Brazzil

This is a great article that really hits the target! But since it was written by an American about Brazil's failure to recognize people of color and the injustice and poverty ridden culture whites and "morenos" have created for them...Mr. Wells is about to be trashed.

Whereas before I saw things from a black/white standpoint, I now see things from a white/non-white ideal.

I think you have issues. Do you like yourself? I am talking about your self-esteem. I think any person with a good self-esteem wouldn't care about any color at all. At least I never thought of anything like that. The only ones that seems to care A LOT are either blacks or whites with low self-esteem. Both will try to use it as a way of gaining advantages in society, the first by receiving things for free without any effort "for the past of slavery", the latter by pretending to be "the master-race" and therefore having privileges as such.

Now about your text. A little story told by a black activist trying to force her children to have an identity? What does it tell about Brazil? Nothing. I wonder though what would happen if white groups started promoting Aryan identities in little kids, it would be a scandal. Hehe. Double standards. The law says racism is a crime in Brazil, but apparently that's optional.

The point forgotten by the author is that sometimes people can't tell for sure what their ancestors are. I can't tell you anything about my family prior to the early 20th century, for example. If there was an ancestor of mine that was Arab I wouldn't know, and to be honest I don't really care because I am brazilian and I see myself as such.

Let me first state that in my own travels through Brazil, including stays in Bahia, Rio, São Paulo and Minas Gerais, I very rarely came across a person whose overall racial appearance defied categorization.

This is false. You must be using the anglo-saxon parameterization. Probably everyone that's not blonde and as white as the color of the background of this page is not "white" for you.

I have lived here all my life in Brazil, and this was one of things I got shocked the first time I went to the US, there people aren't mixed predominantly. Blacks are really black, whites are really white most of the time. The only people that looked more or so mixed were mexicans or other latin americans, but I am trying to point out is the inability of americans to face any sort of miscigenation as it is, miscigenation. An american, either black or white, would inevitably call anybody that doesn't look like an american white as "black", or some other "ghetto name" such as "hispanic" (when they actually don't look black at all), due to their culture but never consider them as equals.

Until the 19th century, "purity of blood" still held relevance in Brazilian social life, thus knowing the racial origins of individuals was so important that various church and civil institutions traced the ancestry of potential members back to the fourth generation.

...

Written in July of 1809, the Carta Régia (4th paragraph of article 6 ) states that all members of the militia will be taken from the white classes whose great-grandparents were not pretos and whose parents had been born free.

Here you come with the 19th century again! What do people expect? This county was colonized by the portuguese with the use of violence, no different than the US. I don't think the 19th century is a parameter to what Brazil is today. You can't point racism in that time as a way of proving there is still today.

It's like saying that germans are all Nazis because not so long ago Germany was actually Nazi (at least most of the people there). I don't doubt there are Nazis there still, or people that still believe in Nazism, but it's way off the mark to argue that all germans are Nazis. You seem to try to do something similar in the case of Brazil.

1809? Try again.

This applies equally to the girl who wants be known as a woman, the homosexual who assumes an identity "out of the closet" or the African descendent who sees him/herself as a "moreno/a". Referring back to the words of Sansone, when its time to make the metamorphosis from pretos and pardos to negros, the people will know it and then and only then, will a change be made. Well-spoken.

Did it ever pass through your mind otherwise? Did you actually consider forcing people that aren't blacks to be blacks? I think he is correct, people will decide.

Your texts have plenty of biased opinions, bogus statistics, citations to black activists as a form of "evidence", only to support a notion to the international community that "the Brasil is more racist than the US". It's very clear what your agenda is. Other brazilians and I, and some americans also, have helped to dispell the lies about it but all I can do is to do my best to show people the uniqueness of this country, where mulatos DO exist! And whose existence are recognized! Freedom is always good, especially the freedom to be yourself!

I won't rest to defend Brazil and myself against this neo-colonization.

The dream of the americans is to convince the international community and Brasil itself that Brasil is nothing more than an African country in America. It has been always so, and these text go this way too.

I won't be surprised if they start making up numbers such as 90%, 85% some time in the near future.

Why so sensitive to race? Why does it always hit such a sore spot with Brazilians? Trust me, no one in America dreams about doing anything to Brazil. We read these blogs and watch the news in Brazil for a good laugh.

Why do people make loud and broand claims about what Brazil is and how it should be and when someone corrects them they are being "sensitive"? I am just telling the truth, I will continue to do so because I value it. Lies cannot bring any good.

Anyway, I have told this site is a propagandistic site for an american agenda promotion, and I still stand by that. I don't take anything from here too seriously, but sometimes it's good to put the truth so foreigners won't think this site is for real.

Why so sensitive to race? Why does it always hit such a sore spot with Brazilians? Trust me, no one in America dreams about doing anything to Brazil. We read these blogs and watch the news in Brazil for a good laugh.

One can only perceive how pointless and meaningless you are, GTY and feel sorry for you. Your type of people show how poor your background can reach. But you are not talking in the name of the good Americans, you are just spoiling it for them, as you do in the whole world, spreading your caca (hate) all over the world. Have you ever stopped to consider why you have such a whole in the world? Maybe you are fulfilling master plans...

Please don't feel sorry for me...feel sorry for the Brazilians of color who are trying to get by on R$350 a month, I know the truth hurts. Perhaps if Brazilians felt sorry for someone besides themselves progress could really be made. Other Latin and South American countries are now leaping by you because Brazil sticks to their age old failures, it's often beyond belief. No, please do not feel sorry for me, feel sorry for the 2 Brazilians cutting my grass in the hot Miami sun this morning because they had no opportunity in the great country you are defending.

Mr GTY, if you cannot understand reading what can I do for you?? Yes you are a meritless good-for-nothing poor soul... Maybe you should learn not to laugh of your fellow human tragedies for instance... Poor superflous and nonmeaningfull soul...

How can he be without merit if he lives in a meritocracy and has enough means to hire people to cut the grass?

