Racismo no futebol brasileiro: revisitando o caso Grafite/Desábato

Abstract

In this paper, the Grafi te/Desábato case will be taken as an object of study to present some refl ections on racism in Brazilian soccer. Therefore, we will recur to articles published in the sports media in the period, as well as to academic studies conducted in the following years. In the sequence, we will examine in detail the consequences of the episode, such as actions and campaigns against racism in soccer, and changes in sports law. In a third and fi nal part, we will rely on some of the interviews conducted throughout our ME course to demonstrate how this particular case was not only remembered, but also infl uenced the opinion of several interviewees, to the extent that it brought consequences to the very career of one of them. Finally, we understand that the Grafi te/Desábato episode has marked the collective memory of those professionals involved in the soccer sphere. The reports presented caused us to reevaluate part of the analysis performed on the case and to believe there is still much to be done to guarantee that the struggles of African Americans result in new achievements both in soccer and in the society as a whole.