CNN Brasil participates in exchange in the United States with black journalists

I landed this Saturday (11) with a group of black journalists in Washington to participate in the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP), the US Department of State’s premier professional exchange program that brings together current and emerging foreign leaders from diverse areas.

In common, skin color and some social and labor market adversities. At the same time, people who carry their peculiarities and have a lot to share about fighting racism. I am the only policy analyst and also a representative of Brasília, there are also professionals from São Paulo, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Ceará, Amazonas, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Maranhão – the latter being Raimundo, a young quilombola.

Over the course of two weeks, I will be with black American journalists, officials from the Joe Biden administration and academics. I will bring some reports about this journey of lectures and visits to public buildings on the empowerment of black people in the world.

The first hours were already remarkable. At the airport, still in Guarulhos, São Paulo, some black people stopped us to talk out of the blue and voluntarily introduce themselves. The image of a group formed only by blacks was easily differentiated among so many passengers in which the white color predominates.

Luís, 18 years old, was arriving for work at the airport, when he approached some people from the group to find out why we were there. He was impressed with the route and purpose of our trip and tried to talk a little about it, said that it was his first job, and that he was trying hard not to lose it. He guided us on the easiest way to get to Terminal 3 and started following us on Instagram to learn more.

Once inside, a young black woman with braided hair sat next to us. She even seemed to be one of the group, we were in doubt, since practically everyone was getting to know each other there at the airport terminal. Seeing our all-black group, she sat close, then closer still, until we started talking.

She really was a lot like us. But Maria Luísa is a volleyball player in Alabama and was waiting for the same flight. She looked like a magnet, just like Luís, the young man who works at the airport, Maria wanted to be close. This magnetism is the real sense of identity. It’s as if everyone knows each other, and can understand that it wasn’t easy to get where you are.

Here, in the United States, we arrived in the midst of gay pride demonstrations and also anti-racial protests. We are blocks away from the National Museum of African American History, the only national museum exclusively dedicated to documenting African American life, history and culture. Nothing is by chance. I will understand more about identity and ancestry by going there this Sunday (12).

* Basília Rodrigues traveled at the invitation of the US Embassy in Brazil