Some practical ideas for brazil
1) fund and build social services in every favelas providing parental-planning, sexual education and condoms to avoid single-parent families and adolescent mothers
2) fund homes for abandoned children and schools for favela kids tailored for their needs and teaching them a job
3) fund sport facilities in favelas to keep kids out of the streets when they are not at school
4) fund full-day kinder gardens for working parents in favelas
5) fund professional schools for adults in favelas
6) put big numbers in police uniforms and helmets to help identify unlawful behavior by certain police officers
7) distribute free drugs through government-controlled pharmacies to cut the roots of organized crime and corrupted police
promote positive representation of non-white people in Brazilian movies & telenovelas
9) ban programs featuring police at work
10) ban music from radio stations with violent messages

Congratulations on a well written and illuminating article. I'm a foreigner living in Brazil, and find litle to disagree with in this article. Of course, the reaction by Brazilian forum participants is predictible. One must assume that most of the reaction will be from white Brazilians, because the majority of black Brazilians can't afford computers or Internet access--not to mention the many other daily items to which white Brazilians have daily access.

Wow, A Brazilian, you're doing a tremendous job of stemming the tide of idiocy, blindness and madness threatening to overwhelm you and Brazil. I honestly despair that these people may have their way in racialising Brazil. They're truly mad.

Anyway, here's my contribution to a previous discussion we had on this site a few months ago:

http://www.brazzil.com/content/view/9656/41/#jc_allComments

To those affirming that only whites are the ones that complain about this anglo-saxon mentality, you are wrong. I am not white, but I am not black also. I believe any brazilian would tell you the same, unless he or she is already some kind of loser trying to get advantages without any effort.

Don't be mistaken by who is promoting this view, this is no "race friendly" people. This is simply the anglo-saxon mind trying to establish itself in Brazil by promoting the age old ideals of racial purity.

Race is one of the pillars of the american society, and they won't rest until they "racialize" the whole world.

The law says racism is a crime in Brazil, but apparently that's optional.

Well, we ALL know how the "law" is so strictly enforced in brazil now don't we??

6) put big numbers in police uniforms and helmets to help identify unlawful behavior by certain police officers

Well, they would all have number 9's on their helmets....because it's Ronaldo's number!

Honestly I got impressed by your participation in the other thread, I think you stated things better I could do myself. I don't have that much time to research and build more elaborate answers, I do what I can with the time I have, but it's nice to know that there are other intelligent brazilians around.

Everyone knows that in Brazil "laws" doesnt mean anything....since they are not applied in most cases.
Look at your corruption laws....for example ! How many proven corrupts politicians found guilty by the investigators.....have NOT been punished....but "only" absolved...in a secret vote...by other politicians as much corrupted as those they absolved ?????
And if there is a law, why is it applied against, when applied, only against the population but not against the authorities not providing the education, the social coverage to those they are supposed to care for ???

As to the self esteem of the black population, the comments from one post member is right, but then why hundreds of millions of blacks buy creams.....to whiten their own skin ? Looks like they either themselves prefer to be "whiter" or feel
that by whitening their skin they will raise their social rank !!!
Sadly enough even the wealthier and higher social/educated blacks....buy these creams !!!

...why hundreds of millions of blacks buy creams.....to whiten their own skin ?

WTF!? Just shut up please.

Brazuca, if you think A Brazilian is doing a good job of defending his basic claim that Brazil's basic racial social system is not broken, well you really need to get out more.
I MEAN A LOT MORE.

“In researching this essay, I came across countless Brazilian forum websites in which many Brazilians expressed the idea that in Brazil "we're all mestiços" or that "there is only one race: the human race". I don't dispute this. The scientific and biological evidence is abundant.”



This is some kind of research… Internet based, hehehe! This idiot is basing his so called research on BLOGS over the internet, where lots of disinformation is dispersed and believed by Mr. BS in Anthropology. Stop The Insanity!!!!! His expertise in Brasil comes from a few tourist trips to Brasil!

Where is your data for scrutiny of real facts???? You are a finalist for the Nobel Prize in Idiotic Sciences… Get a life and stop having epileptic seizures on your keyboard.

If you'll stop telling lies about Brasil, I'll stop telling the truth about you!

Good day,

Costinha

on that same subject :

Affirmative action programs are being blamed for “reverse discrimination.” Police homicides of black males are spiraling upward. Poverty remains concentrated in black urban areas and the prisons hold overwhelming numbers of blacks. Faced with such social realities, blacks have begun to call for a new Civil Rights Movement. By the way, all this is taking place in Brazil.

While some forget that the United States does not have a monopoly over the title “America,” the term, with some exceptions, encompasses most of the Western Hemisphere. As such, many of the communities of African descent that reside within this range possess equal claim to the name “African Americans.”

Last month, Howard University students and members of the Washington, D.C., community packed a room at the school’s Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center to hear a panel of Afro-Brazilians voice their unique “African American” experience in their South American home country.

The panel was made up of four Brazilian students studying in the United States through the U.S. State Department-funded “Race, Development and Social Inequality” consortium exchange program. They presented research papers on the past and present struggles of blacks in Brazil.

The event commemorated “Black Consciousness Day,” an annual holiday that is celebrated in Brazil on November 20. The public holiday pays tribute to an African ancestor, Zumbi dos Palmares, revered by blacks in the country for his fierce resistance to slavery in the 17th century. The day was consciously chosen to symbolize the ongoing struggles of blacks to achieve social and economic equality in Brazil.

This came as news to many of the audience members who had long been fed the myth that Brazil was a non-racial society. Rosana Chagas, one of the presenters, said that such misinformation was her motivation for coming. “The racial situation in Brazil is difficult for black people. We lack jobs, adequate housing, and the poverty rates are tremendous.” She emphatically stressed during her presentation that there are two Brazils: one black, one white.

Brazil has the largest population of people of African descent outside of the African continent. It is speculated that 40 percent of Africans taken from the continent during the trans-Atlantic slave trade was deposited in Brazil. The country has the second largest African population outside of Nigeria.

This depiction however, contrasts sharply with the Brazilian Census Bureau who puts the black population in Brazil at six percent and the “brown” population – mixed and aboriginal – at 40 percent.

Chagas warned that these figures are misleading since race does not figure into many of the indexes used to chart these statistics. For instance, while one-third of the population lives under the poverty line, blacks account for 70 percent of the poor. The nation’s census avoids this by looking at poverty strictly through an economic lens of rich and poor, removing race from consideration.

This perspective persisted unchallenged up to the 1960s. Tulio Augosto Cutodio, from the Universidade de Sao Paulo, reminded the audience that Brazil was viewed as either a “white” or a multiracial country prior to the 1960s. The “white” view held that Brazilian culture was at its core “white” and blacks would eventually assimilate into the purportedly superior way of life. The multiracial view, championed by Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freye, asserted that the country essentially shared the same culture and, therefore, race was irrelevant.

