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 Serious remaining economic and social challenges
notwithstanding, Brazil appears to have 'arrived'
although Brazilians of color have
'less arrived' than white Brazilians.
By Phillip Wagner
U.S. National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) President & CEO Harry Alford was
adamant following the first NBCC Trade-Mission to Brazil in late 1999. "Slavery in
the United States indeed taught us to hate ourselves," he said. "A lingering
effect of that self-hatred has been the denial of recognizing our own relatives in the
Western Hemisphere." He might have added that this included instances where many
blacks, particularly in Brazil, have failed to recognize the African heritage of others
within their own communities, or even themselves. The May 2001 issue of Brazzil carried
the following quote from music grupo Olodum Cultural Director Esmeraldo Arquimimo.
"Just today I met with some friends after the soccer game, and one guy, who is
lighter than I am said I have some friends who are black, but they are really good
people'." The black awareness movement initiated in 1974 by the Ilê Aiyê Afro-Bloco
in Salvador da Bahia was established, in part, to redress institutionalized
self-deprecation based on African heritage.
"Before long the 1 billion plus blacks living on
this globe will be linked up again just like the days along the Nile, Zanzibar or
Timbuktu"
(NBCC website)
"The fact is" said Mr. Alford "that South America and the Caribbean hold
over 100 million black folks whose blood, legacy and heritage is exactly the same as ours.
We come from the same villages, took the same despicable voyages and endured the same vile
slavery..." "We are the same!" he said. "So let's start acting like
it". Mr. Alford went on to assert that "The 15 percent of the black Diaspora
that is located in the Americas must...become one. There is a need to build a viable
infrastructure...through economical interaction".
"International Trade" he added "from the United States and from a black
perspective must begin with South America and the Caribbean". His conclusions appear
to be consistent with the approach taken by the NBCC during the Brazil Trade-Mission. That
approach focused African-American enterprise on joint venturing and contracting with their
African-Brazilian counterparts.
As a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization, the NBCC is dedicated to the
economic empowerment of African American communities and people throughout the world with
African lineage. According to the NBCC "We will establish trading links, offices and
communication instruments throughout the world". Brazil & Ghana were seen as
logical first steps and an NBCC mission to Cuba, whose 14 million people are about 85
percent black, was conducted between 29 July and 2 August 2000.
More than 75 African-American businesspersons accompanied the NBCC on its first Brazil
mission, which was sponsored by General Motors, Texaco and the Magna Corporation. The NBCC
and its entourage met with Brazilian representatives from 250 Brazilian businesses as well
as with Brazilian public officials in what the NBCC claims had constituted "the
largest US trade mission ever to Brazil". According to the NBCC "Millions of
dollars in contracts were secured for the entrepreneurs that went with us, and this is
only the beginning".
The NBCC is pursuing a strategic plan to link the black Diaspora on both sides of the
Atlantic. A "billion descendants of Africa not talking with each other is rather low
tech" say NBCC officials, "so the NBCC will take leadership in this". NBCC
acknowledges that "Brazil, a stable democracy with over 77 million blacks has been
calling for our involvement". And, clearly, African-Brazil needs it. If the NBCC is
truly "on the leading edge of educating and training black communities on the need to
participate vigorously in...capitalistic society" then it should find fertile ground
in Brazil.
According to the DIEESE (Departamento Intersindical de Estatística e Estudos
Sócio-Econômicos—Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socio-Economic Studies),
50 percent of the unemployed in all regions of Brazil are blacks. DIESSE notes that while
the unemployment rate in Salvador da Bahia is 45 percent greater for blacks than for
non-blacks (25.7 percent versus 17.7 percent), blacks actually comprise 86.4 percent of
the unemployed there. That's because the population of Salvador is overwhelmingly
African-Brazilian. In Porto Alegre, where the population is almost all white, blacks
represent more than 15 percent of the unemployed. About 68 percent of the unemployed in
the Federal District and in Recife are black, and 650,000 blacks are unemployed in and
around São Paulo. Figures are from 1998.
