’t have money to donate

I will list the donation sites here in case you can’t access the thread:

https://coronavirus.fbb.org.br/ : click the little credit card image at the bottom and make sure you check “outros” for international people

https://www.riocontracorona.org/ : most of these sites have pretty good ui, & if you use chrome there should be an option to translate things on the page. If not, the donation button is on the top right and you can use paypal

https://en.povosdaamazonia.com/ : english site. scroll down for paypal & bank info

https://www.vakinha.com.br/vaquinha/fundo-de-solidariedade-aos-kayapo-mekragnotire : click the green contribuir button & on the resulting page there’s an “i’m a foreigner” checkbox! click it

https://www.vakinha.com.br/vaquinha/apoie-os-povos-indigenas : same deal, different cause

This is a really reliable project that is doing a lot of great things to help Brazilians in vulnerable situations: voz das comunidades, which you can see updates of here @eurenesilva & can donate through with PayPal using their email account [email protected]

You can also donate to the Brazilian OP of the twitter thread: https://ko-fi.com/wwxwashere

The OP of the twitter thread offered to vet donation sites if you find more that you want to link here.

* Remember that it is likely going to be very hard to get actual aid to the poor & marginalized Black people in the favelas so for international people these are our next best options for now

Here is their Twitter with updates: https://twitter.com/eurenesilva

Most important: Spend the money you have on a motel. Churches probably will not actually help and shelters can be dangerous or turn you away. At a motel you have free breakfast, access to running water, and a lockable place to sleep. Do not waste money on a gym membership like the popular version of this post says to do, YMCA memberships are like $40.

2. Contact family and friends. Now is not the time to worry about being a burden. Your survival and safety comes first and that is all that matters, anyone worth having in your life will agree.

3. Start a gofundme. Even if someone can’t offer you a place to stay, they might be willing to toss out $5 so you can eat today.

4. Libraries have free wifi. Apply to any and all jobs you can think of if you aren’t already working.

5. Any home is a good home. Even if it’s a dingy apartment in a bad neighborhood. If its cheap and you can afford it, snatch it up. 

6. Pancake mix and peanut butter are filling, cheap, and last a long time.