It was in the 1960s that black radical thinkers such as Abdias de Nascimento and Guerreiro Ramos forcefully challenged these ingrained notions, asserting that blackness must be accepted as a social fact. They boldly linked the ravages of slavery in Brazil to contemporary struggles, obliging the state to acknowledge the continued effects of the institution on race relations.

Through collective efforts from the Afro-Brazilian community, the government has been forced to take notice. In 2003, the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, created a Secretariat for Racial Equality to track and eradicate injustices and inequalities. Though the position marked a significant turning point in Brazil’s social history, the struggle is far from over.

Arivaldo de Souza, from the Universidade Federal da Bahia, explained that while the Constitution ensures equality for all of its citizens, blacks’ fundamental rights are violated regularly, especially by the police force.

Custodio clarified for a somewhat confused audience the best technique for identifying Afro-Brazilians. “The census leaves it to each individual to identify his or her own race; however, if you want to know who is black in Brazil, just ask the police!”

Souza went on to explain that the touted affirmative action program has done more for European immigrant groups and women then it has for its intended group, Afro-Brazilians, an irony that was not lost on African Americans who have witnessed similar occurrences in the United States.

The respective histories of African Americans and Afro-Brazilians are strikingly similar, beginning with places of origin. Many of the Africans who arrived in both countries during the trans-Atlantic slave trade came from the Central African region (today’s Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola).

Scholars have long suspected that kinship ties between the two African-descended communities are incredibly strong. The language difference between the English-speaking U.S. and Portuguese-speaking Brazil has been a solid barrier to further exploring such connections. As events similar to the discussion allow for greater cross-cultural interaction, people of color in both countries may become more aware of each other.

Afro-Brazilian Thiago dos Santos Molina came away satisfied with the event. “I was happy because we can present our ideas on the racial issues in Brazil and interest people. We are excited to share our black experience with our brothers and sisters in the United States

you are dead right, ecept that it is already what Lula promised, promises and will continue to promise.....but never delivers as ALL his promises he made thus far.

Take the examples of the condoms, for which he announce a while ago, with great and loud fanfare, that HIS government will deliver free 1 billion condoms ANNUALLY ! correct ?

Sadly enough, even the Health Ministry said AND ACKNOWLEDGED recently : IMPOSSIBLE, AND 1 BILLION CONDOMS WERE NEVER DELIVERED......ANNNUALLY !!!!!!
Below is what he said, on January 12 :
" The Brazilian Ministry of Health does not have the capacity to reach its goal of distributing one billion condoms annually as part of a campaign to fight the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in the country, Mariangela Simao, coordinator of the National Program to Combat HIV/AIDS, said in a statement on Wednesday. According to Simao, the government in October 2005 sought funding from the World Bank for the purchase of one billion condoms, but that funding was not approved until October 2006. Simao also said that the government does not "have the conditions to review the quality of such a large number of condoms," adding that federal agencies are able to inspect 60 to 80 million condoms monthly, EFE News Service reports. In addition, Simao said that there are some internal problems with the campaign, including delays in deliveries of condoms and failures of companies contracted to provide the condoms to pass quality control tests. According to Simao, the health ministry hopes to distribute 500 million condoms this year, up from 251 million in 2005 and 253.7 million in 2006. As a result of the campaign's setbacks, the government has not announced its plan for distributing condoms during Carnival, the country's annual festival, which begins on Feb. 17. The health ministry distributed 20 million condoms during the 2006 Carnival -- almost twice as many as 2005 -- and carried out a widespread HIV/AIDS awareness campaign"

Further as you can see the program was financed by the IMF, since Lula has apparently not
the money to pay for it, but due to the heavy spendings (mostly for salaries government workers and officials.... thus not enough investments for the society) of this corrupted government ! This IMF financing was obviously not revealed....when the program was announced ! Guess why !

Yessss...this government is a tragedy for the Brazilian population. Every developing countries have been booming, exploding in their economic growth.....except Brazil who grew at an average rate of around 2,6 % during Lula
first mandate...or less than half, or a third, the growth rate of Brazil peers !

For every "afro-brazilian" lying wherever it is there will be millions saying otherwise. You can't change the truth, even if you don't like it.

Now this european, whose parents or grandparents probably were making "Sieg Heils" not so long ago, wants to talk about "racism in Brazil". I am sure you racism pretty well don't you. This is not a joke, I really mean it because you have practiced since always so you must be really used to it.

"Honestly I got impressed by your participation in the other thread, I think you stated things better I could do myself. I don't have that much time to research and build more elaborate answers, I do what I can with the time I have, but it's nice to know that there are other intelligent brazilians around. "


Hi, A Brazilian. Thanks for that. Actually, I'm not a Brazilian. I'm Australian, originally from East Africa. I'm just observant and have noticed the harmful spread of this dreadful US American disease of race-obsession that threatens to strike down hitherto healthy societies, free throughout their histories of such a disease.

I've seen closer to home the harm this race-obsession can do. You were actually slightly mistaken in characterising this as a universally Anglo-Saxon disease. While race-obsession is the case with most Anglo-Saxons, indeed pretty much all Germanics, there are some exceptions. Australia and New Zealand are more like the Latin world in their disregard for race than they are like their Anglo-Saxon and Germanic brethren, who simply can't look beyond it.

In the dozen-or-so years Maori (the indigenes) and Anglo-Saxons have interacted in New Zealand, there has never been anything resembling the Jim Crow of the US or apartheid of South African, in fact quite the opposite. No Maori today, despite constituting 15% of the population, is full blooded, the blood of Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotsmen running through his veins as much as that of his Maori ancestors. And while it is still considered quite an achievement in the United States to have "blacks" occupy the highest positions in government, such has been commonly the case in New Zealand with her Maori not only in the recent Nineties but back in the Eighteen Nineties (http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/Ga...maori.html). Maori have also been prominent throughout New Zealand’s military history, both at the enlisted and commissioned levels, from as far back as the Boer War (http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/saw-maori.

New Zealanders used to boast (no doubt after a few of them would travel and see what things were like in many parts of the world) of having the best race relations in the world. But in the 1960s they learnt that you're not allowed to say this, mainly because it upsets progressives in places like the US who refuse to believe the prospect of good race relations existing without their progressive efforts. Since then, New Zealand's progressives have been busy trying to portray their country as being little different from the US with regard to race relations and so requiring the same "solutions". They do this to fit to the script the Progressive International HQ in New York issues and sends around the world stipulating that good race relations are impossible without their imput and they've only been doing this since the 1960s, so anybody claiming good race relations to have existed anywhere before the 1960s must be shot or, failing this, denounced as a liar and purveyor of myths, because it simply can't be true.

