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 As several historical studies have proven, descriptions of rape and the subsequent effects on its victims can easily be applied to the Brazilian woman of color, be she of African or Indian descent. Since "the very idea of race implies that of inequality" (1), the treatment of women of color by white men places them in the category of "other" and thus "inferior".
Afro-Brazilian women (negras and mulatas) were seen as being promiscuous and thus sexually available to white men but not worthy of marriage, which was reserved for white women (2). The pioneering work of sociologist Florestan Fernandes details the nonchalant attitude of São Paulo authorities towards the "deflowering" of Afro-Brazilian women. When Afro-Brazilian parents became outraged when their daughters were deflowered and even impregnated by white men, the attitude was that they were of African descent and thus of low social status and therefore there was no honor to defend (3).
In his study of the image of female sexuality in 1920s Rio de Janeiro, Tiago de Melo Gomes writes that the literature of the time made explicit connections between African ancestry and excessive sexuality, becoming quite evident in the vocabulary used to represent them (negras and mulatas) (4). This low social status ascribed to the Afro-Brazilian woman also went beyond matters of the bedroom and has been an established and accepted part of the racial hierarchy during and after the era of slavery. This hierarchy was supported and enforced by social customs and acts of aggression against the afro-descendente. For instance, there are newspaper reports of afrodescendente women being arrested and having their heads shaved if they were seen walking the streets elegantly dressed and their hair well-done. If a black woman was seen wearing a hat she risked the possibility of having it slapped off of her head because the use of a hat in those times (1930's) was "a distinctive mark of a modern person, and the black woman was not seen as such by whites" (5).
These details elaborate three basic points. One, while negras and mulatas may represent varying degrees of African ancestry, it is white Brazilian society's treatment of these women that place them in the same category. Two, in patriarchal societies, exploitative relations of a sexual nature do not give women overall advantages. White Brazilian men, like their American counterparts, may have had a sexual attraction for women of African descent, but they reserved the security of honor, marriage and family for white women. And three, Brazil's mixed race population, with its people of color at the lowest rungs of all society, are the result of these illicit, exploitative affairs. Foreign Studies In past e-mails and postings online, many Brazilians have voiced their disagreement with the opinions, research and studies that have been conducted by non-Brazilian scholars. While I can certainly respect the opposition to what some regard as North American imperialism, there are times when foreign studies are as equally important as studies made by nationals. When people are new to an environment, as is the case of tourists, often-times locals will offer directions, advice and information about social norms and customs that anyone from the town or city would already know.
I address this issue because some time ago at this site, the work of Francis Winddance Twine (Racism in a Racial Democracy) was not accepted as authentic. I suspect that the reasoning was because she was American and presumably hadn't spent years most of her life in Brazil conducting research for her project. For those who refuse to respect the work of an American scholar, many of Twine's findings can be substantiated in a recent work by Petrônio Domingues. In Uma História Não Contada (An Untold Story), the author provides detailed research of race relations in São Paulo between the years 1889 and 1930. In this 400-plus page book, one will find countless examples of the hostile, and often-times violent defense of white privilege in pre-World War I Brazil.
In near exhausting detail, Domingues's book documents the abysmal state of race relations that has been hidden from the layperson for decades. After reviewing this work, no one can claim that Brazil never practiced any sort of racial segregation in its history. The only difference between Brazil, the US and South Africa is that these social customs were not written into law. They didn't need to be. These open manifestations of racial segregation were accepted and enforced socially. Here are just a few examples that can be found in Domingues's book: - There existed streets for whites and streets for blacks. - The practice of white families finding black girls to act as a domestic servants while white children continued with their education (which still happens today) was a common practice (Twine also discussed both of these details in her book). - White children refusing to be taught by black professors, parents not wanting their children to be taught by black teachers. - Schools not accepting black children even when their parents were of middle-class status. - Newspapers advertising for employers that hired whites (national or foreign) only ("prefere-se branco"). - Clubs where blacks (dark negro or light mulato) were not allowed to enter. Research by Edith Piza confirms that the Venâncio Ayres club in Itapetininga, São Paulo didn't allow black members until 1979 (6). - Lynching blacks to protect the honor of white women was common. - The journal A Redenção once printed an article entitled "Killing a preto is not a crime" Many a reader would naturally assume these things must have happened in the US if they were not informed that they actually happened in Brazil. These practices were the precedent setting guidelines that still govern race relations today. The effects of these practices can be noted even today in the vast majority of domestic servants of African descent, the countless children who leave school at an early age, the ruthless murder of afrodescendente men by police and death squads and the infamous "boa aparência" (good appearance, a code term for white) employment preferences.
