Racial slur is a crime characterized when the honor of a specific person is offended due to race, color, ethnicity, religion or origin. Different from racism, which occurs when the aggressor targets a group or collective of people, discriminating in a general way.
Despite conceptual differences, since January 2023, in Brazil, racism and racial slurs receive the same legal treatment. Due to the validity of law 14,532/23, racial insult is no longer considered a crime with less offensive potential and can result in more severe penalties, since it has become a crime against equality, and no longer against a person's honor.
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Summary on racial slur
- Racial insult is a crime provided for in the Brazilian Penal Code since 1940.
- It has serious consequences for victims and social inequalities.
- The law currently in force in Brazil equates racial insult to the crime of racism for the purposes of trials in the country's courts.
- Racial insult consists of offending someone using elements relating to race, color, ethnicity, religion or origin.
- Racism occurs when the aggressor targets a group or collective of people in general.
What is racial slur?
According to current legislation, racial insult is a crime that consists of insulting someone based on race, color, ethnicity or national origin. Therefore, any treatment given to people or minority groups that causes embarrassment, humiliation, shame, fear or undue exposure, and which would not usually be granted to other groups due to race, color, ethnicity, religion or origin.
Racial insults can occur in many ways, such as insults, swearing, jokes or any other behavior that aims to humiliate or belittle a person because of their race or origin. Its consequences can be serious, affecting the self-esteem, dignity and emotional integrity of victims. Therefore, it is essential that racial insults are not tolerated, but rather punished effectively, in order to guarantee fair and respectful treatment for all people.
Example of racial slur
![Football players pose holding a sign against racism during a match.[1]](/f/c493df280814d88812070f2e873a30b7.jpg)
“Black”, “bald black”, “black woman”, “monkey”, “this black team”, “take your black team away”, “no one here likes black people”. These were some of the offenses given to a player and a physical trainer during a Santa Catarina Futsal League match in Cunha Porã, in July 2023.
Two men were charged with the offences. According to the complaint, during the game, they, who were in the stands, offended the victims several times, in the presence of several people. Racial insults were also directed at other players and fans. One of the attackers was even removed from the sports hall during the match.
Prosecuted by the Public Ministry of Santa Catarina (MPSC), the defendants were convicted in August 2023 for committing the crime of racial insult. One of them must serve one year in open prison, and the other, one year and two months in semi-open prison. The sentence is subject to appeal, and the defendants will have the right to appeal freely.
At sporting events across the country, when tempers are high, it is very common to witness criminal behavior by many fans. Therefore, it is important that people are held criminally responsible and that racism practiced in the country's gyms and stadiums is no longer tolerated.
Finally, the example of what happened in the futsal game in Santa Catarina is important because it reflects a recent change in legislation. It is no longer necessary for the victim of racial insult to decide whether or not to open an investigation against the offender. With the new classification of racial insults as racism, from the moment a victim goes to the police station and registers the crime, a police investigation will immediately begin.
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Racial slur legislation
A current legislation on racial slurs is law 14.532/23, January 11, 2023. It was sanctioned by President Lula on the occasion of the joint inauguration of ministers Sonia Guajajara, holder of the Indigenous Peoples portfolio, and Anielle Franco, from the Ministry of Racial Equality.
A sanctioned law changed two previous laws — The Racial Crime Law (1989) and the Penal Code (1940) — and brought important news to the topic. One of them has already been mentioned, in the case of the futsal game in Santa Catarina: criminal action against those who commit racial insults has become unconditional.
A The most relevant change is that the crime of racial insult is now considered a crime of racism. Before the sanction of the new law 14,532/23, racial insult and racism were crimes classified in different ways, in which the penalty for racial insult was milder.
From now on, according to law 14.532/23, In addition to becoming imprescriptible and non-bailable, the crime of racial insult now carries a sentence of two to five years in prison and fine. The most severe punishments are provided for in cases of collective racial insult, religious racism, recreational racism and that committed by a public official.
In this way, racial insult is aggravated when committed by two or more people and occur at public events, such as sporting, religious, artistic activities or with the aim of relaxation, fun or recreation. When this happens, the offender will be prohibited from visiting the places designated for the activity in question for up to three years, as the case may be.
The classification of recreational racism by the new law is an advance against repeated attempts — which have always fail — to differentiate the practice of racism from jokes or pranks that offend specific groups of people. people. Thus, the context of humor or comedy is no longer a justification for the aggressor to be absolved of responsibility for committing racial insults or racism.
Read too: Religious intolerance — discrimination motivated by religion
Differences between racial slur and racism
Despite the recent equivalence between racial slur and the crime of racism, for the purposes of legislation and more severe punishment, it is important to highlight the differences between the two crimes in terms conceptual.
O Racism crime occurs when the offense is against a group or collective of people, discriminating them in a general and abstract way. For example, it is racist to manufacture, sell, distribute or broadcast symbols, emblems, ornaments, badges or propaganda that incite discrimination or prejudice.
It is racist to deny or prevent employment, promotion or advancement based on race, color, ethnicity, religion or national origin.; or prevent access to commercial, industrial, educational, sporting establishments, among others, due to racial discrimination.
On the other hand, racial slur is considered a hate crime based on a unfair discrimination and prejudiced against a specific person or group. For example, a fan who, during a football match, insults a football player by calling him a “monkey” or throws bananas onto the field commits racial insult.
Likewise, a trader who persecutes a customer because he believes he is going to steal something, without any proof, commits racial insult, distrusting him because of his color or origin.
In conclusion, it is important to highlight that the displacement of acts of insult based on race, color, ethnicity, religion and national origin is an old demand from civil society. If in the world of ideas, in which everything is a concept, we can distinguish between the two things, in practice, the impacts of racial slurs are no different from those of real-world racism, in the lives of each of the victims.
Image credits
[1]Vlad1988 / Shutterstock
Sources
ÁVILA, T. W. (2014). Racism and Racial Injury in the Brazilian Legal System. Journal of the Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Uberlândia, 42(2). Available in: https://doi.org/10.14393/RFADIR-v42n2a2014-6.
BRAZIL. Law No. 14,532, of January 11, 2023, provides for the classification of crimes from racism to racial insult. Brasília: DF, 2023.
RIBEIRO, Djamila. Small Anti-Racist Manual. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2019.
MOREIRA, Adilson. Recreational racism. São Paulo: Sueli Carneiro; Pollen, 2019.
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/sociologia/injuria-racial.htm