Believe it or not, New Zealand now has affirmative action for the Maori! Maori have for a number of decades now sought to emulate African-Americans, with whom they now identify and find "solidarity". As a result, they've begun to ape the baleful social statistics found disproportionately amongst African-Americans. Although constituting only 15% of the population, Maori constitute 50% of those in New Zealand's jails. The welfare mentality that has been spawned by this philosophy of imported grievance has meant that all too many Maori men have abandoned responsibility and are now busy spreading a plague of illegitimacy in their community a la all too many African-American men.

And yet there's absolutely no need for this, A Brazilian! Maori were never required to ride in the back of any bus in New Zealand. Maori have always enjoyed equal status before the law. New Zealanders have always preferred assimilation over segregation, and have proved this with Latin-like miscegenation throughout their history. And yet such is the nefarious influence and seduction of US American race-obsession that the country has spent the last few decades convincing itself it has a problem it doesn't have and in fact had never had.

Keep fighting, A Brazilian, against the spread of this loathsome disease to your country. Brazil doesn't need this. Keep what is good in Brazil and only get rid of the bad. Race-obsession is unhealthy pathology.

Race-obsession isn´t any kind of pathology, good, bad or indifferent. And you were doing so well. Warming to your subject, rising to the occasion, waxing, if I may say so, eloquent. And then you ended it thusly. Kiwi see a lot of this.....

"We are are all morenos" is true of Brazil in that white peoples save blondes can be moreno as well black Africans such as the Fulani (and many others on the African continent) can be moreno but most Sudanese black peoples would not be. This concept when I first heard it by a mixed-race white guy that was both a Peruvian and American citizen that has spent time in Brazil, just blew me away. It is so foreign a methodology of thought to any American (USA) that it is hard to grapple with. It's like the Hmong who are still fighting in Southeast Asian jungles today compared to the Hmong grant refuge in the United Sates and all the U.S. troops pulled out of Vietnam. The American (USA) hearing of the Brazilian liberation, freedom, and solitude of peace in moreno can no more believe its veracity and potential for being than the Hmong still fighting in Southeast Asia can believe the "Vietnam War" is over and has been for decades - for them it isn't. Proselytizing goes hand and foot with war because the logic inherent in warfare requires the constant seeking of allies. Outside of the state of conflict and war lays the solitude of peace. If Eurocentric or Afrocentric view point was essential to the nature of the Brazilian moreno method, then Brazilians would be trying to proselytize across the globe because as I stated seeking allies is inherent in the logic of warfare... this is why the Eurocentric and Afrocentric view point seek to spread across the world gaining allies because confrontation and war is the point of those methods of thought existence - neither one attempts the solitude of peace.

Keep fighting, A Brazilian, against the spread of this loathsome disease to your country. Brazil doesn't need this. Keep what is good in Brazil and only get rid of the bad. Race-obsession is unhealthy pathology.

The welfare mentality that has been spawned by this philosophy of imported grievance has meant that all too many Maori men have abandoned responsibility and are now busy spreading a plague of illegitimacy in their community a la all too many African-American men.

A question for you. Do the Maori men have a different culture than the other New Zealanders? Have they kept any of their traditions and culture? You appear to
distinguish the Maori people from the other New Zealanders. You have to ask yourself the question if the society is as accepting as you say, then why this difference in behavior?

Another thing is that "A Brazilian does not belive in the idea of race" however many individuals have proven that racism exists in Brazil. It does not have to be imported.

"Facts", i.e. citations from one or another racist, from the 19th century, black activists anecdotes, deliberate misinterpretation of numbers (bogus statistiscs) or the manipulation of them (like grouping blacks and pardos together, or counting police killings as "hate crimes") don't count as evidence for proving anything.

A Brazillian - haven't had musch interest in this subject area but with MW seeming to be the only one feeding articles to this site of late I read through this one. I really liked your initial reposta and commend you for it.

Ch.c. - Although I know first hand that some of what you conveyed regarding cream usage (as well as sun avoidance) is valid, I'm with A - Brazillian, Shut the F up.

"Sai do sol, Marcelo! Sai do sol! Vai ficar todo queimado! Raimundo, tire este moleque do sol, pelo amor de Deus!" Did I just imagine hearing dark-skinned neighbors having this conversation, or did it really happen?

Do you know what happens when you stay too much in the beach or exposed to the sun without a solar filter? Try once, in the summer, in a very hot day (more than 30ºC), like 8 hours straight. You will then know what "todo queimado" means and will never forget.

Ever heard of Seal Beach? Ever heard of Coronado? Difference is, we were try to get a tan instead of avoiding one......

Didn't care when I was young - got a great one. Paid little attention when I was a bit older, got burned to a deeper shade of red than any known north american indian but by the good graces of my genetics it became beautiful within three days. Actively sought one when the opportunity arose for a couple of years trying whatever oils or creams were reported to give the fastest deepest one. Became older yet and rarely had a chance to try. Since then I ignored preparation / creams of protection as the opportunities were few and the hours short. Now when I go to Brazil I refuse to defend from the damage or harm in any way other than to slip into the shade when I know I''ve gotten enough (i.e. hours after even my darker friends start prodding and pushing at me to take care). IF it comes to pass that this stuborness of mine kills me before the more likely violent end then so be it. I prefer to take on what my maker offers completely natural. I'm beyond doing things for vanities sake and don't look to anyones color as being the more beautiful. It saddens me that both relatives and close friends at or near to the ends of the range that human kind offers (and apparently in sync with the mindsets of many others here) have such issues with shades be they from the gift (or bane) from above or that in which they had no choice in from the genes of thier forefathers.

Social issues exist in almost every corner of the world. I would really like to hear about some other stories from Brazil. Some positive things.
You can't deny that there are social problems in Brazil but I would like to hear about something else.

written by Ric, 2007-01-18 23:16:16

Ever heard of Seal Beach? Ever heard of Coronado? Difference is, we were try to get a tan instead of avoiding one......

So if by logic Brazilians attempting to avoiding darkening - what they might consider "to much" - means they wish not to be black or "blacker." Then inherent in that same logical line is that the reverse must be true for white people tanning on the beach: they wish to avoid whitening - or at least what they might consider "to much" whiteness - and meaning they wish not to be white. Hey! Sun tanning salones are profitable businesses.

