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 Since I first began my travels to Brazil in September of 2000, my views on race, while at its core remain the same, have expanded. Whereas before I saw things from a black/white standpoint, I now see things from a white/non-white ideal. Anyone who spends even a little time watching world news reports or documentaries will be sure to notice that when poverty is represented in the media, the usual color is brown or dark. When wealth and power are represented, it is usually associated with white or light.
The bipolar model of black/white, rich/poor, us/them, self/other has been clearly constructed. The point here is that in the society in which we live, from a racial standpoint, one is either considered white or not as whiteness is the standard for which everyone is judged. This rule is no less valid in Brazilian society. As such, the words of Peter McLaren, Zeus Leonardo and Ricky Lee Allen could apply as well to Brazil, the US and other nations throughout the world:
"To a significant extent, the image that the bourgeoisie has created for itself is an image of whiteness. After all, the bourgeoisie was not and is not without material bodies, and for much of the world the bodies of the bourgeoisie are imagined and experienced as white. In essence, global capital is white capital in that the bodies of most capitalists are seen as white - or something close to white (1).
While the Brazilian continues to grapple, debate and deny the why and how Brazilians of African descent are overrepresented on the margins of society, the fact remains that Brazil has contributed to the worldwide correlation of power and money with whiteness and poverty and marginalization with blackness. Again, quoting Ricky Lee Allen:
"Even in countries where few whites live, the influence of whiteness and its inseparable tie to capitalism can be seen in the higher status that is placed on lighter skin. This global phenomenon of colorism, where light skin equals a perception of increased human value, is not a mere coincidence. If this were a mere random pattern, we would expect to see as many places in the world where darker skin means more privilege as we do places where lighter means more privilege." (2)
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. The problem that I have with these politically correct statements is not the biological validity but the sociological significance of the racial question. As stated in the December 20, 2000 issue of Veja magazine:
"It is not necessary to be a militant for the rights of blacks to certify that...in Brazil the whiteness of the skin continues to bring the most advantages from the social and economic point of view." (3)
The Brazilian proclamation of "we're all mestiços" contradicts itself in the mere fact that 54% of Brazilians refer to themselves as branco (white). In this sense, the Brazilian pardo is more a representation of the "we're all mestiços" argument than those Brazilians who proclaim this belief but then identify as white in every facet of their lives. This contradiction is problematic in three ways for the Brazilian of visible African descent because, 1) it persuades him/her to believe that all Brazilians are/are treated the same thus it is not necessary to adopt an unambiguous racial identity and 2) it makes them less likely to recognize when they have been discriminated against because of their appearance. The third reason was articulated well by the Afro-Brazilian activist Sueli Carneiro who explains that another aim of this ideal ("we're all mestiços") is:
"to break up the racial identity of the afrodescendente and block this identity from shaping itself into an instrument of political organization of these populations for the defense of its interests." (4)
This statement by Sueli Carneiro is confirmed by countless studies in which Afro-Brazilians refer to themselves as negro or are classified as such by someone else. Doing research in an affluent Rio de Janeiro south zone university, Laura Motinho reports the following exchange between a group of white university students in the presence of the only Afro-Brazilian in their clique:
Student 1: "Toni is the only negro of the group."
Student 2: "What's that? He is not negro, he is moreno."
Student 3: "People, he is like us."
Motinho admitted her surprise in the exchange because she identified the Afro-Brazilian in question and he identified himself as black (negro)(5).
Again referring to Carneiro, she expounds upon a time in which she needed to register her child's birth and racial classification. Her daughter's father, who is white, corrected the registrar who had checked "branca" in the appropriate box, telling her that the mother of the child was "negra". The registrar then checked "parda", for which he again corrected her saying that the child is not "parda". The irritated registrar then asked what color his daughter was. When he responded "negra", she replied, "but doesn't she take after you even a little?" (6)
As I am aware that the Brazilian would no doubt ask why the child should be labeled black, I would interpret this action as Carneiro wanting to clearly establish a black identity in her child's life as soon as possible, thus preparing her for future encounters when she will face some form of racial discrimination (a theme upon which I will touch upon later in this essay). Carneiro obviously wanted to give her daughter a clear sense of racial identity which eluded someone like Frei David dos Santos for 23 years of his life. Dos Santos, coordinator of Eduafro (7), explained in an interview that until he was 23 years old, he didn't accept that he was black, instead viewing himself as a white man burned by spending time on the beach (8). He explains that he "never imagined himself as black" because his father hid the fact from him and his mother was never interested in the issue. It is important to note that a lack of racial identity does not necessarily only affect those who may have light skin, wavy/curly hair or less African features, as dos Santos himself is not light-skinned and is clearly a man of African descent.
