Brazzil
March 2002
Society
Mixed Race,
Mixed Up Feelings
The debate over affirmative action is encouraging.
If nothing else, it forces people in Brazil to
reassess
Brazilian racial contradictions and their impact over society.
Marta Alvim
Nearly 40 years after the first affirmative action programs were introduced in the United States, the Brazilian government is gradually beginning to implement similar programs, including the controversial system of quotas as a means of dealing with social inequalities. At both state and federal levels, several projects are already underway. These programs establish quotas for women, blacks and disabled persons, and most likely they will expand to all government agencies and state-funded universities.
However, the new proposals have sparked a heated national debate, especially since the vast majority of such projects have focused only on increasing the number of blacks in federal jobs and universities. In a society that has long prided itself on being a "racial democracy", the adoption of a racial preference system would inevitably be met with criticism. Some see the new policies as just another attempt by the government to import U.S-based initiatives while disregarding the real needs of Brazilian people. In a nation where the populace still grapples with the very definition of race, how could we implement fair affirmative action programs based on the race criteria alone?
Indeed the definition of color or race has always been a problem in Brazil. The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), a governmental body in charge of the nation's Census, has established five categories under the "Color or Race" heading: white, black, yellow, pardo (mestizo) or indigenous. However, based on respondents' answers to several of its surveys, the Institute has registered more than 300 descriptions for skin color, including café-com-leite (coffee-with-milk), canela (cinnamon) and suja (dirty).
Even when admitting that discrimination exists in Brazil, many disagree on the strategies that should be adopted to fight the country's racism. They argue that it's foolish to try to import the U.S. model of affirmative action without considering the social, historical and cultural differences between the two countries. Moreover, many believe that the United States is not the best example of integration. They point to the modern version of American segregation disguised under the "multiculturalism" designation, which has transformed the U.S.A. into a hyphenised society of African-Americans, Native-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Asian-Americans, just to mention a few.
The Statistics
To overcome objections to affirmative action, government officials and black leaders refer to numerous surveys and official statistics showing disproportionate levels of unemployment, illiteracy and mortality among black Brazilians. One such survey was conducted by DIEESE (the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies) in the São Paulo metropolitan region, which has the largest population of Afro-descendants in Brazil. The area's unemployment rate reaches 22 percent of blacks and 16 percent of whites. The average salary of black women is $170, against $320 for white women. Black men earn an average of $256 in São Paulo; white men, $469.
Nationwide, the unemployed rate is 7.5 percent for whites and 11 percent for blacks, according to the Applied Economics Research Institute (IPEA), an agency of the Ministry of Planning. The average monthly salary for black Brazilians is $73, compared to $170 for whites.
On another front, IBGE surveys reveal that life expectancy for black Brazilians is 64 years; for white Brazilians, it's 70 years. The mortality ratio among black children under the age of 5 is 76 per 1,000; among white children, 45 per 1,000. Afro-descendants inhabit 50 percent of Brazilian households that lack basic sanitation; poor whites inhabit 26 percent of these types of households.
According to IBGE, 29 percent of Brazilians are illiterate; 80 percent of those are blacks. White Brazilians study an average of 7.6 years, whereas black Brazilians study an average of 5.2 years. Only 2.2 percent of Brazil's 1.6 million college students are of African descent.
The insignificant number of black professors in Brazil's universities is also a fact. At the University of Brasília (UnB) less than 1 percent of its professors are black, and black professors are non-existent at the university's Medical and Dental Schools, as well as at the Law and Foreign Relations Schools. UnB is not alone, though. The prestigious School of Philosophy, Letters and Humanities at the University of São Paulo (USP) has 540 professors, but only one of them is black—and born in Zaire.
Black Brazilians also remain underrepresented at the government level. Of the country's 21 cabinet ministers, not one is black. The same is true at the Superior Federal Tribunal, Brazil's highest court, which has not one black judge among its 11 judges. At the Ministry of Foreign Relations, a.k.a. Itamaraty, there are only three Afro-descendants among 1,000 diplomats. The Chamber of Deputies has 12 black representatives among its 513 members, and at the Senate there are only 2 blacks among 81 senators.