Brazil: Mestiço Body, White Face
The concept of "whiteness as property" can also be measured in terms of racial subjugation and domination. In other words, the ability of one group, in this case, those considered white, to exert it's will on another and thus maintaining its privileged social position. So how does this maintenance of white supremacy exert itself in Brazil? There are several factors that contribute to the protection of the status quo.
The Brazilian media often demonstrates its willingness to attach measurements of value to racial groups. For instance, a study recently confirmed that since its inception, the magazine Veja has released a total 1,852 issues but featured only 58 afrodescendentes on its front covers. That equals a dismal 3% of the total. Of the 58, only 45 represented an Afro-Brazilian as the protagonist. Even further, of those 45 covers featuring negros and mulatos, there were basically two types of representation: the athlete and the singer (7).
While the magazine itself has featured articles about black Brazilian engineers, lawyers, doctors and businessmen and women, the magazine continuously chooses to present negros and negro-mestiços in the same stereotypical position that Brazilian society has reserved for them. In other words, even when Afro-Brazilians climb the ladder of social success beyond the stereotypical roles reserved for them, they cannot be presented in this light. Social prestige, power and professional status are thus associated with the whiteness of one's skin. When you add the image of the sexually available mulata, it becomes clear that Brazilian society continues to see afrodescendentes as "objects of entertainment"(8).
When faced with the vast amount of evidence that the Brazilian media seems to be ashamed of the darker side of its ethnic mix, one might ask what reasons are used to excuse this obsession with presenting Brazil as a white country. Some of the common reasons one would likely hear are: 1) The model used for media propaganda in Brazil is the middle class in which one doesn't find afrodescendentes. 2) Blacks are not consumers. 3) Clients don't accept the inclusion of blacks being associated with various products 4) The publicity is a reflection of a prejudiced, racist society (9). While these four statements may represent reasons for the exclusion of Afro-Brazilians in the media, they are far from being legitimate excuses. The reasons are: 1) According to research, of those Brazilians whose earnings exceed twenty minimum salaries per month, 28% are black (10). 2) Afro-Brazilian buying power is estimated to be about US$ 141 billion. The Afro-Brazilian middle class represents about 8 million people. The cosmetics market for Afro-Brazilians is estimated to be about US$ 2 billion (11). The successful run of Raça Brasil magazine also proves that there is a market for products specifically aimed at afrodescendente consumers. 3) In reference to points three and four from the reasons list, two conclusions can be drawn. Either the Brazilian media is racist in its exclusion of afrodescendentes in its propaganda or the media simply represents a racist society that doesn't accept the Afro-Brazilian as a symbol of a successful Brazil. These three points are important to understanding that today's Brazil still holds the opinions of post-abolition elites with high regard: i.e. in order for Brazil to be a successful, respected country on a global level it must be white or seen as white. Any visitor who has been to Brazil knows that ethnic portrayal of Brazil in media does not represent a true reflection of the racial diversity in the country. This is no mere coincidence. The white middle and upper classes of Brazil believe it is their natural right to be represented as the face of a successful Brazil.
While there are class issues involved in this rationale, race issues are intricately connected to class issues to the degree that they cannot be separated. Carmen Sílvia Moraes Rial was surprised to discover this investment in "whiteness as property" when conducting her research on Brazilian advertising. Based on a conversation Rial had with an advertiser who worked in the São Paulo branch of the McCann-Erickson global advertising firm, she discovered that the main obstacle to importing US advertisements to Brazil was that the US ads featured black people in levels and positions that are considered "unacceptable" in Brazil.
After comparing television ads from the US and Brazil, she discovered that while blacks in Brazil were always portrayed in subservient positions, in US ads, blacks were shown driving cars and doing everything that whites did (12). Imagine that; in such a racist country as the US, TV commercials featuring black people show them in middle-class lifestyles on par with white Americans; in Brazil, the country of the racial democracy, black people are shown in inferior positions. Why? Because it would be unacceptable to portray blacks as being equal to whites on TV. Hmmm...