I swear to God people need to take a course in logic or something. Regardless the "scientific method" ought be clear of subjectivity otherwise it's just a god**mn hypothesis.

Could it be that olive, tan, brown, morena skin color is socially or even biologically more attractive to most humans compared to greater degrees of "whiteness" or "blackness." I mean according scientists most human beings are drawn to various other physical characteristics on people (e.g. eye shape, proportions of hips)

The term "e harmony" was coined and copyrighted by an anglo dude from La Mirada. Is there a connection?

Nice one e-harmony. The burnt one might suffer if exposed too much to the Sun was the only flaw I noticed right when I first read the other post, I didn't think things this other way.

You are right, white people spend too much time getting a tan. That should mean something if they also think if others avoid tanning.

I don´t know where the mania for tans started among white people. Maybe from the northern climes where the average white person stayed white and pasty looking all winter, especially in places like Minn. where there a lot of nordic types. And those that had the money could escape to Florida or Arizona and come back to, say, Montana with a summer-like tan, and pass as jet-setters with money. You should see all the galegos in Montana without shirts and the girls with bathing suits, walking around town the first time after spring breakup that the temp. gets up to 70 and the sun comes out.

Like smoking, where basically everyone smoked but now only 21% in the USA, as white people found out how damaging sunbathing is to the health, it´s not as popular as it used to be nor are tanning salons. Skin problems due to sun is one area that black people have the advantage, but they also need to be careful.

One of the most popular ads of the 60´s was for Coppertone, a little girl with a puppy pulling her bathing suit. The model for the little girl was Jodie Foster.

Brazilian friends, what you are really missing in the comments from the United States is the central point: "the extinction of the mulato ". The Black American posters here don't particulary like that in your country people of mixed racial ansestry can gain postions of power such as your two term president Fernando Enrique Cardoza who openly admits that he has a black ancestor and was still elected president of Brazil twice (200-200 --insipte of having a black ancestor. This would never happen in the United States: a person of mixed racial ancestry becoming president of the country --particulary where the "white" phenotype is appareant such as in the case of president Fernando Enrique Cardoza. Brazilian friends, you really don't appreciate North American hatred: "the extinction of the mulato ". It is your policy of protecting and allowing mulatos or near whites to advance that is at the heart of their issues with Brazil: They hate your mulatos and near whites, which make up about 70% of your 185 million Brazilions. With this you should have some insight into Mark Wells comment:"the extinction of the mulato ". This is what they are really after, and why the "black" activist forces her mulato child to identify as "black". Here's some advice: make shore you continue to have in brazil mulato's and near whites in postions of power: president, judges, and all professions for without them you have no civil rights --and that's the point.

Hi Insight, I think you are right, that's their goal. But I think they commit a grave mistake, they underestimate the brazilian culture and the will of the people around here.

Why don't you Brazilians take advantage of the fact that your congress has the issue of "balancing the power" question on the table --that is, since your population is said to be 45% mixed racial ancestry shouldn't you have 45% of your civil trial court judges be of mixed racial ancestry? And sense a large portion of your Brazilian “whites” or your Branco de terras have a little “one drop” of Negro blood or ancestry, then they too should be represented “equally” in positions of power, right? Do you have any senators to pass legislation to protect the rights of mixed race Brazilians, or to pass laws so that there is a quota system that demands that a certain number of college students are of mixed racial ancestry, or that a certain number of jobs are set aside for people of mixed racial ancestry? If they are considering “special” rights for blacks, why not “special” rights or even equal rights for individuals of mixed racial ancestry? Do you have any senators to propse any laws that would provided for this in Brazil? You certainly have the mixed race population. Are Branco de terras and mulatos underrepresented in the legislature or in the judiciary?

The power of who has civil rights and who hasn’t civil rights is enforced by the civil trial court judges: This is the guy/gal who has the power to throw your case out of court or allow you to proceed to trial on the merits on a claim that you have been discriminated against. The civil trial court judge's position is the “position of power” that the mixed race Brazilians should be after --that is, if you don't want to be discriminated against or eliminated altogether, then you need a judge who is Branco de terras or mulato to enforce your civil rights, and a legislature who passes laws that protect Branco de terras and mulatos and other mixed race Brazilians. This way you aren’t denied your civil rights by Black judges or White judges (by “White” I mean the American “White”: having not even one drop of negro blood). Please don’t be foolish enough to think that Blacks won’t discriminate against you once they are in positions of power if you do you are in for a rude awakening. You, mixed race Brazilians, need judges of your own to prevent your cases from being thrown out of court, when you have been wrong and the evidence shows it to be so, or when you need your civil rights enforced because you have been discriminated against....

Brazilian friends, what you are really missing in the comments from the United States are the central point: "the extinction of the mulato". The Black American posters here don't particularly like that in your country people of mixed racial ancestry can gain positions of power ( because you have such a large mixed race population) such as your two terms President Fernando Enrique Cardoza; who openly admits that he has a black ancestor and was still elected president of Brazil twice ---2000-2008--- in spite of having a black ancestor. This would never happen in the United States: a person of mixed racial ancestry becomes president of the country --particularly where the phenotype is predominately "white" such as is the case with President Fernando Enrique Cardoza. Brazilian friends, you really don't appreciate North American hatred: Their concern is that you don’t discriminate against Branco de terras and mulatos the way they do, and that’s why there is so much attention drawn to Brazil right now. It is your policy of protecting and allowing Branco de terras and mulatos or near whites to advance in society that is at the heart of their issues with Brazil: They hate mulatos and near whites, which make up about 70% of your 185 million Brazilians.

The definition of white in the United States is very different to the definition of white in Brazil. With this you should have some insight into Mark Wells comment: “the extinction of the mulato". This is what they are really after, and why the "black" activist forces her mulato child to identify as "black"; it has to do with: “the extinction of the mulato".
This is also why they offer you incentives to change your racial identity to Black: such as if you identify as Black will let you into the University, or give you a job if you just let us paint the word “Black” on your forehead as if it wore a badge of shame. How about this in the Brazilian Law: will let you into the University, or give you a job if you identify as a mixed race Brazilian or as Branco de terras and mulato/morena? Well it’s your country it’s up to you to get your own kind (mixed race Brazilians) into position of power to pass laws to protect you as well as the judges to enforce the laws once you get them and a lot can be said for how the law is interpreted and applied –remember it’s the judges who do the legal interpretations and apply the law and make case law.

