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The chants of “monkey!” at the Spanish soccer stadium echoed across the Atlantic, reaching the ears of people on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. That's where Vinícius Júnior, who is Black, grew up and launched his soccer career. Now, despite his global fame and millions, he was again the target of crude European racism. His city in multiracial Brazil was sickened, and has rallied to his defense. In Sao Goncalo, rapper Deivisson Oliveira was eating breakfast when the TV news showed the abuse aimed at his hometown hero. “I needed to cry out," said Oliveira, 30, who raps under the name MC Menor do CPX. Oliveira typed lyrics on his phone with his 6-month-old son at his feet. Powerful verses surged through his thumbs: "From the favela to the world: Strength, Vinícius Júnior!" Racism in the Spanish league has intensified this season, especially after Vinícius started celebrating goals by dancing. On at least nine occasions, people have made monkey sounds at Vinícius, chanted the slur “monkey!” and hurled other racist slurs. Vinícius has repeatedly demanded action from Spanish soccer authorities. Vinícius’ 2017 move to Real Madrid was the culmination of years of effort. One of the most popular clubs in global soccer paid 45 million euros (about $50 million) — at the time the most ever for a Brazilian teenager — even before his professional debut with Rio-based Flamengo. Relentless racism wasn’t part of Vinícius’ dream when he was growing up in Sao Goncalo. Sao Goncalo is the second-most populous city in Rio’s metropolitan region, and one of the poorest in the state of Rio de Janeiro, according to the national statistics institute. At night in some areas, motorists turn on their hazard lights to signal to drug-trafficking gangs that the driver is local. It is also where the 2020 police killing of a 14-year-old sparked Black Lives Matter protests across Rio. Racism has once again fanned outrage. Rio’s imposing, illuminated Christ the Redeemer statue was made dark one night in solidarity. The city’s enormous bayside Ferris wheel this week exhibits a clenched Black fist and the scrolling words: “EVERYONE AGAINST RACISM.” “My total repudiation of the episode of racism suffered by our ace and the pride of all of us in Sao Goncalo,” the city's mayor, Nelson Ruas dos Santos, wrote on Twitter the morning after the incident. Rio's Mayor Eduardo Paes was less diplomatic when responding to a defense issued by the Spanish soccer league’s president. “Go to hell, son of a...” Paes wrote. On Thursday, Spanish league president Javier Tebas held a news conference claiming that the league has been acting alone against racism, and that it could end it in six months if granted more power by the government. At the same time in Rio, representatives of more than 150 activist groups and nonprofits delivered a letter to Spain’s consulate, demanding an investigation into the league and its president. They organized a protest that evening. “Vinicius has been a warrior, he’s being a warrior, for enduring this since he arrived in Spain and always taking a stand," activist Valda Neves said. “This time, he’s not alone.” The first Black Brazilian players to sign for European clubs in the 1960s met some racism in the largely white society, but rarely spoke out. At the time when Brazil still considered itself a “racial democracy,” and did not take on the racism that many faced. In the late 1980s, the federal government made racial discrimination a crime and created a foundation to promote Afro-Brazilian culture. At the time, many Brazilian players who might identify as Black today did not recognize themselves as such. Incidents of racism in Europe prompted little blowback in Brazil. In the decades since, Brazil’s Black activists have gained prominence and promoted awareness of structural racism. The federal government instituted policies aimed at addressing it, including affirmative-action admissions for public universities and jobs. There has been heightened consciousness throughout society. In 2014, a fan hurled a banana at defender Dani Alves during a Spanish league match; he picked it up and ate it in a show of defiance, triggering a coordinated social media campaign with other Brazilian players, including star forward Neymar, who did the same. Vinícius’ own educational nonprofit this week launched a program to train public school teachers to raise awareness about racism and instruct kids in fighting discrimination. A teacher at a Sao Goncalo school that will host the project, Mariana Alves, hopes it will provide kids much-needed support and preparation. She spoke in a classroom with soccer-ball beanbag chairs strewn about, and enormous photos of Vinícius on the walls. Most of the school’s students are Black or biracial, and many have experienced racism, Alves said in an interview. This week, her 10-year-old students have been asking if she saw what happened to Vinícius because they don’t fully understand. “He has money, he has all this status, and not even that stopped him from going through this situation of racism,” said Alves, who is Black and from Sao Goncalo. “So the students wonder ... ‘Will I go through that, too? Is that going to happen to me?’” As a boy, Vinícius started training at a nearby feeder school for Flamengo, Brazil's most popular club, before signing with its youth team. Sao Goncalo kids there were a blur Wednesday afternoon as they ran non-stop drills, leaving them without