Many in Brazil want to see their country as a prime example of how people with different skin colors mixed and built a society characterized by harmonious coexistence. And to some extent that's true. There are few countries in the world where anyone can blend into the street scene and be taken for a local in the same natural way as in Brazil.

But at the same time, skin color is still crucial in 2020 for a Brazilian's life chances. And this applies not least to the risk of being affected by police violence. When George Floyd was killed during a police intervention in the United States, it caused a wave of protests around the world. So also in Brazil where the problem feels painfully familiar.

The police kill five a day

In 2019, a record was broken for police violence in Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro alone, which is worst affected, 1,814 civilians were killed by police. That equates to five deaths a day - as many as in New York for an entire year. And 75 percent of those killed are black.

Violence on the streets has, as expected, fallen somewhat during the corona pandemic as large sections of the population stayed at home. But surprisingly, the number of civilians killed in police operations has continued to increase. 290 deaths were registered in Rio in March and April this year - in the middle of a burning pandemic - an increase of 13 percent compared to the record year 2019.

Blacks are seen as targets

After visiting the shantytowns in Rio and seeing with their own eyes how young teenage boys guard the alleys with automatic weapons in hand, it is not difficult to understand what an incredibly difficult task the Brazilian police are facing. How do you stop the iron grip of criminal organizations on densely populated areas without risking the lives of the civilian population?

But the heavy crime and the complicated urban geography are not enough as an explanation for why Brazil in particular has become world champion in police violence. There are also structural problems with racism and colonial patterns that go back hundreds of years. During the colonial era, the Portuguese rulers introduced a bone-hard social pyramid based on skin color where the African slaves were placed at the bottom. Performances that even today make black favela residents often automatically suspected and seen as potential targets.

Slavery is an open wound

Why then does the extensive police violence in Brazil not lead to major protests? Part of the answer lies in Brazilian history when society found it difficult to deal with dark sides such as slavery and the military dictatorship. Of all the countries in America, Brazil received the most African slaves and slavery was not abolished until 1888 - last on the continent.

The legacy of slavery is a wound that has not yet healed. But slowly something is changing. A new generation of black Brazilians is organizing against police brutality and demanding - Parem de nos matar - stop killing us.