Rial's discovery is similar to the findings of Heloísa Buarque de Almeida. When posing the question of why so few afrodescendentes are seen in Brazilian magazines or on television, she was consistently told that "publicity doesn't change the society, it only reflects its values and attitudes; and as we live in a racist country, it is reflected in the small quantity of blacks on TV"(13). Almeida also points out the deeply ingrained correlation between blackness and poverty. In one of her interviews with an advertising agent this ideal was brought to the fore:
- Have you ever made an advertisement in which you used blacks? - I did some years ago. Yes. And they didn't like it, no. They were removed. But today... - They didn't like it, who? The customer? - Yes, the customer...But today I use them, for example, in Arapuã I always have, I always use them. - But generally, when it's in a thing that has various people....? - Right. Rarely do I put a black guy by himself in a commercial. - Or a black guy as the highlight of the commercial. - Because still the...in Brazil, the color black is synonymous with poverty. Then you say: "Ah, it's a thing for poor people!" The public will say that, not me. They'll think that it's a product for poor people. For (people of) class C. And no one wants to have products for poor people. - And race? Why are there so few black people on television? - There are few because...Not even I told you...Because many a customer says that they don't want that, the person rejects it. There's a lot of that, the person sees him/herself...Not even Brahma has once made an entire campaign with Mussum (14), and if it has a black guy then it appears that it is not for (people of) class A. Things like this exist. - Its really the racism of Brazilian society? - Yes, of all of Brazilian society. It's not the publicity agent. People try a lot to put (blacks in commercials) but sometimes too, it's a problem. Because you use a guy drinking, from then on they're gonna say that he is drinking because he is black, then they're gonna complain (15).
Latin American Exceptionalism: Myth or Reality?
Here the situation has been set up for a vicious cycle. On the one hand, Brazilian advertisement agents can place the blame on Brazilian society for its racist values and on the other, the Brazilian public can blame the media for its exclusionary practices. At this point I would like to consider another model theory that compares racism in Latin America against that of North America. In a work that put Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico on one side and the United States on the other, Peña, Sidanius and Sawyer found on these Caribbean islands the existence of implicit, strong anti-black attitudes amongst whites as well as those who possessed visible African ancestry (16).
They concluded that even though these countries also proclaimed themselves to be racial democracies, the people of these small islands exhibited stronger anti-black prejudice than that that exists in the United States. The study showed that strong prejudice can indeed exist even in socialist (i.e. classless) societies (Cuba) as well as in countries where there was a high degree of miscegenation (Dominican Republic) (17). The authors attributed these findings to several different factors, one of which I think is relevant to this discussion.
The authors suggested that because of the Civil Rights Movement, whites in the United States changed their views about African-Americans and racial justice. The struggle, along with subsequent affirmative action policies forced white Americans to deal with blacks in ways that they had never had to in the past. Over the years, Americans of all colors had been exposed to the atrocities that African-Americans had dealt with as citizens of the United States.
Americans of all colors were made familiar with the famous speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the courage of Rosa Parks and the open displays of racist hatred on the part of southern whites. I would venture to say that the images of 50s and 60s America changed the hearts of many white Americans who felt ashamed of the subhuman actions of their forefathers. This is not to suggest that racism no longer exists in today's America. But what it does suggest is that laws that guaranteed black voting rights, affirmative action policies and school desegregation at least made whites aware that there was something drastically wrong with American society and that they must take steps to change it so that the United States would really become the "land of equal opportunity".
While the US still does not represent true equality for all of its citizens, the Civil Rights Movement at least served notice to white Americans that African-Americans were people who deserved access to everything that America's forefathers promised its citizens. Of course, some of this "racial healing" may be attributed to the political correctness of not wanting to appear to be racist, but in that sense, this puts Americans on level ground with Brazilians.
The difference here is that countries like Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic have yet to deal with their own historical racism against its African descendents, thus they continue to see them as inferior beings that deserve to remain on the outskirts of their respective societies. For this simple fact, maybe all of these nations could benefit from affirmative action policies.
In my ongoing comparative analysis between Brazil and the US, the more I research, the more I affirm my original hypothesis: as far as race relations are concerned, the countries are much more alike than they appear at first glance. There are differences of course, but the amazing thing is how there can be so many differences yet the end result still being the same. While I acknowledge those differences, I also see the two countries meeting at a common ground.
I have suggested in the past that racial etiquette in the US is becoming more and more like that of Brazil. For instance, in 1995, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo conducted a poll that found that 89% of Brazilians thought that prejudice against afrodescendentes existed in Brazil while only 10% admitted to personally having prejudice (18). Lilia Mortiz Schwarcz conducted a similar study in which 97% of the people she interviewed said that they harbored no prejudicial feelings. Yet, 98% of those same people confirmed that they knew people who did harbor prejudicial sentiments. Schwarcz concluded that Brazilians see themselves as an "island of racial democracy surrounded by racists on every side"(19).
In comparison, recently, after a racist incident involving comedian Michael Richards, CNN conducted a similar poll with Americans. The results found that 84% of blacks and 66% of whites thought racism is still a serious problem in America. 43% of whites and 48% of blacks knew someone that they believed were racist, but only 13% of whites and 12% of blacks thought of themselves as racially biased (20). CNN concluded that "Most Americans see lingering racism - in others"(21).
In other words, in both countries, the majority of people know that racial bias exists, but no one wants to take personal responsibility of being racist. In this sense, citizens of the United States, a country that was once known for its openly racist sentiments, are becoming more like Brazilians. People can admit that having racial bias is wrong, so hiding behind a politically correct façade is the way many choose of dealing with the issue.