Make sure you continue to have in Brazil mulatos and near whites in “positions of power” (by near whites, I mean many of your White Brazilians who infact have a black ancestor). Positions of power: president, lawmakers, judges, and all professions, doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. for without Branco de terras and mulato/morena in positions of power you, mixed race Brazilians have no civil rights in reality--and that's the point. Brazil is referred to in the United States as the “mulato escape hatch”, because in your country “mulatos” are not shutout of society the way they are in the United States. There are powerful forces trying to close the escape hatch. Those who seek to deny you your identity seek to deny you your civil rights, but would not want their own identity denied them or their civil rights which attach to their identity. What they don’t want is you to exist at all; they want you eliminated or reduced to someone with no political identity, no political rights, no civil rights, no rights at all.


Remember President Fernando Enrique Cardoza famous quote: “I have a foot in the kitchen” referring to scant Negro ancestry? What you, mixed race Brazilians, need is laws that protect your civil rights and guarantee you a place in Brazilian society, where a certain number or quota of you are guaranteed a certain number of University students, a certain number of senators or lawmakers, a certain number of judges, and above all a certain degree of dignity and respect as a human being. And not laws that give “special” rights to Blacks, while, either denying them to you or trying to extort your mixed racial identity from you in exchange for a black one under the condition or bribes that you will be give special rights if you just allow “power” to take your dignity from you in exchange for the “special” rights and paint the word “Black” on your forehead.

I don't really think that's the answer, because it would be no different than what a few blacks want. Fracturing the society would serve only to polarize the discussion, divide the society in two, similarly to what would happen if the same happened but for blacks. Besides, being mixed is too broad to be used as a measure, virtually anybody would be able to claim to be mixed even if the person looks like something else. Like a grandfather or some other ancestor of some other race.

I wouldn't mind seeing anybody in positions of power, regardless of how the person looks like, if it was obtained through merit. What happens in Brazil is that many positions are fulfilled because you happen to be friends or relative to someone important. Don't think this is done only by politicias and the "white elite" (whatever it is, I just using the term some people used here), almost everybody does it, especially in the public sector but not limited to that.

Another thing to fix is to give poor people a better education. That depends on them too, it's not only the government fault.

Remember President Fernando Enrique Cardoza famous quote: “I have a foot in the kitchen” referring to scant Negro ancestry?

And what's that tell you about the role of black people in brazil??? A foot in the kitchen???

Reading the above text blows my mind. Why can't we just leave people to be people. People have issues; they always have and they always will. Also regardless of color the what's best for me and mine factor has dominated humans since the first man....race, tone, heritage insignificant labels that support the bigger picture. More for me and mine less for you and yours.

So, if you have the mind the leave that behind then learn from history don't use it to continue the stupidity. Remember at point we thought the world was flat.

I think what Cardoza meant to say is a foot in the Executive Suite or a foot in the palace. Blacks run the government and all of the businesses in Brazil because Brazil is colorblind.

Bo
written by The American Historian, 2007-01-29 19:38:33

I think what Cardoza meant to say is a foot in the Executive Suite or a foot in the palace. Blacks run the government and all of the businesses in Brazil because Brazil is colorblind.

LOL....here in the northeast, where the vast majority of people are "non-white", the politicians and "upper-class" people are far more white than "non-white". Coincidence I guess.

THE FACTS: Right now as we speak the United States is influencing or attempting to influence the Brazilian Legislature to adopt the "United States" policy known throughout the United States, as the "one-drop" rule. One poster at this website wrote: “Brazil Wants to Ban Mulattos and Give Blacks an ID. They Call This Progress”—Written by Janer Cristaldo, Friday, 21 July 2006. http://www.brazzil.com/content/view/9656/41

ARGUMENT: The United States does nothing without an intended purpose and an intended outcome. You can be fool enough to think --if you want to-- that the United States would use its influence and invest the effort of persuading the Brazilian Legislature to adopt the United State's "one-drop" rule for no good reason and for no intended outcome if you want, too. You are not dealing with a bunch of uneducated fools, when you deal with the United States. They no exactly what will happen to your “mixed Brazilians" by dint of the "one-drop" rule --only you don't. They have the "one drop" rule in the United States and they no exactly what its pernicious effects are. And unlike you, they have the judicial precedents to support the conclusion that the “one drop” rule is indeed deadly to the existence of mixed race person, denies them equal opportunity, equal protection of law, and equal justice under the law. Your problem is that you’ve never seen a Black judge’s throw a case out of court, where there was an injury inflicted and because the person was of mixed racial ancestry. The “one drop” rule is insidious: operating or proceeding in an inconspicuous or seemingly harmless way but actually with grave effect: an insidious disease. You’ve never been subjected to “Black” racism and you think you won’t. You waite till the United States plan in Brazil comes to full fruition, they’re setting snares and you don’t even see it coming. As I said before, Fernado Enrique Cardoza would not have had a prayer of becoming President of the United States, because he is of mixed racial ancestry and has a Black ancestor. In contrast, not only could he become the President of Brazil, but in fact, that’s exactly what he did become. Moreover, he was elected to the presidency twice. If you don’t think that this is incomplete contradiction to U.S. policy against persons of mixed racial ancestry, then you truly are a fool.

However, what you Brazilian do have on a question of fact is a very large number of mixed race or mulato Brazilians: 76 million according to statistics. It’s a notorious fact that of your 93 millions whites many if not most of then would be considered Black instead of White under the United States “one-drop” rule and discriminated against accordingly under the “one drop” rule after being labeled Black. They want to slap that label on you for a reason, and if you are of mixed racial ancestry, the reason is not one that is favorable to your existence. Now you continue to think that white United States has your best interest at heart like a good and obedient fool. You do your part now and go along quietly with your destruction. Incidentally, the “one-drop” rule means that if you have one-drop of Negro blood or one Negro ancestor you are Black even if you are admittedly 99.9% white. Once they slap that Black label on you your dead meat, and that’s why they are trying to influence the Brazilian Legislature right now. They want to close that “escape” hatch so that you have no rights in both the United States as well as Brazil, too. Right now you can become president of the Country in Brazil, in the United States you can become NOTHING let alone the most powerful position in the Country, such as George Bush’s position as president of the United States.
What you’ll have in the end is Blacks in positions of power –elevated by the power and actions of “pure” whites—over the mulatto and mixed race outcast. Under the “one-drop” rule this will become the law of the land. Only your large mixed race population and your large white population who would be threatened by the “one drop” rule stands in its way.
It will be interesting to see if the United States can take all the civil rights away from you mixed race Brazilians, which is the intended outcome and the reason for the Untited States’s interest in how you label your Brazilian citizens according to their racial background.