While the government has sponsored affirmative action legislation in the past, those initiatives have benefited mostly women, the handicapped and indigenous people. The recent push for the measures focusing on Brazilian blacks is a result of the 2001 Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa. Most of the preexisting initiatives in Brazil were from the private sector in conjunction with non-governmental Afro-Brazilian organizations.
One such program, focused on education, is called Geração 21 (Generation 21). Sponsored by BankBoston in partnership with the Palmares Foundation and the Black Woman Institute (Geledés), this program will be supporting the education of 21 previously selected black teenagers all the way up to the university level. In addition, the program invests in the student's family by offering supplemental education to those mothers who never finished high school. Geração 21 started in 1999 and is restricted to the São Paulo metropolitan area, but Xerox of Brazil is planning to import the model to Rio de Janeiro.
As far as employment is concerned, Levi's Strauss was one of the pioneers in applying affirmative action policies to its hiring process. The initiative dates back to the 1970s, but the company was never able to increase the percentage of black employees beyond 10 percent. Although Levi's would like to see more Afro-Brazilians working at the company, very few black candidates meet two of the job selection requirements: speak English and have a college degree.
Racism versus Economics
Another argument against affirmative action based on racial preferences is that the bottom line of Brazil's social ills is not racism but economics. Critics point to the disparity of income distribution, the sad state of the health system, and to the failure of public education as examples of inequalities that affect all Brazilians regardless of race.
According to the United Nations' Human Development Report released in 2001, Brazil ranks fourth among the nations with the highest income concentration in the smallest segment of the population—behind only Swaziland, Nicaragua and South Africa. Brazil's richest 10 percent hold 48.7 percent of the nation's wealth. Based on the per capita income alone, it ranks 57th among 162 countries, but it ranks 79th in education and 95th in health. There are 37 million Brazilians living with less than $2 a day.
Consequently, admission to public universities based on racial quotas would be unfair to poor Brazilians in general. Moreover, it would not fix the basic problems, such as the lack of good public schools or the high number of school dropouts who often must make a difficult choice between school and work. Even black Brazilians are split on the subject. Recently, the Laboratory of Public Policies at the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ) conducted a survey among 2,400 UERJ students and professors. The results showed that 57.4 percent of the 2,328 students polled were against the quota system. Among black students, the opposition to quotas was 49.6 percent.
To try to compensate for the deficiencies of basic education, several groups have joined a movement whose goal is to prepare black and needy students for the vestibular, the grueling entrance examination required to admission to the country's universities. The movement, known as the pré-vestibular for Black and Needy Students (PVNC), had humble beginnings at a church in São João de Meriti, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro in 1994. Since then, many groups from other states have joined the program, and in the state of Rio alone there are now 150 groups (religious or not) linked to the movement. Aside from the traditional subjects such as math and Portuguese, students discuss human rights, ecology and racial issues. The lessons, given by voluntary teachers in improvised classrooms, are either free of charge, or the students are charged a symbolic fee. Approximately 4,000 students have enrolled in the program and an average of 28 percent of those have managed to pass the vestibular.
Will it Work?
There is no doubt that the debate over affirmative action is encouraging. If nothing else, it forces people in Brazil to reassess Brazilian racial contradictions and their impact over society as a whole. Whether the government will succeed in implementing a preference system is another story. A 1997 law, for instance, determines that at least 30 percent of each political party's candidates must be women. To date, not one party has been able to meet this quota.
In a similar manner, most of Brazilian companies ignore legislation that was supposed to benefit the handicapped. Since 1991 Brazilian companies with more than 100 employees must set aside 2 to 5 percent of their jobs to handicapped people. However, there has been no penalty thus far for those who haven't complied with the law.
