O mundo no muda quem muda somos ns
Translator: Klebson Carneiro
Reviewer: David DeRuwe
I’m going to introduce myself
because I thinks it’s important, right?
Some people know this already,
but it’s important.
My name’s Manoel,
I’m 41 years old,
I’m a father and a son,
I’m from a favela,
I’m a communicator,
and I’d like to share with you
this very special moment in my life:
this moment of reconstruction.
Today we’re talking a lot
about the process of deconstruction,
but when you deconstruct something,
if you don’t reconstruct something else,
all you get is an empty space.
And emptiness is very bad
because it generally brings loneliness,
and we often feel lost and devalued.
So whenever I decide
to deconstruct myself,
I need to reconstruct myself.
Reconstruction is about renewing
the way you see the world around you.
Because, I’ll be sincere with you,
usually the world doesn’t change;
we’re the ones who change.
But how do we promote
this process of change?
Which door leads to our reconstruction?
And I want to give you
advice about two doors
that I think that are very interesting:
the anti-sexist struggle door
and the anti-racist struggle door.
“Oh Manoel, but hey, this issue again?
This is so boring.
I’ve heard about this so many times.”
You don’t need to keep hearing about it;
it’s super-important that you feel it.
A perspective that I give,
that’s worked for me
when I try to analyze,
for example, the anti-sexist struggle -
this has to do directly with me -
comes from my zero-to-six-year-old period,
the age we speak of
when we say early childhood.
From 0 to 6 years old,
how did I see women?
And I say that this period is important
because it is when
our neural connections are forming,
we’re starting to understand the world,
and we’re beginning to interpret roles.
That information,
although it’s not on the front line
of our memories,
is kept back here,
and we need to recap.
Who was my mother at that time?
Who was my father?
What was the role
that these people occupied
in that great show that was my family?
Was my mother the one
who washed and ironed?
Was my father the one who arrived
at night and left in the morning?
Did he disappear during the day?
How did this work?
Did I have a father?
Or didn’t I have a father?
All of this information ends up composing
your sexist or anti-sexist
unconsciousness.
Depending on the experiences we’ve had,
we’ll have behaviors that tend to conform
with what we’ve experienced,
or that naturally disconform
with what we’ve experienced.
And what if we make
this a question, for example,
regarding Black people?
What was the level of the relationship -
pay close attention -
what was the level of the relationship
that I had with people of color?
I’m not asking if you had,
because, being born in Brazil
where 54% of the population is Black,
it’s natural that you had some kind
of relationship with people of color.
But what was the nature
of this relationship?
Were they always known
to you as employees?
Were they those brown people
who arrived at 8:00 a.m.
and disappeared at 5:00 p.m.?
Did these people wear street clothes,
or did they usually wear uniforms?
Did these people have a name,
or did they have nicknames?
Blacky, Bubba, Bean, Blackberry?
How did I know these people?
When I met them, did they have a family?
How was this daily life?
From the moment we start
to answer these questions,
we start traveling to another place,
a place of self-analysis.
And this self-analysis
makes all the difference
when you start
your reconstruction process.
In reconstruction,
let me tell you that the questions
are infinitely more important
than the answers.
People often chase after
answers for everything.
Guys, in the anti-sexist
and the anti-racist struggles,
it’s not the answers that change.
It’s the questions
that make all the difference.
And we need this
to be solidified in our heart.
Because if not, we become
the “owner of the truth,”
and the “owners of the truth,”
most of the time, speak nonsense.
When we begin participating
in the reconstruction process,
in the anti-sexist
and anti-racist struggles,
if, for example, I’m a Black man -
in the anti-racist struggle,
I can’t be a proactive racist.
Because the Black cannot
be racist, there’s no way.
Racism presupposes someone
who has directly benefited
and connected with the power structure,
and who is using this power structure
to guarantee their privileges.
This isn’t the case for Black people.
Black people aren’t connected
to the power structure.
So, although a Black person
can be a pro-racist person,
that person can’t be a racist person.
In this scenario, I, Manoel,
can be a sexist person,
a pro-racist sexist person.
Being a pro-racist sexist person,
who would be my target?
Black women.
That’s why Black feminism
is different from the feminist struggle.
Black feminism seeks to give
social and public value
to Black women.
Yes, right, guys?
Because while many white women
burned bras, declaring their revolution,
and that was legitimate,
who swept up the ashes
were the Black women.
Who took care of the protesters' children
while the revolution was happening
were Black women,
and their children were home,
without anyone looking after them.
So Black women need to stand up to us,
Black men who oppress them,
and often devalue their entire struggle,
and stand up also to white women and men,
who, unfortunately,
play a natural role of oppression,
If we are in the position
of an oppressor,
in the process of reconstruction,
we need to move
into the position of an ally.
The same way that a white person
in the racist struggle
moves into the position of ally.
And who is this ally?
An ally is a person who,
even being in a privileged condition
and a possible position of oppression,
predisposes to make a difference
in the lives of those who are oppressed.
“OK, Manoel, but how do I bring
this to my daily life?
Because it’s boring, right?”
Then we have to think.
In my house, who takes care
of the car engine?
Is it my wife or is it me?
If it’s my wife, it means
I’m teaching my children
that there has been a shift in the roles.
And this role shift is important.
Who takes care of the washing machine?
Is it my wife or is it me?
If it’s me, we’re moving
in the direction of change.
And this role change, small as it may be,
makes all the difference.
How many Black people
do I receive inside my house
so that my children see that I have
Black friends, and that they’re my equals?
And they’re not poor things.
How do I present
a Black person to my children
if I’m a white ally?
That makes all the difference.
When your son changes his girlfriend,
how do you talk to him about it?
Do you tell him, “That’s it, son.
If it’s not working, move along,”
or do you push him
to handle this differently?
Reconstruction is about these questions
and many others you have in your hearts.
So I hope that this short, ten-minute talk
has served to stimulate
the reconstruction process.
We need to reconstruct ourselves,
because a new world is coming,
and we don’t want for us
or for our children to be left out.
Isn’t that right?
A kiss from the heart.
It was a pleasure to be with you.
TEDx.