To the dismay of some in the African-Brazilian cultural epicenter of Salvador, NBCC
focus on Brazil has thus far been almost exclusively in Rio. One reason may be that the
first NBCC mission to Brazil was a culmination of the relentless efforts of Benedita da
Silva, Vice Governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro. Ms. Da Silva "had become
frustrated in watching trade mission after trade mission come to Brazil void of black
participation," Mr. Alford has said. "She approached the NBCC back in April
1999, and (the NBCC Trade Mission was)...the fruit born of that relationship". Mr.
Alford has been quoted as saying that "The Vice-Governor is the most important black
elected official in the world..." adding that he believes "the credit must go to
her—the new jobs, investments will be ongoing and exponential to both sides of the
table".
Benedita's Role
Benedita Souza da Silva Sampaio has been variously reported as having been born in 1942
or 1943. Whatever her year of birth, history acknowledges the fundamental aspect of
Benedita da Silva. She's risen from favela (shantytown) to a station of political
importance and, by doing so, has become a role model for people throughout the African
Diaspora. In 1981 Benedita graduated from the State University of Rio with a degree in
Social Work. But she'd already, by that time, established her reputation as someone
determined to create opportunity and hope for the desperately poor who live in the shadow
of Brazilian opulence.
She'd helped to organize a movement within her favela to secure basic
necessities such as electricity, water and sewage. She was elected Brazil's first black
Councilwoman in 1982, a member of the Federal Chamber of Deputies in 1986, the first black
Brazilian woman Federal Senator in 1994 and more recently of course Vice Governor (Deputy
Governor) of the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Her biography, Benedita: An Afro-Brazilian Woman's Story of Politics and Love was
published in 1997, and is available on video through an organization known as Global
Exchange. According to Llana Rosman, following an interview with Benedita at Brown
University some time ago "Da Silva targeted the lack of opportunities as the main
obstacle in the advancement of Afro-Brazilians and women" in Brazil. So it isn't
surprising that she would have been the driving force behind an effort to bring the NBCC
to Brazil.
Immediate Benefits
In a recent phone interview Mr. Alford said he believes that "We are going to
realize at least $80 million in sales during this year because of this (the Brazil Trade)
mission". He acknowledged that "The Brazilian connection came (originated) from
Rio, from the people who came up here to meet us". And he asserted that Rio "is
a major city that's 60 percent black and kind of overlaps with a lot of the cities like
Chicago and Philadelphia that we operate with here".
But there are other reasons for the current more southeasterly NBCC focus; São Paulo
has also received attention. NBCC's primary strategy is to promote opportunities for
blacks in light manufacturing, trade and construction. Rio and São Paulo represent larger
populations (markets) and are recognized breeding grounds for those kinds of activities.
Current NBCC perceptions of regional differences in Brazil are also having an impact. In
our phone interview Mr. Alford commented that "Salvador da Bahia is like going to the
Mississippi Delta, which is important to us but if we're gonna go to South America we're
going to a major center".
Charles DeBow, NBCC Director of Special Projects and Marketing, reminded me that
"Rio invited us (the NBCC) to come there", and Mr. Alford added "there's a
black political base (in Rio) too and I don't think that there's a black political base up
there in Salvador da Bahia". There is, after all, no Benedita da Silva in Bahian
state government. But the absence of black political leaders in Bahia is not an indication
that a black political base does not exist there. Blacks have, it must be conceded, been
more effectively locked out' of high-profile political positions in Bahia. Gilberto Gil of
course, who served on the Salvador city council for a time, is an example of periodic
exception to that rule. Diversion of Bahian black political energies from traditional
political infrastructures to expression through the Afro-Blocos and similar entities is
simply not yet well known or appreciated outside of Brazil.
Bahia Next?
A second NBCC Trade Mission to Brazil is expected to take place in the late 2002
timeframe following visits to Africa and the Caribbean. The NBCC has reported receiving a
letter from an African-Brazilian entrepreneur in Petrópolis, a short distance from the
city of Rio, encouraging their return. But would Bahia be included on the itinerary if a
second Mission comes to fruition? Mr. Alford made it clear he would seriously consider a
side trip to Salvador at that time to meet with black community leaders but noted that
"It depends on whether it would be worth our time. We'd have to see."
