BLACK WOMEN LEFT A MESSAGE.

I woke up this morning with a piece of information that Raven Sanders, 25 years old, silver medalist in Tokyo in the women’s shot put, stood on the podium, and crossed her arms in X. That X means: where ALL the oppressed cross.

Patricia Mamona, 32, a daughter of Angolans, also a silver medalist, but in the high jump. The press in Portugal is getting forced to eat glass, with all their hate, for they must call her Portuguese on the news.

Rebecca Andrade, 23, won silver and gold in gymnastics, an unprecedented fact, performing the Baile de Favela track, in everyone’s face, especially in the face of white feminists, delineating the limit and claiming respect for the suburbs and favelas.

Simone Biles, 24, decided not to compete in order to take care of her own mental health, a courageous attitude that shocked the world.

The underlying message, that you pretend not to see, is there. Even if it were combined, it would not be so perfect.

These 4 women challenge their societies, and the whole world, all at once.

Saunders, black and lesbian, carries many oppressions in her body.

Forbidden to protest by Rule 50, which prevents athletes from demonstrating, she stood on the podium and was not afraid. She crossed her arms and showed that she was there, at that moment, using this visibility in the world, to say that she has a message. And that an athlete is not supposed to be alienated. Well, at least, not a black athlete.

Saunders’ message was for her own country, and for the owners of the Olympics: white men. Because they, besides being the bosses of the games, decide who can and who cannot speak.

This is because they, who do not go through any oppression, force everyone to be like them. And white German or Swiss athletes, with their silence and lack of struggle, make everything more difficult for black athletes. When a white athlete turns his back on this issue, he strengthens the white man who owns the Games, and therefore the system.

But Saunders fucked up. And I would do the same. As I did, on podiums where I have been on.

I remember attending, along with Glenn Greenwald (a laureate north American journalist based in Brazil, who started a newspaper with headlines that showed to the whole world how politics and many other institutions in Brazil were manipulated to make Jair Bolsonaro become president) the launch event for TIM’s new logo.

The president of TIM, and all the executives. A house full of white people, at Casa das Caldeiras. I have never been in front of such a privileged audience. It was June 2016, and we were close to the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.

And they told me: “Anderson, you can’t talk about politics.”

They paid me well, but to keep me quiet.

I got the “fuck this shit” feeling.

At the end of my speech:

“You disagree, but I have one thing to say:

It’s a coup.”

They were pissed off. And I said: they’ll never call me again.

Said it and done it.

And it was a coup.

Patricia Mamona is on the pages of the newspapers in Portugal today.

Here, we have a maxim.

If a black person wins, they are Portuguese. If they are poor, they hear from the Portuguese:

“Go back to your land.”

Here, if you have money or are successful, you are Portuguese. If you don’t, you become an illegal immigrant, working in construction sites, on the streets, in the peripheries. Portugal, a racist and macho land, HATES to call Patricia Portuguese.

But she is. She was born here, she lives here. This fucking “blood law” (explanation for what the blood law means) has no more value in the world. There are many black people born here that Portugal does not give citizenship to. THE PERSON IS BORN IN PORTUGAL BUT IS CAPE VERDEAN. Angolans, Mozambicans, Africans, are never accepted in Europe, and even people from former colonies are criminalized by the Portuguese. Among all the former colonies, Brazil is the only one that enters Portugal without a visa, has equal rights, and may get into the labor market.

Patricia’s victory is a slap in the face for this white and racist Portugal, which today will have to applaud black women, the only relevant news in this country with the size of Piracicaba.

Rebecca Andrade is smiling. And she laughs at you.

You who hate slums, hate black people, and mainly you who want to tell the slum people what culture is, and what it is not.

If you are a right-wing leaning, you say that Brazilian funk is not music. If you are progressive, you say that “Baile de Favela” is sexist. But Brazilian funk, its culture, the favela, and this music are a set of elements that have built up Rebecca as an individual. She is not an athlete separate from her culture. She IS the culture itself.

And you, from outside the favela, will never understand how sexuality develops for us, from inside, and how we see the world. And this world has nothing to do with the white feminists from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, one of the best in the country).

The fuckery, I mean the typical Brazilian fuckery-funk kind of music, is a fundamental element in the black discourse in Rio, and in the suburbs. Rebecca makes you applaud her, but on the other hand makes you angry, because she didn’t come to be disciplined by you.

And Simone Biles is gold. Gold in everything she puts her hands and feet on.

She came to call attention to the mental health of all athletes, and to our health. She came to remind us that what matters is not a piece of iron hanging around your neck, but your dignity. Her sponsors certainly hate her, but she is free and happy with herself.

She has walked all these years to say: I own myself.

The message is there.

Saunders cries for freedom. Patricia avenges us. Rebecca is the whole favela. Biles is the courage to leave where love is not served.

The years will pass, and the Olympics will be remembered, because of these black women.

And the white men, I hope, will be in the past.