I agree on how this is pernicious, and I wouldn't like to live in the US for that reason. But what we are talking here is to turn the society upside down, artificially, not by some natural inclination as is racism in the US. Blacks and whites in the US were never close, so the "one drop" rule was not new to them and definetely not an alien concept. I would say it only officialized the general belief of the population.

The problem in Brazil is much bigger, first is the such laws to pass in the congress, then to enforce them and changing the country's culture. I think first is difficult, but not impossible, the second is impossible and the third simply is not going to happen.

It's true that some black movements, that have connections with american racists, are promoting this agenda. But as long as brazilians like me stand still they won't do anything. One step at a time, I think overreacting initially and generating a disproportional response would only fuel the agenda of such hate groups by giving them notoriety. I'd rather pick the battles carefully, or else it would only serve the enemy's purpose.

But don't underestimate the will of the people. Any brazilian, of any color, would feel disgusted by the articles and many comments in this forum. I trust their capacity of discerning.

um beijo

...
written by A brazilian, 2007-01-30 15:22:20

I agree on how this is pernicious, and I wouldn't like to live in the US for that reason. But what we are talking here is to turn the society upside down, artificially, not by some natural inclination as is racism in the US. Blacks and whites in the US were never close, so the "one drop" rule was not new to them and definetely not an alien concept. I would say it only officialized the general belief of the population.

The problem in Brazil is much bigger, first is the such laws to pass in the congress, then to enforce them and changing the country's culture. I think first is difficult, but not impossible, the second is impossible and the third simply is not going to happen.

It's true that some black movements, that have connections with american racists, are promoting this agenda. But as long as brazilians like me stand still they won't do anything. One step at a time, I think overreacting initially and generating a disproportional response would only fuel the agenda of such hate groups by giving them notoriety. I'd rather pick the battles carefully, or else it would only serve the enemy's purpose.

But don't underestimate the will of the people. Any brazilian, of any color, would feel disgusted by the articles and many comments in this forum. I trust their capacity of discerning.

If you guys/gals don't start using different names, I'm going to start posting the OBVIOUS posts from "A brazilian" for all to see the obvious differences that INDEED there are numerous people posting as "A brazilian".

You are such a loser.

Knowledge is power......"A Brazilian's" insite is very powerful. I'm glad he/she can easily expose the confusion amongst the majority. Keep up the good work and hold strong because the confusion and ignorance is plenty!!

"A Brazilian's" insight is indeed powerful.

in·sight
–noun 1. an instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing, esp. through intuitive understanding: an insight into 18th-century life.
2. penetrating mental vision or discernment; faculty of seeing into inner character or underlying truth.

www.dictionary.com

Yes, truly an unique and penetrating insight. A national treasure. The epitomy of "We are the People and with us all knowledge shall cease." May the bird of paradise fly up his nose.

http://www.stormfront.org/whitehistory/

"A Brazilian", I want you to know that your comment: "I think overreacting initially and generating a disproportional response would only fuel the agenda of such hate groups by giving them notoriety. I'd rather pick the battles carefully, or else it would only serve the enemy's purpose." is very insightful.

It´s insightful, yes, but what we really need are some specific suggesions on how we might more effectively hate those hate groups. Because if there is one thing I can´t stand, it´s intolerance.

...
written by Ric, 2007-02-07 17:13:41

It´s insightful, yes, but what we really need are some specific suggesions on how we might more effectively hate those hate groups. Because if there is one thing I can´t stand, it´s intolerance.

LMAO....Ric, I'd like to drink a few beers with you!!! You'd have me rolling on the floor in laughter!

Maybe I need a few to loosen up.

Referring back to the words of Sansone, when its time to make the metamorphosis from pretos and pardos to negros, the people will know it and then and only then, will a change be made. Well-spoken.


To consider that all pardos should be clasified as negros is to deny miscigenation. Racism, in the past, may have been defined by the "one-drop" criteria but nowadays it seems to be defined more as "Do you really look black?". There're lots and lots of people who can only be identified as pardos, not only by themselves but by any third party, so mixed up are their origins.

To deny that there's racism in Brazil is wrong. There is, and it affects the lives of lots of black people. But to consider that all pardos should identify themselves as negros is also wrong. Then, of course, comes the next logical question: do pardos suffer from racism? Should they receive quotas as well? Tough question. Since most brazilians are pardos, indians or negros it would make a strange case of affirmative action, where most of the vacancies of our public unviersities would be allocated by race and the rest would be disputed by Lebanese, Syrians, Japanese and whites.

Brazilians and american friends,

I am from Brazil and, of course, i really love my country. But i may say i agree with both brazilian and american comments.

First of all, yes, racism is strong in Brazil and we can't be that stupid to deny. Let me tell you about my family and than you guys tell me if i am white, black, indian or whatever labels we all live with.

My father parents are portugueses (wich means they have arabian blood too), romenians and, believe me, spanish gypsies. but they all look white, as you like to say in the US. My mother parents are a mix of most italians (arabs too), germans and portugueses.

One of my grandmothers is blond and have blue eyes while the other one has darker hair and really looks like a beautifull indian. My grandfather lived for a while in the US. He is the one with portuguese and german parents and here in Brazil he is white (he also thinks that). But when he was in the US he was "hispanic". HAHA. Note that he doesn't have any hispanic ascendents.

i really think racism is in our eyes and not in our skin colours. We should all help each other instead of fight.

i think we brazilians have a lot to learn with our american neighbours because they are very smart. We should be less pittyfull (is this word correct?) with ourselves and stop denying our problems if we want to achieve anything.

And you, americans, should keep doing what you are doing up there in your own country because you have your own people to take care of. You have your own social and racial issues.

I believe we can make a better world by listening each other and growing without insulting.

Brazilians have always been known for being a good and intelligent people and americans (inspite of many things) have helped the world being a better place too. None of us is 100% right the whole time.

Thanx,

Gonçalves Favarini.

