14/12/2023 – 20:43
Singer and songwriter Luciane Dom used social media to share an episode of racism that she experienced this Thursday, 14th, at Santos Dumont airport, in Rio de Janeiro.
The artist was on a flight to São Paulo, to present a musical, when she was stopped at the terminal inspection and had her hair “searched”. The Brazilian Airport Infrastructure Company (Infraero), which manages Santos Dumont, denies this.
Luciane said that, after going through the body scanner and having her suitcase inspected in the x-ray, an airport employee informed her that she had to “look” at her hair.
“This hair issue is very important, because we have been talking for so many years about ancestry, about aesthetics, about beauty”, said the artist. “As much as it is something I already expect, because we live in a racist structure, it is very bad when it happens, because it hurts something very deep in our dignity.”
Representative Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) and Pastor Henrique Vieira (PSOL-RJ) asked the Federal Police (PF), Infraero and the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) to review the personnel search protocols and issue regulation against racism by inspection and security agents at airports.
“Enough reports have already been published that could characterize a systematic action of inspections that are, at the very least, embarrassing against black people. Such as the case of actress Jennifer Nascimento, in 2022 and councilor Renato Freitas, who is often drawn for so-called 'random' inspections”, says the letter.
“It is worth noting that, even after extensive research, it was impossible to find reports of inspections of long hair of white people at airports, which are as capable of hiding objects as Black Power hair”, they continue.
In a statement, Infraero reported that it checked the images from the security cameras and that “there was no inspection” of the singer’s hair. It also stated that it was “randomly selected” for manual inspection.
“Infraero reiterates that it repudiates any form of discrimination, that behaviors such as racial insults and racism are not tolerated at airports under its administration and is available to the competent authorities for any clarifications they may require,” says the text.
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