Footnotes
1. Sartre, Jean-Paul. Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate. Schocken: Reissue edition 1995. 2. Moreno, Veracley Lima. "Questões de Honra": Sexualidade Feminina e Sociedade em São Luís na Virada do Século". Outros Tempos. Vol. 2, 2005. ISSN. 1808-8031. http://www.outrostempos.uema.br/artigo14.doc. 3. Bastide, Roger and Fernandes, Florestan. Brancos e negros em São Paulo. São Paulo, 2nd ed., 1959. 4. Gomes, Tiago de Melo. "Massais, mulatas, meretrizes: imagens da sexualidade feminina no Rio de Janeiro dos anos 1920". Cadernos Pagu, Campinas, v. 23, 2004.
www.scielo.br/pdf/cpa/n23/n23a05.pdf 5. Domingues, Petrônio. Uma História Não Contada - negro, racismo e branqueamento em São Paulo no pós-abolição. São Paulo: Ed. Senac, 2005 6. Piza, Edith. "Branco no Brasil? Ninguém sabe, ninguém viu" in GUIMARÃES, Antonio Sérgio Alfredo & HUNTLEY, Lynn. (Orgs.) Tirando a Máscara: Ensaios sobre o Racismo no Brasil. São Paulo. Paz e Terra/SEF. 2000. 7. Golzio, Derval Gomes. Retratos de Brasil: análisis de las imágenes de portada publicadas en las revistas Veja e Isto É. Tese de doutoramento apresentada na Universidad de Salamanca, 2003. Cited in "O racismo impregnado no pensamento da sociedade" by Derval Gomes Golzio, Thiago de Andrade Marinho, Alberto Araújo Silva, Mayra Brito Ferreira, Cibelle Ferraz Pereira e Mônica dos Santos Lins in Observatório da Imprensa. March 27, 2006. http://observatorio.ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/artigos.asp?cod=374CID006 8. Gonzalez, Lélia. O Lugar de Negro. Editora Marco Zero Limitada. Rio de Janeiro 1982. 9. Araújo, Joel Zito. A negação do Brasil: O negro na telenovela brasileira. Editora SENAC São Paulo 2000. 10. Ibid 11. Levy, Patrick. "Afro-Brazilian Market Potential". U.S. Department of Commerce. Available online April 24, 2006. http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/inimr-ri.nsf/en/gr-78701e.html 12. Rial, Carmen Sílvia Moraes. "Racial and ethnic stereotyping in Brazilian advertising. In: IUAES Inter-Congress on Metropolitan Ethnic Cultures, 2000, Beijing. Caderno de Resumos - IUAES Inter-Congress on Metropolitan Ethnic Cultures. Beijing, 2000. v. 1. p. 15-15. Online September 15, 2006. www.antropologia.ufsc.br/49.%20Racial%20and%20Ethnic.pdf 13. Almeida, Heloísa Buarque de. "Na TV: pressupostos de gênero, classe e raça que estruturam a programação". In: O Desafio da Diferença: articulando gênero, raça e classe, 2000, Salvador. O Desafio da Diferença: articulando gênero, raça e classe. Salvador : UFBa, 2000. Available online September 23, 2004. http://www.desafio.ufba.br/gt4-008.html 14. Mussum (born Antônio Carlos Bernardes Gomes in 1941) was a black musician and humorist. He died in 1994. 15. Almeida, Heloísa Buarque de. "Na TV: pressupostos de gênero, classe e raça que estruturam a programação". In: O Desafio da Diferença: articulando gênero, raça e classe, 2000, Salvador. O Desafio da Diferença: articulando gênero, raça e classe. Salvador : UFBa, 2000. Available online September 23, 2004. http://www.desafio.ufba.br/gt4-008.html 16. Peña, Yesilernis; Jim Sidanius and Mark Sawyer. "Racial Democracy in the Americas: A Latin and U.S. Comparison". Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Volume 35, no. 6, 2004. 17. Ibid. 18. Turra, Cleusa; Venturi, Gustavo (editors). Racismo cordial: a mais completa análise sobre preconceito de cor no Brasil. Editora Ática, 1995. 19. Schwarcz, Lilia Moritz. "Questão racial no Brasil". In Lilia Moritz Schwarcz and Letícia Vidor de Sousa Reis (editors), Negras imagens. São Paulo, EDUSP, 1997. 20. Zahn, Paula. Skin-Deep: Racism in America. CNN. December 12, 2006. Available online December 17, 2006. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/12/pzn.01.html 21. CNN. "Most Americans see lingering racism -- in others". Available online December 17, 2006. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/12/racism.poll/index.html
This is part seven 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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