Vinícius Júnior launches campaign to combat racism in Brazil،
Real Madrid striker Vinícius Júnior has launched a campaign to fight racism, organized to mark Black Awareness Day in Brazil on November 20.
Vinícius was the target of racist abuse on several occasions during his time in La Liga and has now launched a campaign in his home country Brazil with a series of initiatives aimed at spreading the message against racial discrimination .
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A poster depicting Vinícius’ face, accompanied by the phrases: “Racism, don’t pretend you don’t see it” and “Expose the racists”, appeared on billboards in every major city in Brazil.
Vinícius shared a photo of the poster on his Instagram stories and wrote: “This is the message. Today and always.”
It’s a message. Today and always. ✊🏿🖤#DiadaConsciênciaNegra #AntiRacist #BlackConsciousnessDay pic.twitter.com/OzsfdV5dY7
– Vini Jr. (@vinijr) November 20, 2023
The 23-year-old also announced the release of his anti-racist educational manual.
On X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Vinícius Institute page wrote: “It is with great enthusiasm that we announce that tomorrow, Tuesday, will take place the launch of our anti-racist education manual!
“Together we are building a future where education is a transformative force.”
With more than 60 pages, the manual aims to offer support to schools in Brazil to make the educational environment more inclusive and avoid stereotypes that could lead to prejudice.
Vinícius recently spoke out against racism in football after receiving the Socrates Prize in October for his humanitarian work in Brazil.
He said: “It’s very annoying to always have to talk about racism, but I’m prepared for that, to always be able to speak when it’s necessary, to keep everyone strong because I will fight for them. .. it’s very sad that I talk about racism all my life, I love talking about football.”
ESPN Brazil understands that Vinícius also had 5,000 T-shirts printed with anti-racist phrases on the poster which were supposed to be distributed during Tuesday’s World Cup qualifying match against Argentina at the Maracanã stadium.
However, the project was abandoned after the player suffered a hamstring injury while on international duty with Brazil last week, forcing him to return to Madrid.
Earlier this year, the government of Rio de Janeiro announced an anti-racism law named in honor of Vinícius.
As a result, sporting events will be stopped or suspended in the event of racist behavior.
