Please note that this week’s BBC World Service program “Assignment” will contain some foul language.
The program contains two scenes where the ‘n’ word is used in both Portuguese and English. Also, in the second scene the word ‘s**t’ in English is bleeped, and the word ‘caralho’ which in Portuguese means ‘f******g’ is bleeped. This pertains to all broadcasts of “Assignment” on the BBC World Service schedule: Thursday, April 23 at 12:30 ET and 17:30 ET; Friday, April 24 at 03:30 ET; and Sunday, April 25 at 05:00 ET and 10:00 ET. Specific language and timings follows:
Assignment – “Police Brutality in Portugal”
FIRST SCENE
CLIP: WASSIZA (TRANSLATION ON TAPE)
I work w children from 6 to 18, complicated, try to teach them that the policeman is a friend, the reality is the opposite …
SCRIPT
I’m with my translator Carla, and we’re talking with Whassysa Magalhães (Ma-ga-lanjh), she’s a teacher and part of the management of Moinho de Juventude. She says she was subjected to crude and highly offensive racial slurs by the police.
CLIP: WASSIZA (TRANSLATION ON TAPE)
One day the police were here, they were searching for something … I was approached, someone asked me for my ID, I was late and said I had to go to uni, and they said, but black people study? … and when they say black it’s different when they say preto it’s almost the equivalent of n*****r (long version 5’49; short version 5’33), not same history but it’s the equivalent
(PORT) … they don’t care about who sees when they brutalize people … in the last few years it has gotten worse …
SECOND SCENE
SCRIPT
Flavio, Celso and three others were taken inside the police station. They allege the beatings continued accompanied by racist abuse and humiliation in language some listeners might find offensive.
FLAVIO
They say dogs and s**t (BLEEPED) (long version 11’32; short version 8’48) is on the ground … they said you are lucky the law doesn’t allow, because if the law allowed you would be executed … Was so scared, the humiliation, the insult, was present always
SCRIPT
Flavio claims there’s one comment in particular that sticks in his mind.
FLAVIO
FLAVIO: I will never forget his face, I will never forget his words … in Portuguese he said
FLAVIO IN PORTUGUESE: Pretos do caralho (BLEEPED) (long version 12’01; short version 9’17), voces nao sabem o quanto vos odeio …
SCRIPT:
The phrase translates as ‘You F-ing N-words (long version 12’15; short version 9’31),, you don’t know how much I hate you … if I had the power you would all be exterminated, but don’t worry, it won’t be long’
FLAVIO: I will never forget his face, I will never forget his words … because the sound was with emotion, with conviction, I could see the eyes, the eyes … the way he said that, if I had the power you would all be exterminated like you n*****r (long version 12’37; short version 9’53), you must die, you must die …