And now she can’t leave because on May 26 President Donald Trump announced Brazilians are banned from traveling to the U.S.

“I had to go back to Brazil because I was alone in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic,” she said. “Now I’m stuck in Brazil and have to wait until the ban is lifted.” 

She has no idea when the ban will end or when she will get to attend Fordham University in person.

According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is estimated that around 1,7 million Brazilians like Ururahy live in the US. Brazil is the ninth largest student exporter to the US according to the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). 

Located in the epicenter of the coronavirus, Brazil has 60,813 deaths and 1,460,000 cases as of  June 29.  Recently, the European Union is also restricting Brazilian entry in countries from the block. 

“One of the options was to go to Europe and stay there for a few days,” Ururahy said.  “Now they also closed the borders for Brazilians, so I’m stuck.” 

Her classes are still taking place in the fall, but she will be on zoom. 

“I’m doing everything I can to start my degree in person, but I will have to wait until the ban is lifted,” she said. “This is sad for students like me, who would love to go back, but will have to take zoom classes.” 

Ururahy said that she thought about deferring her studies and to start school in January. But she would lose her scholarship. She is trying to find a way to get to the U.S. through other  countries where there is no ban, like Mexico.  

“Mexico is now the last option because it is the only country where we, as Brazilians are allowed to go in and  can go to the United States afterwards,” she said.

But that option is complicated. She said some are saying that Brazilians are not allowed into the U.S. even if they arrive from Mexico and so it’s risky.

“We don’t know what’s true and what is fake,” Ururahy said.

According to Trump’s  proclamation  Brazilians entering the country “threatens the security of our transportation system and infrastructure and the national security, and I have determined that it is in the interests of the United States to take action to restrict and suspend the entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of all aliens who were physically present within the Federative Republic of Brazil during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States.”

Ururahy has already tested positive for the coronavirus in the US, but that does not change her status. 

“I got tested for the coronavirus and the test showed that I had already got it while I was in the US,” she said. “I’m still not allowed in, even if some people believe that I can’t catch the virus again.” 

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Ernesto Xavier, a Black actor, anthropologist and editor in chief of GQ Magazine in Brazil often posts in social media about race. His posts are getting more hits than ever.

“The difference is remarkable,” he said. “Because of the Black Lives Matters protests in Brazil, I gained 2,000 followers from one day to another. People seem to have woken up.” 

The legacy of racism in Brazil has been brutal.

The country’s population is  of 55.8 percent black and “pardo” (brown skinned) people. According to official numbers of a Brazil’s human rights report hotline, 615 complaints related to racism were registered in 2018.  Racism is considered illegal in the Brazilian constitution,  but the evidence of rampant racism in the country are overwhelming.

“It is important to follow the news to know if we are being discriminated against,” said journalist, Silvandira Costa. “We must know our rights so that we can pursue justice and a better future, consequently. It’s sad that this movement is only happening now after the death of George Floyd, but it’s better to happen now than not to happen at all. We can’t breathe.”

Brazil enslaved more than four million Africans.   That’s ten times more than the number of slaves brought to the U.S. and raced based inequalities are deeply felt by its Black citizens. 

Black people were seen as possession because of slavery,” Xavier said. “There were several public policies to eliminate us [Blacks] and to whiten the population, like when Portugal brought Europeans and gave them land in Brazil to populate the country. White people were the ones who created the term “negro.” 

The same issues that plague African American can be found in this majority Black country, ruled by a white president. Blacks make up 64 percent of the prison population, earn 57 percent less than whites and suffer from police brutality. Access to education, jobs, and income inequality also mirror the problems African Americans face in the U.S.

“Just a few years ago, when I went into stores, shop assistants used to follow me every time, afraid that I would steal something because I’m black,” said Silvandira Costa, a retired  housemaid. “I have also suffered several types of discriminations because of my skin color in several other situations in Brazil.”  

Dr. Luiz Herculano, a Portuguese professor at the Federal University in Santa Catarina, has also experienced racism. While traveling on behalf of the congress to Columbia, he was met with scrutiny at the airport.

“She triple checked my passport and all of my documentation when I was checking in,” he said. “She was not used to seeing a Black man travelling on business class, so she was suspicious.”

And because of poor health care, people are contracting and dying of COVID-19 in far greater numbers than whites. Brazil is quickly emerging as the next epicenter of the virus and expected to surpass the U.S.

“Racism is a system of oppression that kills, discriminates and maintains white privilege,” said journalist, Sayonara Oliveira. “It prevents Black people from having a job, opportunities, a place at a university or even be morally or physically abused.”

Xavier said the fight against racism is everyone’s fight. 

“People don’t realize that racism impacts all social relations in society,” he said.  “If a country has a significant level of poverty, or criminality, or low levels of education, it affects everyone. To recognize white privilege is a question of humanity and civility.”

