Activists in Brazil have launched a campaign to impeach the governor of Sao Paulo amid allegations of a campaign of police violence that specifically targets black youth.

An increase in police precense in Sao Paulo has been widely reported as a means of combating gang violence.

But everyone from community members to Human Rights Watch say the police commit wanton killings and human rights abuses against youth of color.

From BET:

A November report from Amnesty International echoed Santos’ concerns, although stopping short of calling police action genocide. According to the watchdog, the Brazilian justice system has allowed crimes committed by police to go largely unchecked and has been negligent in ensuring public security.

“For many years there has been a high number of killings committed by police that are not being investigated,” Amnesty’s Brazil researcher Tim Cahill told BBC. “We believe that this has contributed not only to the corruption of the police but to the actual involvement of officers in criminal acts.”

In São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, a spike in violence last month claimed more than 300 lives in and around the capital from October.

Read more at BET.com

 

Across the world, black youth are under seige

Thoughts on the struggle facing Afro-Brazilian youth, and  its parallels with African American youth?

Sound off below!