Although Brazil has the largest black population outside Africa, a recent murder of a Congolese man on a beach has ignited rage, anguish, and soul-searching in Brazil's African migrant population.

Moise Kabagambe (24), fled from the Congo to Brazil in 2011 and was murdered last month with clubs and a baseball bat at a beach bar in Rio de Janeiro.

According to his relatives, he was attacked by a group of thugs when he sought payment of two days' delayed wages. 

Many African migrants retell their experiences with poverty, violence, and double prejudice as outsiders and blacks.

Sagrace Lembe Menga, who escaped the conflict-torn Congo in 2015 expressed fear for her children. She states she has seen bigotry on a regular basis in Brazil, even in her workplace at a hair salon.

"Some people treat you like you're insignificant, like an animal," she said to AFP, adding that some people have asked her if she lives with giraffes.

Brazil has roughly 1,050 refugees from Congo and 35,000 African migrants in total.

Elisee Mpembele, 23, a Congolese singer who arrived in Brazil in 2013 says she could write a book with the number of racist encounters he faced. 

Lone foreigners

"Wary looks, stares, security guards following me around the supermarket. The other day, I asked some police officers for directions, and they ended up searching me."

Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, and migrants from Africa have had to continually confront poverty, isolation, and systemic racism.

According to Bas'llele Malomalo, a specialist on African-Brazilian migration at Unilab, what makes the prejudice astounding is that " 55 percent of Brazilians are black."

Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery

In 2019, 77 percent of homicide victims were black.

According to Malomalo, "In the minds of the racists, since it's a foreigner, no one's going to defend him."

Modou Fall, a 34-year-old Senegalese migrant says "Whenever someone hassles me, I just keep my head down to avoid any problems."

According to Rui Mucaje, president of the Afro-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, many Africans arrived in Brazil with an "entrepreneurial spirit."

However, he claims that the majority ends up in menial labor in the informal economy.

"It's not uncommon to see people with university degrees end up working jobs they're way overqualified for," referencing an engineer who works at a supermarket and a surveyor who works as a hotel maid. 

He described Kabagambe's death as "the tragic result of the problems created by racism in Brazil."