The truth behind the "racist party" that cost the work of a Vogue Brazil editor-in-chief

The party for his 50 years in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, it has become a moment he changed his life negatively to Donata Meirelles, former editor of the Brazilian edition of the magazine Vogue

What was originally a celebration became the reason that forced her to give up her job because of the controversy generated by the images of the eventbecause they have been reported the racists.

The controversy started when Shelby Ivey Christie, a former contributor to the magazine Vogue, He shared photos of the party on Twitter, claiming they had a "very uncomfortable theme".

"It seems to be a master-slave theme. The servants (slaves of the house), who clearly had the darker complexion, were considered as accessories with the guests ", denounced this expert of the fashion Noeyorquina.

However, the women that the tweeted girl has designated as "housekeepers" are actually Baianas, women who sell acarajé and other delights of Afro-baiana cuisine and who constitute one of the most well-known symbols of culture candomblé. Baianas often occur at official events in Salvador de Bahía and photos of this type are common during these meetings, usually in a context of intercultural respect and admiration.

However, Stéphanie Ribeiro, magazine columnist Marie ClaireHe joined the charges against Meirelles and called on the party to "manifestation of the worst and perverse racism". According to Ribeiro's interpretation, women were used as an object to recreate an exotic scene.

In an interview with The GuardianRibeiro said that the event "recalls colonialism and romance at the time". They were recreating an image where the whites are superior and blacks are dehumanized. "

But the journalist Raphael Tsavkko Garcia badured in an article for the site Quillette What The choice of Shelby Ivey Christie's pictures was misleading, because other images show the Baianas sitting in the same chair.

He explained that compare the clothes of the Baianas with the uniforms used by the slaves of distant times is a disrespectful distortion of the modern cultural role of the Baianas. He insisted that women have not been offended and that, in fact, some of them asked the authorities to investigate those who questioned their role in the party, They were afraid of losing their job.

Thus, in a document signed by representatives of several anti-racism institutions, it was reported that the Public Prosecution Service had stated that it was not possible to interpret the hiring of Baianas "as an act of subalternization of the black woman".

according to Quillette, who have been offended to see women as "slaves" seem to have "They do not understand the local culture"because they are people far from Salvador de Bahía, so He described the controversy as "a false scandal".

In addition, He noticed that those who spread that the Baianas They were treated like slaves, they did not even look for their version. A few days later, the women were able to talk to the Brazilian media Bnews

"Nosotoras love Baianas of Acarajes we are hostesses, it's our job, to host in hotels, events, in various places. Now they call us servants, slaves. We are not slaves, we are workers, this (case of racism) never existed, We were hired to work at the front desk, no one imposed any clothes on us, no one said we had to stand on one side and the other so that someone sits down and takes a picture. "

They explained that the photo of the former editor of the magazine was simply unrolled and that people had been misinterpreted "by their evil to denigrate the image of others. We are sad because it is not what happened. We would never submit to such a role. "

But the damage was done. Donata Meirelles resigned from office after 7 years and apologized on Instagram, but then deleted the publication.

The edition of Vogue Brazil also issued a statement on the issue where they expressed regret for what happened, hoping that the debate served as learning.

"We believe in affirmative and proactive actions and that empathy is the best alternative for building a fairer society, in which the country's historical inequalities are debated and confronted," they explained.