Mr. Alford emphasized that the primary consideration would be confirming that
"there would be (primarily) business aspects to it". "The premise to
everything that we do" Mr. DeBow remarked "is business oriented". Black
enterprise and would-be black entrepreneurs in Salvador da Bahia need a champion like
Benedita da Silva and an organization capable of working with the NBCC to match
African-American businesses with meaningful opportunities in Bahia. That latter role in
Rio was played by FIRJAN, the Brazilian National Federation of Industries.
Similar to a Board of Trade, FIRJAN assisted the NBCC in arranging meetings between
U.S. and Brazilian counterparts. It's worth noting that Tito Ryffe, Secretary for Economic
Development and Wagner Victer, Secretary of Energy, Shipping and Oil for the State of Rio
de Janeiro provided additional assistance. Mr. DeBow later said that "We see our
initiative in Brazil as being very much in the embryonic stages, we're just getting
started". Well, maybe, but Alford and NBCC members are excited about the future.
"One of the great things about Brazil" he observed "is climate. They have
no tornadoes, hurricanes or earthquakes. There's a lot of stability down there compared to
other parts of the world where weather is something you have to contend with".
Just after returning from Brazil, Trade Mission participant Gene McFadden, President of
Freightmasters International Shipping said, "We already have twenty million dollars
on the line coming out of this mission. The Chamber has hit a gold mine of opportunity for
us". McFadden returned to Brazil a little later to buy an apartment and lease office
space.
When asked if the NBCC met with business leaders in Rio to encourage minority hiring he
responded in two ways. Mr. Alford noted that "The NBCC isn't into hiring, we're into
business development", and then added "If you're gonna meet with business
leaders in Brazil today, they're more than likely not going to be African-Brazilian".
"At this point" he noted, "the primary benefit" growing out of the
NBCC Trade Mission to Brazil "for African-Brazilians is going to be in the realm of
job opportunities being created by new business development in their communities".
But Mr. Alford stresses that the NBCC wants to encourage the aspirations of black
entrepreneurs in Brazil.
Cultural Exchanges
The NBCC is currently developing a special website to facilitate the exchange of
exposure and opportunity between culture related elements of the African Diaspora, such as
between African-Brazilian artists and the African-American market. "We're working on
basically facilitating the merchandising, the promotion, the exposure for all aspects of
the arts to the (North) American market. Basically what we're saying is that...the limits
placed on the independent (African-Brazilian) entrepreneur in entertainment, which would
include cultural arts...they're limited just as they are in America by their
exposure."
The new NBCC website, expected to be on-line within the next 12 months, is intended to
mitigate that constraint. But, according to Mr. Alford and Mr. DeBow, the NBCC is moving
forward to address the issue now. "As the launch of our new Internet portal occurs
within the next 90 days, or less, we will have a section in there for independent
entrepreneurs and entertainment that will include cultural arts".
What all this will mean for African-Brazilian fine artists, musicians, book authors,
sculptors, playwrights, etc. is potential access to exposure within the larger (and more
lucrative) African-American marketplace. The new site should provide an immediate, and
welcome, outlet for established African-Brazilian artisans with the resources to
capitalize on the opportunity. But how, or even whether, that potential can be realized by
talented artisans living on the margins of society in communities like Rio's Rocinha
favela or Salvador's Liberdade remain problematical for now.
At least one political leader in Brazil is attempting to do something to address the
issue of minority representation in television and film. According to O Globo media
giant's "O Globo On-line" the Comissão de Ciência e Tecnologia da Câmara
(House's Science and Technology Committee) has approved a project proposed by PT Party
Deputy Paulo Paim (RS) to establish a quota of 25 percent participation by black and
indigenous artists in films and television programs. A government release said that the
percent of participation of blacks and indigenous peoples could (ultimately) approach 40
percent, and suggested that quotas may be appropriate for integrating minorities into
related technical fields. Paim's proposal will now go to the Comissão de Defesa do
Consumidor, Meio Ambiente e Minorias (Consumer Defense, Environment and Minorities
Commission).
Brazil's Role
As previously noted, it may very well be that the NBCC would still only be considering
its first overtures to Brazil had it not been for the persistent efforts of Benedita da
Silva. But it's probably no coincidence that the NBCC responded to those overtures when it
did. Sixteen relatively stable years of representative government, increasingly aggressive
privatization of industry and the explosive growth of Information Technology have made
Brazil increasingly attractive to global investors.