 Brazil’s black citizens have long suffered from systematic racism  which  means racism is essentially everywhere in their lives, from lack of representation in big corporations, universities, housing and in every aspect of Black life. Racist jokes are also a common practice in Brazil. 

“We are often referred to in racist jokes so that we won’t reach the top,” Herculano said. “You inferiorize in order to maintain a white domination and privilege.” 

He said in Brazil, the deaths of Black people and children, such as Agatha and João Pedro have shown that black people are often not treated as citizens in the country.

But Oliveira, is  hopeful that because of the attention on racism now, will mean a better future. 

“I’m seeing a lot of white people who never showed any interest in racism asking me about it,” she said. “Friends are asking me for book recommendations , my opinions on certain matters. I’m optimistic that the future holds a better situation for Black people in Brazil.”

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 That was the reaction of a 17-year old boy after watching the televised  shooting of 14-year old Joao Pedro Matos Pinto, who was killed by police in his uncle’s home in Brazil’s North Zone of Rio de Janeiro.

 According to the National Institute of Public Security of Rio de Janeiro (ISP-RJ), the number of killings by state agents has soared  in the 22 years since the agency started tracking these deaths.  In 1998 there were 397 homicides, by  2019, this number jumped to 1,814, following years of steady increase. A recent study by the same organization showed  that the number of deaths by the police during the quarantine period, increased 43%.

 “The story of Joao Pedro is the clear example that the police’s priority is to kill, and not to save people,” said José Ignacio Cano, coordinator of the Laboratory of Violence Analysis for the State University of Rio de Janeiro. 

 He said in many countries during the pandemic, police and the military are being used to contain the virus, but not in Rio de Janeiro. The local police are notorious for being known as the most violent in the world, according to separate reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch . 

 “They are apparently dedicated to developing the program of extermination promoted by the state,” he said.

 But the police have an excuse for the May 18 killing of the boy. They said the house was being used as a hiding place for criminals, who were fleeing from the police and the criminals allegedly had fired at the police and thrown grenades. No witnesses support the police account. Joao Pedro,  was playing with his cousins  when struck by a stray bullet.

 “As far as we know, there appears to have been no confrontation,” said criminal lawyer, Jula Lavigne. “Therefore, in this case, self defense and invasion of the home would not have been allowed.”

 The boy was shot during a federal and civil police operation in the Complexo do Salgueiro favela in São Gonçalo, a municipality in the greater Rio area. After the shooting, federal agents seized his body and sent it to a hospital in Rio by helicopter without the family’s consent. Seventeen hours later, the  boy was found in a mortuary close to his home. 

There were  72 bullet holes  found in the  home.  And many victims of “stray bullet” shootings are black residents of Rio’s favelas. According to ISP, in the first half of 2019, 80 percent  of victims of police shootings in Rio de Janeiro were black. 

 Critics blame the governor and president who they said made comments supporting police brutality. 

 Both President Jair Bolsonaro and Governor Wilson Witzel, a former federal judge, vowed an all-out war against criminals that has given the police free reign. 

 A North Zone of Rio de Janeiro mother, who requested anonymity for fear of the police,  said her 17-year-old son, was wounded by police on May 7, close to his home. The  teen was playing with five other teenagers when three police took them to an alley. One of the teens was shot in the leg and is now in the ICU in the Andaraí Hospital. The boy was wounded by bullet shrapnel’s on the cheek. 

 “They thought that my son was a part of the drug trafficking operations here, but my son is a good boy,” she said. “I can only imagine what could have happened if it had been dark outside, my boy would have been dead. They often come into my house and check to see if my children are involved with the (drug) traffic. This has become a routine.”

 She went to the police station to report the police brutality, but the officer in charge said that the episode was the result  of a police operation taking place in the favela on that day, something that the mother denied. 

 “There was no police operation that day,” she said. “I never allow my children out when there is an operation going on. We are too scared, we know it’s dangerous.” 

 Cano said what is happening is illegal.

 “It is not a police officer who should decide who lives and who dies on the streets,” he said. “There is clearly a socio-economic and a racial component which impacts on who lives and who dies.”

 In some favelas,operations conducted by the police are also interrupting the humanitarian aid.  On May 9, Complexo do Alemão, a group of volunteers who donate food and other supplies, heard gunshots.  Six days later, in the same location, 13 people were killed during an operation by the military and civil police. As a result, the state, as a result of the pressure by human rights groups put the operations in favelas on hold. 

 Shooting in “Complexo do Alemão” during a police operation in the favela in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. Video by Neila Marinho

 Rene Silva, founder of community News portal “Voz das Comunidades” said the community is suffering police brutality during a pandemic. 

“Here we have three different types of violence, the virus, the police and people who don’t have food to eat,” Silva said.“ Instead of helping us with food donations, the government has only been bringing more violence to favelas in Rio.” 