In Mulato: negro-não-negro e/ou branco-não-branco, the author remembers going to take an exam in order to be admitted into a teaching establishment as a teacher and seeing the nurse mark on her file "branca". When she attempted to correct the nurse, telling her, "I am not white, I am black" the nurse became incensed and responded, "But you are a professor!" (9)
Similar to what I wrote in a previous Brazzil essay, that a person of visible African descent who is considered to be attractive is not labeled black (10), it also appears to be true that if one has an important social position or job, they cannot be black. The expressed attitude is, "why would you want to be black (of all things)?", "you can't/shouldn't be black". These types of attitudes maintain the image of blackness in the most negative of the imagination.
In analyzing the uproar that the institution of quotas for Afro-Brazilians to enter Brazilian universities caused throughout the country, I noticed that a main argument that many Brazilians put forth against quotas is the question of how one defines who is black or white in Brazil. Then there is the question of how these quotas should be distributed within a family when some siblings appear closer to the white phenotype and others closer to the black. 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. Of course there are those exceptions, but in general, it is not as difficult as one is lead to believe. Let us consider the fact that there are several phenotypes that fall under a white racial classification. Among them are the Nordics, Mediterranean and Eastern Europeans. In genealogical studies, Arabs are also generally considered to fall under the white category. The point here is that in many instances, one can decipher another person's probable ancestry by close observation of facial characteristics. Thus, if one were take a woman of pure Western European ancestry and compare her to an Asian or a light-skinned woman of African descent, these same facial features could determine who is closest to the European phenotype.
My point is, if one can determine that a person likely has Arabic ancestors by analyzing facial features, one could also determine if a person has African or Asian ancestors. Of course, these lines of distinction can be blurry at times, but as a sociological construction, the society will determine who is what. It is well-known that there are hundreds of terms that Brazilians use to describe the plethora of phenotypes that exist in the country. In what anthropologist João Costa Vargas refers to as the "hyperconsciousness of race", the manner in which the Brazilian eye is accustomed to scrutinizing the details of physical features makes for an interesting paradoxical union between the consciousness of race and the denial of its very existence. (11) Studies have shown that in the US, racial groups are far more accurate in describing and choosing suspects in police lineups if the suspect belongs to their own racial group. (12) In this case, blacks and whites tend to be able to identify differences within their own racial group while seeing members of other groups as looking the same. While African-Americans may use a wide range of terms to describe the varying phenotypes existing in the black community, in the end, in accordance with the "one-drop rule", the "powers that be" will see them all as black.
One-Drop Rule?
Interestingly, while the common Brazilian may proclaim how ridiculous the American definition of blackness is, in reality, the Brazilian elites formulated their own version of what constituted blackness in Brazil. 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. (13) If in one's genealogical tree there was found a drop of the "impure blood" of the Jew, negro, mulatto or Moor, the candidate was immediately eliminated, thus establishing in Brazil a model of racial discrimination based on the phenotype (appearance) AND the genotype (ancestry). (14) In considering the similarities between American and Brazilian definitions of blackness, it is important to consider the findings of historian José Honório Rodrigues. 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.
This definition, according to Rodrigues, was equivalent to that that exists in the United States. In other words, in Brazil, one-eighth of black blood was "sufficient to decide the negritude (blackness) of an individual." (15) Thus, by reviewing Brazilian history as well as sociological studies conducted by Brazilian social scientists, Afro-Brazilian activists make a legitimate claim when they consider Brazil's pardos and pretos to be representative of Brazil's black population: not only does it have social validity, its is also historically correct. But while some may denounce the possibility of "the extinction of the mulato (pardo)" category from the list of racial classifications in Brazil's official census reports, (16) the realization is that the people will decide when and if that actually happens. Racial identity remains a choice, regardless of how others may see it.