BrazilTech2001: the Outlook for Tech Industries in the Brazilian Market took place on
June 18th at the Microsoft Conference Center and Kodiak Auditorium, Seattle. Microsoft's
high profile association with Brazil as a current growth market for economic development
runs counter to age-old perceptions that Brazil only represents future opportunity.
According to the World Bank, Brazil's "8th largest economy in the
world" generated $783 billion worth of goods and services in 1999. That's nearly $200
billion dollars more than 9th place Canada.
But, surprisingly, trade between the U.S. and Brazil has thus far been light,
accounting for less than 1 percent of 1999 U.S. imports and exports. Parties in both
nations would like to see that number grow significantly. US-Brazil economic interface
enabling entities have begun to proliferate in North American avenues of capital and
power. There is a Brazil_US Business Council in Washington DC. There are Brazil related
Chamber of Commerce offices in Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, and on Madison Avenue in New
York City. There is a U.S. Congress Mercosul Study Group, a U.S. Senate Brazil Caucus, a
U.S. House of Representatives Brazil Caucus, and there are countless related U.S.
Congressional committees. There is an Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Director for
Brazil, and the U.S. State Department Office of Brazil & Southern Cone Affairs has
three staff members. So, serious remaining economic and social challenges notwithstanding,
Brazil appears to have arrived'. But the NBCC is concerned that Brazilians of color have
less arrived' than white Brazilians.
Issues and Concerns
"A concern that we have is with the International Monetary Fund, with the World
Bank and other entities that sign in many, many projects" said Mr. Alford.
"Those monies do not reach the black communities of Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil,
Bolivia and Peru". The argument seems to be that sponsoring organizations are not
signing off on loans to underwrite development projects when those projects involve black
communities.
The challenge of securing loans targeting black populations was highlighted in
testimony given by Suzanne Ward Parker, President & CEO of Ward Global Enterprises
before a US Congressional Committee on Small Business hearing on 8 June of 2000. "One
particularly frustrating experience," she testified, "occurred after attending a
conference on business in Africa and listening to a bank representative express the bank's
position and desire to accommodate those types of investments. I was (later) told the bank
would not even consider loans to that part of the world. When I inquired why he held
negative opinions, the gentleman gave me numerous erroneous excuses about West Africa,
that indicated his level of knowledge of the region was outdated and out of touch".
She noted that the fact that such individuals "are the decision makers, make it
difficult to impossible to obtain financing".
Mr. Alford offered that the NBCC has been trying to encourage greater awareness of the
need for more political leverage with the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus, and indicated
that there has been progress. The NBCC also seems to be making headway with the U.S. State
Department regarding its interest in Brazil. "The State Department was kind of
anti-Brazilian travel but after we went down there twice they started reaching out to
us". The reference to two visits is accounted for by the fact that the first
Trade-Mission was preceded by a fact finding trip about 6 months earlier. "And since
Colin Powell has become Secretary of State I see a very big turnaround in their attitude
towards people of color".
Give and Take
According to the NBCC, "African-American businesses in the United States posted
sales of more than $80 billion annually throughout the 1990s". But it's
African-American spending power, not selling power that offers the greatest short-term
potential benefit for many large populations of blacks in Brazil. Perhaps
"relief" would be a better word. "In general", declares an NBCC
website, "African-Americans represent an annual spending base of over $500
billion".
African-Brazilian communities are desperate for an opportunity to ignite economic
development by tapping into that pool of disposable income, and tourism could provide the
spark. African-Americans have long sought to explore links to their heritage, the heritage
of all African peoples. But the modest volume of African-American tourists to Salvador,
Bahia, suggests that few newly affluent black Americans have looked beyond the fact that
Brazil, with 77 million people of African descent, is second only to Nigeria in the number
of people with African lineage. Brazil is, in fact, a virtual oasis of collective memory
within the African Diaspora.
It's no secret to those who are familiar with Brazil that African culture in Bahia has
been surprisingly well preserved. The practice of Candomblé African religious ceremonies
continues unabated and Salvador is home to the internationally renowned "Baiana"
street vendors who serve traditional dishes fried in the red oil of dendê palms
that were brought by African slaves to the new world.
