Former Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet, 69, used the term racist to refer to seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, 37.
In an interview given in November 2021, which re-circulated on social media, Brazil referred to the Briton as “Neguinho” while commenting on a crash between Hamilton and Belgian-Dutch Max Verstappen at the British Grand Prix in July. did. The year. The year.
“Neguinho put the car in and left. (…) Neguinho left the car. It’s because you don’t know the curve, it’s a very high curve, there’s no way for two cars to cross and There’s no way for you to keep the car next door. He did a dirty trick,” said Pickett, the father-in-law of Verstappen, the boyfriend of his daughter Kelly Pickett.
The speech generated widespread repercussions, which Hamilton himself rejected in Formula 1, Mercedes, the FIA (International Automobile Federation) and by dozens on social networks.
“It is much more than language,” Hamilton wrote on his Twitter account. “These archaic mindsets need to change and have no place in our sport. I’ve been surrounded by these attitudes and targeted by them all my life. There’s a lot of time to learn. It’s time for action.” “
“Discriminatory or racist language in any form is unacceptable and has no place in society,” Formula 1 said in a statement posted on its official social media account.
“Lewis is an incredible ambassador for our sport and deserves respect. His tireless efforts to increase diversity and inclusion are a lesson to many and we in F1 are committed to that.”
Amid the disapproval and harsh criticism of Piquet – who is an open supporter of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) – those on the right of the political spectrum began to question whether the use of the word “Neguinho” by the former pilot was in fact racist.
Pickett’s defenders also criticized the outcome of the case in the international press, which equated the expression “neguinho” to “nigger”, a term with a strong racist connotation in the English language, which is currently used socially in the United States. considered unacceptable. ,
In a state of discussion, BBC News Brasil listened to three experts to explain why Piquet’s use of the term “Neguinho” is considered racist.
‘A patriarchal form of contempt’
The term “neguinho” is a common form of racism in Brazil because it is used specifically to highlight something wrong that one feels someone has done, such as saying that such a person simply because because they were black”, observes Professor Thiago Amparo at the FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas) in So Paulo.
“It is a term that, in lesser and context, acts patriarchally to intellectually undermine black people”, observes the lawyer.
Daniela Gomes, professor of African diaspora studies at San Diego State University in the US, has a similar understanding.
“Brazilian racism is differentiated, it is a racism that is perceived as veiled, although it has nothing to veil. But it does have intonations. And there we saw Pickett using an intonation in less , but it was not a tone of affection, but contempt”, says Gomes.
“The point is, the disdain with which he addressed a driver who is someone in the same professional category as him. Lewis Hamilton has a name and is not a personal friend of Piquet. In our Brazilian-style racism, this is one way Was being inferior. , behaving like a brat.”
For Daniel Teixeira, lawyer and director of CERT (Center for the Study of Labor Relations and Inequalities), Pickett’s speech is a product of structural racism – a set of institutional practices and social, economic and political ties that privilege an ethnic group. Is. Others, perpetuating inequalities.
“Because of the racism that is structural in our society, it is difficult for white people to see black people in a position of equality. As Hamilton himself said, it is not just about the language, but the mindset behind it, reducing a person to the color of their skin”, Teixeira says.
“Pickett would not do this to a white man. It is the issue that matters and that reflects the structural racism in Brazilian society. He would not refer to Verstappen as a ‘white man’, a man, a man.” trajectory, to make a story short. The color of the skin”, completes the director of Cert.
‘The N Word’
Amparo, Gomes and Teixeira agree that the word “neguinho” in Portuguese does not have the same offensive weight as the word “nigger” in English. But they corroborate that this does not diminish the charge of disdain, inferiority and derision of the expression Pickett used to refer to Hamilton.
“The N word was used by slaveholders in the United States as a sign of reduction. Before slavery, we were Africans of different races. When slavery begins, so does duality. Whites refer to themselves as whites. read and read us as the opposite, that’s how you get black. And the way slave owners treated slaves was through the n word, nigger or nigga”, of San Diego State University Gomes explains.
“When slavery and segregation are abolished, the black population undergoes a series of political changes. There is a movement to redefine the word ‘Black’, but both forms are banned.”
Teachers highlight that racism is expressed differently in different places. And that the same word, depending on the context or tone of voice, can mean different things.
“My mother called me a neguinha, it could be a form of affection, already a stranger, instead of treating me as a teacher Daniela Gomes, treating me as a neguinha, this is racism”, She gives examples.
‘Society no longer accepts everyday racism’
As for Cert’s Teixeira, the episode shows that people who are prejudiced under political leaders feel more comfortable expressing their prejudices than those who do the same.
“Many people feel empowered to express themselves this way because today there are political leaders who reinforce this stigma, who use the same language, use it openly. It affects But these people also reflect a structural issue in Brazil, how black people are treated”, the lawyer says.
“When black people emerge in their activities, they offend white people who see themselves as universal, as the norm of certain social spaces. Black presence calls into question this standard and, when this formula The size of Lewis Hamilton for 1 gains prominence.
For Ampro, from the FGV, however, the power of denial of the expression used by Pickett reflects the progress of the anti-racism struggle and how some things are no longer socially tolerated.
“It is commendable that in this particular episode the use of the word ‘neguinho’ is rejected, as it refers to change in society. [aceitar] everyday racism that was normalized earlier”, Amparo says.
“The term occurs very frequently in Brazilian daily life, although it is invariably used in a derogatory tone. To reject its use implies a rejection of everyday racism, entertainment or otherwise, which is very common in Brazil. It is common.”
– this text . was published in https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-61974739
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