In this sense, I totally agree with anthropologist Dr. Livio Sansone, who I had the pleasure of meeting earlier this year (2006) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sansone expressed the idea that the preto and pardo categories should remain in the Brazilian census. Why, you may ask. As Sansone told me, black identity, consciousness and the use of the term negro is on the rise in Brazil; in the meantime let the people identify themselves how they see fit. (17) As my research has proven, no matter how disproportionately they (pretos and pardos) represent Brazil's poor or how similar their quality of life, invisibility on Brazilian television, lack of political power or stereotypical images, personal identity is not static and cannot be forced upon an individual regardless of the circumstances. 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.
Footnotes 1. McLaren, Peter; Leonardo, Zeus; Allen, Ricky Lee. "Epistemologies of Whiteness" in Mahalingham and McCarthy, Multicultural Curriculum, 110 2. Allen, Ricky Lee. "The Globalization of White Supremacy: Toward a Critical Discourse on the Racialization of the World." In Educational Theory, Fall 2001, Vol. 51, number 4. University of Illinois. 3. "De onde viemos". Veja magazine. December 20, 2000, edition 1680.
http://publicacoes.gene.com.br/Imprensa_genealogia/Quem%20somos%20nós%20(Parte%203)@Veja@20-12-2000.htm 4. Carneiro, Sueli. "Uma dívida de sangue". O Fundamental e a Gente. http://www.mujeresdelsur.org.uy/campana/libro_port5.htm 5. Moutinho, Laura. "Zonas de sombra e silêncio". http://www.ibase.br/pubibase/cgi/cgilua.exe/sys/start.htm?infoid=546&tpl=printerview&sid=140 6. Carneiro, Sueli. "Negros de pele clara". http://www.cedefes.org.br/noticia.asp?acao=leitura&idmateria=9TXUG 7. A pre-vestibular (college entrance exam) preparatory organization for Afro-Brazilians and the poor. 8. Movimento de Conscientização e Luta Social. "Pasquim e Frei David dos Santos. Entrevista" http://www.mcls-rj.org/entrevfreidavid1.htm 9. Reis, Eneida de Almeida dos. Mulato: negro-não-negro e/ou branco-não-branco. Editora Altana. 2002. 10. Wells, Mark. "Where Did All the Blacks Go?" Brazzil, March 2003. http://www.brazzil.com/pages/p148mar03.htm 11. Vargas, João H. Costa. "Hyperconsciousness of Race and Its Negation: The Dialectic of White Supremacy in Brazil." Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power. Volume 11, Number 4 / October-December 2004 12. Brigham, John C. and David J. Ready. "Own-race bias in lineup construction". Law and Human Behavior. Volume 9, Number 4, December 1985. 13 .Carneiro, Maria Luiza Tucci. Preconceito Racial no Brasil-Colônia: Os cristãos-novos. São Paulo: Editora Brasiliense, 1983 14. Domingues, Petrônio. Uma História Não-Contada: Negro, racismo e branqueamento em São Paulo no pos-abolição (Editora Senac Sao Paulo, 2004) 15. Rodrigues, José Honório. África e Brasil: um outro horizonte. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1982 (as cited in Uma História Não-Contada: Negro, racismo e branqueamento em São Paulo no pos-abolição (Editora Senac Sao Paulo, 2004) by Petrônio Domingues. 16. Cristaldo, Janer. "A Extinção do Mulato". http://www.midiasemmascara.org/artigo.php?sid=4501 17. Personal interview. February 24, 2006.
This is part four of a multi-piece article. Mark Wells holds a bachelor's degree in Anthropology from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and is currently working on a Master's Degree in Social Justice at Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan. He can be reached at quilombhoje72@yahoo. © 2007 Mark Wells
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promote positive representation of non-white people in Brazilian movies & telenovelas 