 Cano said the only way to stop the violence is to replace politicians who don’t reign the police in.

 “There is no way to prevent killings if this policy of confrontation continues as standard procedure,” Cano said. “Summary executions happen as mistakes, but impunity rates remain extremely high. Brazilians need to think about the politicians they elected, because this is one of the most important ways to change violent practices.”

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Sean Sheosarah traveled from England to pay his respects at ground zero. Photo by Louie Lazar

Had Oswaldo Brasile’s gear been any more patriotic and “American” in nature, he might have been dressed as Uncle Sam.

The 47-year-old resident of Sao Paolo, Brazil, decked out in a red, white and blue polo shirt inscribed in cursive with the words of the Declaration of Independence, had just flown to New York from Orlando, where he’d been attending business meetings. Now, on this overcast morning in Lower Manhattan, he stood just a few blocks from ground zero where events commemorating the 10th anniversary of 9/11 were underway.

“It seems like a very appropriate shirt for today,” said the Brazilian. Every few seconds another passerby would pat his back or direct a ‘thumbs up’ his way.

Brasile, who described his job title as “President of the Institute of Internal Auditors” in Brazil, said he’d traveled here to “remember and to see how deep the impact [of 9/11] was on people’s lives.”

“And also to give Brazilian support for the U.S.,” he added. “It’s my way to do something.”

On blocks surrounding the 9/11 Memorial that was unveiled here Sunday, foreign visitors like Brasile comprised a sizable chunk of those who packed its sidewalks.

Like their American counterparts, foreign citizens said that they, too, had come to honor the victims and their families. But many of these foreigners also seemed to revel in unofficial roles, self-declared ambassadors of their home nations. They were eager to express their neighbors’ and native countries’ solidarity with America.

Unlike Oswaldo Brasile, whose surname was the only immediate clue as to his country of origin, it was often easy to determine one’s nationality by merely eyeballing the person’s attire.

One example of this was Paul Cull, a 46-year-old with Julius Caesar-style black hair and a black polo shirt featuring the words “New Zealand” near the top. Cull is from Christchurch in the southern part of that country, a historic and scenic city with a river intersecting its center. It’s a land with majestic mountains, about as distant from New York as anyplace on Earth.

“[9/11] was a very significant event in world history, whatever your political views,” said Cull, who noted that he’s in the U.S. doing missionary work unrelated to Sunday’s events. “It has molded and changed the planet.”

In February, an earthquake struck Southern New Zealand with an epicenter near Christchurch, devastating Cull’s community. The disaster claimed nearly 200 lives, and resulted in the nation’s first ever declared State of Emergency.

Cull said his close proximity to that trauma made his attendance Sunday essential.

“We’ve been through our own disaster and can sympathize with the loss of life,” he said. “It’s tragic.”

Along Broadway Street, throngs of foreign journalists shifted about with camera equipment and microphones, jockeying for space and conducting interviews in languages as disparate as Spanish and Mandarin, Japanese and French. Their presence highlighted the international spotlight on the day’s ceremonies.

One such foreign reporter was Christian Hauffman, a morning show news anchor in Berlin, Germany. A tall blonde man of 37, Hauffman, gripping a yellow microphone and sporting a bright red shirt with the words “104.6 RTL: Berlins Hit-Radio” said there’s much interest in Germany surrounding the memorial in Manhattan. He said there were moments of silence in Berlin today to honor the 9/11 dead, adding that many Berliners were attending church to commemorate 9/11.

Hauffman attributed his country’s attention here and his station’s media coverage, by extension, to the climate of uncertainty and alarm that pervaded Germany a decade ago, in the attacks’ aftermath.

“People were frightened, buildings were evacuated,” recalled Hauffman, who was working for another Berlin radio network at the time. “Nobody knew if there were planes that would hit our buildings. People were frightened.”

To most foreign citizens who’d come to pay their respects, however, the reasons for being at ground zero Sunday were more basic.

Sean Sheosarah, wearing a red Liverpool soccer jersey and gnawing on a toothpick, stood in a long, narrow, cordoned-off security line leading to a police checkpoint, awaiting entry into the memorial’s events. A burly, shaved-headed construction worker from Ireland who resides in the UK, Sheosarah, 42, had flown to New York from London solely for this purpose. He said little, but chose his words selectively: he’d be in the U.S. just four days, he said. He’d lived in Boston on 9/11.

Asked why he ventured across an ocean just to be here Sunday, Sheosarah shrugged in agitated fashion, as if the answer were obvious.

“It’s [about] respect, isn’t it?” he said, in a sharp Irish twang. “If you respect something, what’s the difference if it’s a mile away or a million miles away?”

He then removed the toothpick from his mouth, just as a ceremonial bugle began ringing out over Lower Manhattan.

“Distance,” he said, “Has nothing to do with it.”

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