Rio de Janeiro asks why its cops kill so many black people
Activists are increasingly pushing back
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AT DAWN ON May 6th residents of Jacarezinho, a favela in Rio de Janeiro, woke to the sound of police helicopters and gunfire. Ten hours later, 28 people were dead, nearly all of them black men. Mariana de Paula, a 27-year-old accountant and activist who lives on the morro (“hill”, as steep favelas like Jacarezinho are called), told her boss that it was too dangerous to travel to the office. Her boss, who is white, suggested she use a ride-hailing app. “She didn’t get it,” says Ms de Paula, who is black. The shooting sounded like popcorn. The victims included one police officer, shot by drug traffickers, and 27 residents killed by the police. Some were unarmed. It was the deadliest police raid in the state’s history.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “One city, two worlds”
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