The African-Brazilian martial-art known as capoeira was preserved from
banishment by Portuguese masters by disguising it as a fight/dance. But it's less well
known that some rural communities in Bahia are legitimate original Quilombos, camps that
were founded and inhabited by escaped slaves. Some have survived largely unchanged for
three centuries or more. So well preserved has African culture been in Bahia that it's
been said Africans sometimes make pilgrimage there to rediscover their roots.
The black Brazilian communities of northeastern Brazil, then, have a marketable product
for which there is a natural constituency, an increasing number of African-Americans with
disposable income. African-American travel company owners and operators could find in
Bahia a "mother-lode" income generating tourist destination. Salvador's unique
characteristics suggest that it could one day become the Cancun of African-American
leisure travel.
Timing and progress are converging to provide the fuel if only an effective marketing
initiative could be developed and directed to the target audience. Dollar-to-Real exchange
rates are now very attractive and infrastructure improvements that were undertaken in the
mid-1990s have been consolidated. As long ago as May of 1997 Bill Marrs, in a special
supplement to the Wall Street Journal, wrote about infrastructure improvements that
had been underwritten by "$800,000,000 channeled through the Northeast Tourism
Development Fund, Prodetur Nordeste".
The Journal described Prodetur Nordeste as "becoming a model for tourism
infrastructure in Brazil". Salvador da Bahia, the Bay of Saints', Brazil's first
capital and arguably one of the most important historical sites in the long history of
African peoples provides a natural anchor for that region. The little village of
Redenção, or Redemption', situated much farther north between Fortaleza and the
mountains of Baturité is another potential shrine within the African Diaspora. It was
there that the first of the remaining African slaves in Brazil were released following
Princess Isabel's signature on the Golden Law' declaration of emancipation.
NBCC Profile
The National Black Chamber of Commerce, which represents and advocates on behalf of
more than 60,000 black owned businesses, was started in Indianapolis, Indiana, as a
progression of the Hoosier Minority Chamber of Commerce, which had collaboration with 14
various black business organizations and local chambers. It was incorporated in
Washington, DC, in March of 1993 and moved there in September of 1994. The NBCC has 190
affiliated chapters in the US and international affiliate chapters in the Bahamas, Brazil,
Colombia, Ghana and Jamaica. The only Brazil office, to date, is in Rio. It was
established following the first Trade-Mission there and is managed by Carlos Medeiros. The
Brazil office and the NBCC communicate monthly.
A few words about NBCC co-founder, President & CEO Harry Alford (excerpted from
NBCC website biography):
During a 22-month stint working in the administration of Governor (now US Senator) Evan
Bayh, Mr. Alford took minority business participation at the State level from 1 percent to
6 percent; a feat not accomplished before or since. Senator Bayh, incidentally, is now a
member of the U.S. Congress Mercosul Study Group. Few people or organizations have more
relative knowledge on the status and trends in minority business in the United States than
Mr. Alford. The US Department of Commerce named him Minority Business Advocate of the Year
for 1991 (Region 5), and in October 1996 the African-Americans for Corporate
Responsibility of New York honored Mr. Alford for his successes in minority business
development. Most recently, Fortune Small Business Magazine ranked Mr. Alford #5 on
its "Power 30" list of the most influential small business advocates located in
greater Washington, DC.
Special Note: The author would like to thank Theo Bikoi, an economist with the
Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics who provided the DIEESE reference and suggested
consideration of the information from O Globo on line.
Phillip Wagner, e-mail pwagner@iei.net,
is a frequent traveler to Brazil and contributor to Brazzil magazine. The author
and Mr. Alford's former employer, then Indiana Governor and now US Senator, Evan Bayh were
both named one of the ten "Outstanding Young Hoosier's" in the state of Indiana
by the Indiana State Junior Chambers of Commerce on February 11, 1989. "Hoosier"
is a nickname for Indiana residents just as "Carioca" is a nickname for
residents of Rio de Janeiro and "Paulista" for residents of São Paulo. Visit
Phillip's Brazil website at http://www.iei.net/~pwagner.brazilhome.htm
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