“We are very tired. In Brazil, this only happens when someone makes such a complaint. The position of the company, the management, the employee is the position that we struggle with every day, those who do not believe that a black person can leave the place and no one will suspect anything, this is a position that reflects how racist our society is.”

Ruan Carlos Fernandez filed a police report after he was the victim of racism at a gas station in Joinville – Photo: Reproduction/ND

The weariness and struggle belong to historian Ruan Carlos Fernandez, who denounces being the victim of racism on his 31st birthday, Monday (23) in Joinville, north of Santa Catarina, after he was wrongfully charged after refueling at a gas station. gas station.

Ruan and his family were heading to the beach, but before they set off, they stopped at a gas station to fill up their car. Around 5 am, Rouen went to the cashier with 50 reais and paid the bill. The total amount was 54.50 reais because, in addition to petrol, he bought his son cookies.

The family continued the trip, enjoyed the weekend, and on Monday, Rouen experienced himself as a black again: he was accused of leaving without paying. An employee of Auto Posto Monsenhor in the Jariwatuba area contacted Ruan’s partner at around 1:30 am, and since she did not answer, he called again at 5:47 am.

At the other end of the line, an employee accused the couple of leaving the gas station on Saturday without paying the 188 reais bill and demanded that they return to the spot to “explain”. “She was relentless. For her sake, I stopped by and did not pay, she was adamant and said that she had already called the police, ”he says.

When he went in to make the payment, Rouen remembered that there were other people there, white people. However, he was accused. “There were other clients, but the black man is to blame,” he says.

Ruan doubts access to personal data

In addition to racism, Ruan questions access to the family’s personal data, because, according to him, the employee herself stated that “the police provided data from the license plate.” “How does the police transfer personal data to a private company? There is an institutionalized racism about a person being leaked, my partner, the private security police, look at the danger we are in,” he says.

He also says that the employee only softened the accusatory tone after the interlocutor sent a tax coupon confirming the payment via WhatsApp. Despite this, the couple went to the institution.

“We were there yesterday, they started denying it, saying there was no racism, it was never the intention. We speak, we show the question. Firstly, they saw on the video that it was not me, at the second moment, talking to them, they said that it was not possible to give me the video because it was broken, but how did they see it?”, he says. .

He also says he received messages from the station’s management with apologies. “They blamed the employee as if institutionally they weren’t at fault,” he says.

The incident report was filed on Monday afternoon as an “injury qualified as prejudice” and Ruan guarantees to continue with the process.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Movimento Negro Maria Laura (@mnmarialaura)

“We are tired and go to the end, we will call the Ministry of Defense, Justice, file all claims. It is very bad to imagine that this is a practice that is in the collective memory of the country. I didn’t want to share this on social media, but unfortunately we know this is the only way to fix it. Racism is a grinder, but we have been in self-defense for a long time,” he notes.

In addition to the racism suffered, Ruan also questions the data breach and ensures that it is another bias that will be charged in court. “We don’t have protection, and the state does not guarantee it, in this case they guaranteed the protection of the post, which is more serious in all this,” he says.

What do they say at the gas station?

Auto Posto Monsenhor expressed its opinion through a memorandum stating that the behavior was not in accordance with the institution, and also stressed that the employee acted “of her own free will.”

See note in full:

“The management of Auto Posto Monsenhor, through this communiqué, is clarifying certain facts by checking the broadcast of video, audio and other social media posts alleging criminal behavior of a racist nature by the company team in relation to one of your customers.

In a video posted on social media, the man claims that today, 01/23/2023, at dawn, he was contacted by someone from the Posto team, and that in this contact he was accused of not paying for the fuel delivered to his car on Saturday morning, 01/21/2023. In addition, he claims that he suffered from racism, since, according to him, he was accused because of the color of his skin.

Due to the seriousness of the facts, the management of the company, who only became aware of the whole incident today at 12:30 pm, sought to understand what happened to her team, since none of the actions allegedly performed by the person who contacted her are consistent with the behavior and ideals as a management and the entire team of the company.

After talking to the entire team that worked that shift, one of the cashiers presented her version of the facts, in which she admits that she ended up getting lost while working at the cashier on Saturday morning, and that she knows that any losses at Caixa do Posto are under his liability will result in a deduction from his remuneration. For this reason, she tried of her own free will, using her own resources, to contact a client who, in her opinion, was charging less.

He also claims that he did not act with racist intent and that he chose to contact the buyer solely because he was the only vehicle filling this particular fuel injector (No. 7) at the time, at approximately 5:30 am on Saturday. Camera shots confirm the fact that at that time there was really only one vehicle filling this nozzle.

When asked by Posto management about the content of the conversation she had with a client on her own mobile phone, she stated that she used temporary messages and did not provide anything from the conversation so that management could evaluate her behavior.

In view of what had happened, since it was not possible to verify how the dialogue between the Cashier and the customer proceeded, the management realized that the best alternative would be to meet together with both parties involved in the episode to correct any diligence.

The necessary legal action will be taken in due course after the facts are clarified jointly by both parties involved. Last but not least, the leadership confirms the message that it categorically rejects any racist or prejudiced attitude, expression or thought. And makes himself available for any further clarification.

With the message, they turned to the Civil Police, which is investigating the case, but have not yet received a response about the progress of the case. The military police declined to comment on the case. “We don’t see the need and we don’t know if there’s anything to do with the prime minister.”