According to the World Health Organization, between 15 and 18 million Brazilians have some sort of physical or mental impairment. The majority of them don't have jobs, and many are kept out of school for lack of adequate infrastructure, such as ramps or elevators, special books, and skilled teachers to deal with the special needs of those students.
Nevertheless, true to the Brazilian spirit, many of the nation's disadvantaged persons refuse to be labeled according to the politically correct lingo and choose to deal with discrimination and life's daily hurdles with a sense of humor instead.
Open displays of gender discrimination still abound, as is evident from the numerous sexist phrases printed on T-shirts and bumper stickers in Brazil. (See table) However, most Brazilian women simply laugh at them. Sometimes humor is the best defense. A comical example comes from blind Mineiro (from Minas Gerais state) Geraldo Magela, who put together a hilarious comedy act—Ceguinho é a Mãe (The Little Blind One is Your Mother)—to educate people about the daily struggles of blind people. (See the accompanying press release for the show.)
Asked about the proper translation of the word ceguinho, which in Portuguese has a condescending overtone (without being offensive) American multilingual translator André Fairchild, based in Denver, Colorado, replied: "I'm afraid I have never heard, in English, any diminutive for a blind person. We are so obsessively politically correct here, I don't think anybody in the U.S. nowadays dares to even say blind… We're supposed to say "visually impaired" instead.
Indeed! So let's hope Brazil can overcome its own inequities while preserving its identity.
Affirmative Action in Progress
The Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA) has established that 20 percent of its jobs must be reserved for blacks. The Ministry plans to increase that percentage to 30 percent by 2003. In the beginning of this year, the first black candidates were hired under this new quota system and filled 6 of the 20 new job slots offered by the MDA.
The Labor Ministry has unveiled a plan to set aside 20 percent of a $150 million job-training budget for black students. The courses vary from hairdressing to software design.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations will be offering 20 scholarships to black students who wish to take Itamaraty's entrance examination.
The Superior Federal Tribunal will reserve 20 percent of its job openings for blacks.
The Ministry of Justice has adopted a quota system that will reserve 20 percent of its job openings for women, 20 percent for blacks, and 5 percent for the handicapped.
The Chamber of Deputies is discussing a bill that would reserve at least 25 percent of television roles for black actors, and 40 percent in movies and TV commercials.
Below is a sample of the groups that resulted from Brazil's miscegenation tradition. Others exist, but in a smaller scale, such as the "ai-no-ko" or "kon-ketsu-di"—the descendants of Japanese and of Japanese descendants and Brazilians.
Mulatosdescendants of whites and blacks
Caboclos or Mamelucosdescendants of whites and Indians
Cafuzosdescendants of blacks and Indians
Juçarasdescendants of whites and cafuzos; of blacks and caboclos, or of Indians and mulatos
To begin with, ceguinho (the little blind one) is always a point of reference, just like fat and bald people… "Do you see that blonde? The one behind the fat guy?" Or, "Do you see that bald guy around the corner? Well, he's just standing by the store you're looking for." But the worst remarks are reserved for the ceguinho. People often say, "May I be blinded if I'm lying!" As if all blind people are liars…
Many people think that because I'm blind everyone else in my family must be: wife, kids, the dog and the parrot. Sometimes I'm even asked, "Zé do Banjo, is your wife normal?" And I say, "No, she's got antennas, little wheels and an input for CD players."
Some comments deserve a special chapter. Like when people say, "Poor thing, so cute and blind!" "What do you mean? Besides being blind, should I be also ugly, have big feet and live far away?" Others will ask, "Are you totally blind?" To which I reply, "No, only until 6:00 PM; later on I drive a cab!"