time or breath to discuss their idol’s troubles on another continent. Still, they knew. One of them, Ryan Gonçalves Negri, said he has talked about it with his friends outside the soccer school, and that Vinícius should transfer out of the Spanish league “urgently.” “I would never want to play there," Negri, 13, said. “It's not for Brazilians who know how to score goals and celebrate.” While the kids practiced, the rapper Oliveira and his producer Éverton Ramos, known as DJ Cabide, stepped onto the turf and made their way to the corner. They set up a speaker beneath a banner of Vinícius as a brash teenager with his tongue extended, then started recording a clip for their protest song’s music video. “I’m no one, but my voice can reach where I can’t go, where I can’t imagine going,” Oliveira said. “My voice will get there, you understand?” ___ Associated Press writer Mauricio Savarese contributed from Sao Paulo ___ More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Spanish court opens investigation into racist abuse targeting Vinícius Júnior Spain takes action against racism after Vinícius case but punishing fans remains a challenge Roma striker Tammy Abraham on racism in soccer: 'These things hurt people'

The San Francisco district attorney has released the surveillance footage that showed the fatal shooting of a 24-year-old transgender activist accused of shoplifting by a Walgreens security guard. The video was released on Monday following a public outcry after it was announced that the district attorney won't file charges against the guard, identified as Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony. The footage shows the guard assaulting unarmed Banko Brown on 27 April before fatally shooting him outside a downtown Walgreens. Brown was a budding community organiser known for helping Black transgender youth and reportedly struggled with homelessness. Last week, the board of supervisors unanimously approved a resolution urging district attorney Brooke Jenkins's office to release more evidence. She cited self-defence in her decision not to charge the guard. The video, which does not have sound, shows Brown heading for the door with a bag in his hand when he is intercepted by the guard. He then pushes and repeatedly punches Brown in the head before pinning him to the ground. The scuffle continues when after a point, the guard lifts Brown into the air. When Mr Anthony lets Brown go, he picks up the bag and moves to exit the store. He turns around and appears to step toward Mr Anthony, at which point the guard lifts his gun and shoots once, sending Brown falling back onto the ground. Mr Anthony, who was initially arrested and later released, told the police that he asked Brown to put the items back, but Brown was aggressive and fought to keep them. He said he told Brown he would let him go if he calmed down, and that Brown kept saying he was going to stab him. However, a knife was not found on Brown. Mr Anthony argued that he let Brown go, but he drew his gun and kept it pointed at the ground just in case Brown attacked. He said he shot when Brown advanced. The case was discharged by the district attorney on 1 May. The guard in interviews also misgendered Brown, referring to him as “she” and “her”. San Francisco supervisor Shamann Walton said in a statement that the video does not show justification for the shooting. Mr Walton said he plans to join board president Aaron Peskin in calling on the state attorney general for an independent review of the prosecutor’s decision. But Ms Jenkins, who has been criticised for handling the case, said that even after seeking more evidence, there was nothing to rebut the guard’s claim of self-defense. She pleaded with viewers to review all the evidence, including witness and police reports, given that the video footage lacks sound. "There will be a temptation, as human beings, to only view the video footage of this incident and nothing else," Ms Jenkins said. "We are accustomed to seeing videos online, and that often is what captures our attention rather than going the extra step to look deeper." Community members on Monday afternoon gathered outside Walgreens to protest against Ms Jenkins's decision to not file charges. Activists, politicians and others who reviewed the released footage of Brown’s death alleged that the video proves the security guard did not act in self-defence as suggested by the district attorney. Demonstrators with banners that read ”Justice for Banko Brown” demanded that Ms Jenkins press charges against the guard. "I was sad, but now I'm mad. I'm so mad. He was on the way to the centre the day he died," Tumani Drew, a friend of Brown's, told The San Francisco Standard. "All we know is that Banko was leaving the store. Anthony had no right to take his life." Brown worked as a community organiser for the Young Women’s Freedom Center – a nonprofit that provides support for young women and trans youths. "We do not need to see the video to know that Banko Brown’s killing was unjustified. Armed force is not a justified response to poverty,” said Julia Arroyo, the centre’s co-executive director. "We must live with the sobering reality that he was killed for no other cause but $14." Read More Transgender woman jailed for rape sent to male prison Payback? Project funds axed after Kansas lawmaker defies governor on abortion, trans rights Wave of anti-transgender bills in Republican-led states divides US faith leaders

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