No gueto e na favela: duas canções, dois retratos da violência

Abstract

One of the most prominent characteristics of both American and Brazilian societies is a large inequality in their citizen’s living conditions, in spite of a large qualitative and quantitative difference in the ways and proportions this inequality materialize in these two countries. If, on the one hand, a small percentage of the population owns a huge part of the wealth produced by society, on the other hand, many people live on incomes that are at or below what is necessary for their survival or that of their families, and a growing number of human beings are relegated to exclusion and sub-citizenship. For excluded ones, the only way out they can see to try to change the situation they have been in since birth is to commit crime. However, the reaction of state agents, other criminals, and some ordinary people is almost always to repress them with utmost violence. This article analyzes how two popular songs, one American and the other Brazilian, portray this problem, reflecting on how they humanize the victims of this violence and contribute to raise awareness among the general public about the social reality of the United States and Brazil.