To cross the street is a big joke. Some people will help me cross a multilane street, and when we reach the central divider they'll ask me, "Do you want to cross the other half too?" "No", I say, "I live here; let's go inside and have a little cup of coffee…" Just the other day I needed to cross the road, and I was in a real hurry, but couldn't find anyone to hold on to. I thought to myself, "Do I stink, or what?" I looked around and couldn't see anyone since I'm blind... So I decided, "I'll hold on to the first person that touches my arm and I will cross the street!" And so I did: As soon as I felt someone touching my arm I held onto him and we crossed the street amid the honking cars. Once we reached the other side, I thanked him. "Why", he said, "thank YOU, I'm blind…" "No kidding, you're blind too?", I replied.
The proper way to help a blind person cross the street is by letting him or her get a hold of your arm, so that he or she can feel your movements. You may run; jump over a pothole; walk up and downstairs. No problem! But most people will grab the blind person's arm, lift it, and squeeze it so hard that you'd think we were trying to escape. No, we don't want to escape; we just want to cross the street! Sometimes it happens that two people will grab my arms at the same time, one on each side. And I think, "Great, they're going to carry me over!" Others will push me across using the cane. And they'll push, and push… Then I'll let go of the cane and when the person gets to the other side of the street, the guy'll freak out and ask, "Hey! Where is that blind guy who was just here?"
For more information, contact
Geraldo Magela
Phone: 0115531-3411-1736
Cell: 0115531-9983-0401
Fax: 0115531-3411-1807
http://www.ceguinho.com.br (In Portuguese)
Legs are the body parts men like least in a woman; it's the first thing they put aside.
All men are in favor of feminists. Especially those with long legs, a tight butt, firm breasts and green eyes!!!
Not all women get fulfillment at the stove. Many find happiness only at the sink.
Not all women like to be spanked, only the normal ones.
Women will have their place in the sun when someone invents kitchens with a sunroof.
Women are like wine: you've got to keep them horizontal, in the dark, and with a cork in their mouth.
She is intelligent in spite of being a woman.
Women are like mosquitoes. They only give up with a firm swat.
All women should fight for their rights, as long as it doesn't interfere with their housework.
Since modern couples have to split everything, I made a deal with my wife about rights and duties: I kept the rights.
If your woman demands more freedom, buy her a longer leash.
Women are like bad penalty shootouts: one kicks, the other catches.
Women and photos are best developed in the dark.
I've always cared about a woman's inner beauty. Once I'm inside... It's beautiful!
Inspired by the wave of "Brazilianness" that swept Brazil during the Modernism movement of 1922, de Lima's poem was intended as a tribute to the beauty of the African race. However, many nowadays consider it offensive to Afro-Brazilians.
Essa Negra FulôJorge de Lima
(1893-1953)Ora, se deu que chegou
(Isso já faz muito tempo)
no bangüê dum meu avô
uma negra bonitinha
chamada negra Fulô.
Essa negra Fulô!
Essa negra Fulô!Ó Fulô! Ó Fulô!
(Era a fala da Sinhá)Vai forrar a minha cama,
pentear os meus cabelos,
vem ajudar a tirar
a minha roupa, Fulô!Essa negra Fulô!
Essa negrinha Fulô
ficou logo pra mucama,
para vigiar a Sinhá
pra engomar pro Sinhô!Essa negra Fulô!
Essa negra Fulô!Ó Fulô! Ó Fulô!
(Era a fala da Sinhá)
vem me ajudar, ó Fulô,
vem abanar o meu corpo
que eu estou suada, Fulô!
vem coçar minha coceira,
vem me catar cafuné,
vem balançar minha rede,
vem me contar uma história,
que eu estou com sono, Fulô!Essa negra Fulô!
"Era um dia uma princesa
que vivia num castelo
que possuía um vestido
com os peixinhos do mar.
Entrou na perna dum pato
saiu na perna dum pinto
o Rei-Sinhô me mandou
que vos contasse mais cinco."Essa negra Fulô!
Essa negra Fulô!Ó Fulô? Ó Fulô?
Vai botar para dormir
esses meninos, Fulô!
"Minha mãe me penteou
minha madrasta me enterrou
pelos figos da figueira
que o Sabiá beliscou."Essa negra Fulô!