A Brazilian, please allow me to take my chances. You are a well educated person. How old are you? If you are from my generation or younger (I am 33) I am sure you went to a real good private school. Am I right? If so, how many of your classmates had the color of Pelé, Mussum (os trapalhões), or the kids featured in “Cidade de Deus”? Come on, be honest now. Not too many, right? You won’t have to lie. I went to a good private school myself. I know it for a fact. I also know that the few “pretos” we had in the school always got nicknames that referred to their black phenotype. Nicknames such as tição, buiú and beiçola. I am sure you have heard of those. I am also sure you heard the jokes as well, such as “branco correndo é atleta, preto correndo é ladrão”, or the old Brazilian saying “preta pra trabalhar, mulata pra deitar e branca pra casar”. That’s just to mention a couple of them, because we both know there are a lot more. That’s funny, I never heard those kind of jokes about white Brazilians (and don’t tell me about the “loira burra”. You are smart enough to know that that is not a racial joke). I also never heard of a white Brazilian having problems with the “boa aparência” requirement when trying to get jobs. By the way, I forgot to mention your english is excellent. Did you spend time in the US or any other english spoken country? I am sure you did. I am also sure you did not make it out there through capoeira, music, soccer or on the expenses of a white gringa. I know that because that’s the only way most of black Brazilians have to get out of the country. And guess what? You don’t have to tell me you are not black. Most of the “pretos” in Brazil are not so educated as you are. Most of them are cleaning the streets, working on construction or as maids and doormen. I am sure you have noticed that, right? So why do you have a problem to acknowledge that we live in a racial hierarchy? Can’t you see that we leave in a pigmentocratic society where the lighter extreme of the spectrum is on the top while the darker is at the bottom? Look man, I am down with the ideas of Paul Gilroy and the renunciation of race, but that doesn’t mean I am blind. Brazil has a debt with its black citizens, and the solution is not to preach the lie of Brazil’s racial democracy. I think that renouncing race should be our ultimate ideal, but in the reality we live today that’s not that simple and easy. Well it might be for some people like yourself who is already on the top of the food chain. By the way, I am a white Brazilian and a History major, and statements like your make me feel ashamed.

Brazilian man, you just assume that Americans are right in their racist view. Why? Have you ever studied their history to know the origins of it? They have a rigid racial system with strict rules not because it is right, but because of the anglo-saxon mentality, laws, eugenics and racism of the past. A black man in the US wasn't black because he wanted to be, but because the law said so. It led to strange situations where people that for all intents and purposes looked white were considered black because of some black ancestry that didn't appear in the phenotype. Following the American ideal of "races" is a huge step backward for Brazil because we are walking towards a metaracial reality. Brazilians themselves don't see each other as a completely different "races" and this is good. We should continue on this path. M74, Brazilians give nicknames to everyone always pointing something that makes the person irritated and this is not retricted to blacks. Your views about your classmates are irrelevant to the discussion, since we all know that by american standards many of those "white" you talk about wouldn't be considered white. There are differences in our society and they must be corrected, but that's not a race issue. What I feel ashamed of are a few Brazilians willing to destroy one of the greatest things this country has managed to create. I think you should buy less into the leftist propaganda (emotional, like your text) and start observing the values of the people, and you will notice that some social groups inside of Brazil don't value education and work at all. There's a culture of poverty that must be fought if we are to fix the social inequality.

I say personally that we should let the Brazilians carry on living in their own little world where racism doesn't exist. I feel sad for that country really. People who are blind to the overwhelming evidence presented by statistics are obviously not inclined to listen to reason but are rather more content to continue enjoying their self-delusion and buying into a mass consensual hallucination. Sometimes when i read the responses here and take note of the angry, aggressive defensive manner in which Brazilians respond to any suggestions that they don't live in a perfect little racial democracy i get the feeling that they are trying to convince themselves more than anyone else about the truth of their claims. Being from South Africa and being accutely aware of racism in its many and insidious forms i find it amusing that A Brazilian would equate racial awareness or black consciousness with a subversive leftist militant agenda. The white minority Aparthied regime used to say the same thing about the black liberation movements and activists here in South Africa.

How egotistical it is to assume that America has some Machavellian scheme to subvert and destroy Brazil. The sheer hubris! Its saddening to read the angry, aggressive and defensive responses that some Brazilians seem to have whenever the topic of race seems to crop up. And please would A Brazilian provide me with a detailed list of these American racist organisations that have supposed links with some groups in Brazil. Unless of course he is refering to the KKK, that shining light of tolerance and brotherhood. I suppose in Brazil everyone is happy, holding hands singing Khumbaya around the campfire the way some you guys carry on.

Being black and coming from South Africa obviously gives me an insight into race and race relations. We are currenlty grappling with the issue of Affirmative Action (AA) and Black Economic Empowerment. I shudder to read some of the postings here and to hear people say that it breeds a welfare mentality. As laudible as Dr. Kings (Martin Luther) pronoucement that blacks should lift themsleves out of poverty by their boot straps i.e through the sweat of their brow and toil of their backs, this is highly unrealistic in a country of vast social inequality.
The truth is that wealth reproduces wealth and if you live in a place where the avenues of social mobility (upward) are limited then what do you do? What happens if you live in a place that historically restricted people of a certain racial phenotype (black in my case) to only a few pre-selected sectors of the economy, usually in unskilled, low paying labour of the manual variety?..If your parents were domestic workers how would they send to the best schools? How would you then go to the best Universities? How would you then secure the best job for yourself? ..Now for myself i come from a middle class background but i see the challenges faced by my peers around me who come from a historically disadvantaged background. For them the only way up the social ladder and out of abysmal poverty is through state legislated programmes such as Affirmative Action without which in another 50 years the social landscape would remain unchanged with a priviledged minority who happen to be white holding all the economic power. Its about substantive equality as the South African Constitution reads. Merely stating you are free and living in an open and fair society is meaningless without the substance of freedom, its manifestation in the improvement of the quality of life of all people.
Lots of white people sadly are leaving the country for "greener" pastures, with some alleging that AA is reverse racism, that if we trully live in a democratic society then everybody should be treated equally. Social change is a painful process, especially to those who are in positions of priviledge and who naturally desire to see the contiuance of that way of life. However those who trully wish to see real and substantive progress being made realise that AA is a necessary, likely short term remedy that in the end seeks to achieve a worthy and noble aim.

I say personally that we should let the Brazilians carry on living in their own little world where racism doesn't exist.

Then why don't you do it? Why don't you give up transforming racism into a global business and enslaving other countries citizens? This mentality of yours is pathetic to say the least. It's a f**king inferiority complex that in order to work needs a "victim mentality". You victimize others so you can see them submit to you and beg for help. Pathetic.