The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) of Brazil considered that insults directed at a white person because of the color of their skin do not constitute racial injury.
According to the unanimous judgment of the members of the Sixth Panel of the third instance court, racial injury only occurs when the offense is directed at black people due to their race and as a way of discriminating against them.
The decision, which sets a precedent for similar cases, comes in the wake of an appeal by a black man who was accused of racial abuse for having written in a message to an Italian man, married to his aunt, that his mind was "white, European and a slave owner".
The case occurred in the state of Alagoas (northeast) in 2023 and was considered by the Public Ministry itself as racial injury.
The third instance judges concluded that racial injury does not apply to white people offended because of their skin color, but that the offense can be considered and punished as another type of crime provided for in the Penal Code, including simple injury.
According to the judges, the 1989 law that criminalizes offenses of racial or color prejudice was intended to protect historically discriminated groups.
"It is impossible to believe that the white Brazilian population can be considered a minority. Therefore, there is no way that the situation described in the records corresponds to the crime of racial injury", assessed the reporting judge Og Fernandes.
"Racial injury, characterized by the element of discrimination under examination, is not configured in the present case, without prejudice to the analysis of any offense to honor, provided that it is adequately classified", concluded the rapporteur, rejecting the "concept of reverse racism".