Essa negra Fulô!Fulô? Ó Fulô?
(Era a fala da Sinhá
chamando a negra Fulô.)
Cadê meu frasco de cheiro
que teu Sinhô me mandou?Ah! foi você que roubou!
Ah! foi você que roubou!O Sinhô foi ver a negra
levar couro do feitor.
A negra tirou a roupa.
O Sinhô disse: Fulô!
(A vista se escureceu
que nem a negra Fulô.)Essa negra Fulô!
Essa negra Fulô!Ó Fulô ? Ó Fulô?
Cadê meu lenço de rendas
cadê meu cinto, meu broche,
cadê meu terço de ouro
que teu Sinhô me mandou?
Ah! foi você que roubou.
Ah! foi você que roubou.Essa negra Fulô!
Essa negra Fulô!O Sinhô foi açoitar
sozinho a negra Fulô.
A negra tirou a saia
e tirou o cabeção,
de dentro dele pulou
nuinha a negra Fulô.Essa negra Fulô!
Essa negra Fulô!Ó Fulô? Ó Fulô?
Cadê, cadê teu Sinhô
que nosso Senhor me mandou?
Ah! foi você que roubou,
foi você, negra Fulô?Essa negra Fulô!
That Negro Girl Fulô
It so happened that one day
(a long, long time ago)
arrived at my grandpa's sugar
plantation
a cute Negro girl
by the name of Fulô.That Negro girl Fulô!
That Negro girl Fulô!Hey, Fulô! Hey, Fulô!
(It was the Missus speaking)Go make my bed,
and comb my hair,
come over and help me
undress, Fulô!That Negro girl Fulô!
That little Negro Fulô
soon became the favorite maid,
to look after the Missus
and to iron for her Massa!That Negro girl Fulô!
That Negro girl Fulô!Hey, Fulô! Hey, Fulô!
(It was the Missus speaking)
come help me, hey Fulô,
come fan my body
for I'm sweaty, Fulô!
come scratch my itching,
come stroke my head,
come swing my hammock
come tell me a story,
for I'm sleepy, Fulô!That Negro girl Fulô!
"Once there was a princess
who lived in a castle
who had a dress
with little ocean fish.
She went through the duck's leg
came out of the chick's leg
King-Massa has ordered
that I tell you five more stories."That Negro girl Fulô!
That Negro girl Fulô!Hey, Fulô? Hey, Fulô?
Go take these kids
to bed, Fulô!
"My mother combed my hair
my stepmother buried me
by the fig tree's figs
that the Sabiá nibbled at.That Negro girl Fulô!
That Negro girl Fulô!Fulô? Hey, Fulô?
(It was the Missus
calling for the Negro girl Fulô)
Where is my bottle of perfume
that your Massa sent to me?Ah! you stole it!
Ah! you stole it!Massa went to see the Negro girl
get flogged by the foreman.
The Negro girl got undressed.
Massa said: Fulô!
(His eyes went dark
as dark as the Negro girl Fulô.)That Negro girl Fulô!
That Negro girl Fulô!Hey, Fulô? Hey, Fulô?
Where's is my lace handkerchief
where's my belt and my brooch,
where's my gold rosary
that your Massa sent to me?
Ah! you stole them.
Ah! you stole them.That Negro girl Fulô!
That Negro girl Fulô!Massa himself went to flog
the Negro girl Fulô.
The Negro girl took off the skirt,
and took off the camisole
out of it she jumped, stark naked,
the negro girl Fulô.That Negro girl Fulô!
That Negro girl Fulô!Oh Fulô? Oh Fulô?
Where, where's your Massa
who Our Lord sent to me?
Ah! you stole him,
didn't you, Negro girl Fulô?That Negro girl Fulô!
Marta Alvim is a Brazilian journalist, freelance translator and interpreter. You can reach her at mltdalvim@yahoo.com
