Left to right: Actor Lázaro Ramos, actress Aparecida Petrowky, sociologist Édson Santos, actress Taís Araújo, volleyball player Wallace Leandro de Souza

BW of Brazil: The question of race has long been a source of confusion in Brazil. On the one hand, the country has promoted itself as a huge melting pot where everyone is racially mixed to some degree (which is true) and where harmonious racial relations (not always true) have lead to a “racial democracy” (definitely not true). Add all this to the fact that Brazilians use an assortment of color/characteristic terms* to define themselves and the question of sorting out who is who or what is what becomes even more confusing. Some would argue that these terms shouldn’t be broken down as this would be a means of dividing Brazil’s fluid racial scheme into the racially polarizing model associated with the United States. Well, as it turns out, once the numbers and studies are analyzed, one comes to the realization that Brazil is already polarized in ways that have noting to do with the US. The report belows delves into the question of the terms pardo, preto and negro and their differences. Although the term pardo is generally thought to mean a person of any sort of “mixed race”, activists of the Movimento Negro (black rights organizations) see this as a term used by persons who are more or less negros (blacks) or at least partially black. The terms preto and negro both mean black but activists define preto as the actual color while they define negro as a race encompassing a wide range of persons of African descent. This topic has been covered previously on this blog (for example, here, here and here) but the topic always has space for fresh interpretations. Read on….

The classification “pretos” taken by the IBGE raised controversy over the correct way to refer to this group of people

The disclosure by the Fundação Universitária para o Vestibular (University Foundation for the College Entrance Examination or Fuvest) of the news about the absence of preto (black) people in the most competitive courses at the University of São Paulo (USP) fueled a controversy over the more correct way of classifying people by color or race. With the banner of “politically correct” raised, some have argued that it would be better to use the term negros (also meaning blacks) or afrodesendentes (African descendants). But it is wrong to call someone preto?

The debate started because Fuvest, responsible for selecting students of USP, adopted the standard classification of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE or Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística), which divides the population of the country into five groups: preto (black), pardo (brown), branco (white), amarelo (yellow or Asian) and indígena (indigenous).

The claim is historical: the first census in Brazil was done in 1872 and asked Brazilians in which of the four groups (at the time) they fell into: preto, pardo, branco or caboclo. Throughout 140 years, there have been some changes in the nomenclature, but there is no consensus on how to classify the population.

“This is a very controversial topic. Some argue that we should use the classification negro, but negro is a social identity. It takes into account a political vision, the identity of a people much more than skin color” – José Luiz Petruccelli, IBGE researcher

José Luiz Petruccelli, who has researched racial diversity for over 20 years in the IBGE, recognizes that the classification can be improved, but argues that the model follows an historical series and changes could affect the comparison of the data. “This is a very controversial topic. Some argue that we should use the classification negro, but negro is a social identity. It takes into account political vision, the identity of a people much more than skin color,” he argues.

The specialist says it’s not correct, for the purpose of research, to put pardos and pretos together into a single group of negros. He said discrimination against pretos is much higher than that seen among people who declare themselves pardos, and this difference must be present in demographic surveys. “Is there a difference in social behavior between pretos and pardos: the darker one is, the more one is discriminated against,” he says (1).

Even União de Negros pela Igualdade (Unegro or the Union of Blacks for Equality or UNEGRO), an organization of social movements created in Bahia and present in 24 states, argues that it is more appropriate to use the term negro, while accepting the rules of the IBGE. “As there is no scientific criterion for this classification, it was agreed to use the nomenclature of the IBGE for research that would be the most feasible,” said Alexandre Braga, communication director for the entity.

José Luiz Petruccelli of the IBGE and Alexandre Braga of UNEGRO

While agreeing that the darker the skin color the greater the discrimination, UNEGRO believes the IBGE can likely come to use only the classification negro in the future.

“People identify more as negros than as pretas or pardas,” says Alexander.

Preto and pardo

In census research done by the IBGE, is presented a relationship with the five classifications employed and people needed to indicate to which color they belonged. According Petruccelli, each person has the freedom to say their classification. He explains that pretos are usually the people who see themselves as a darker color. But in relation to pardos there is no consensus. “They are usually people who classify themselves as morenas or mulatas but it depends on the region,” he says.

The researcher says that in the South and Southeast regions, the people who declare themselves pardo are usually of African origin. However, in the North, many pardos are actually descendants of Indians. He also tells a curious story about the situation in the Federal District. “The local population, as white as their skin might be, classifies itself as parda because it sees brancos (whites) as public officials who have come from the outside.”

According to the researcher of the IBGE, the presence of pretos is lower in Brazil, so there is a tendency of putting pardos and pretos together into a group of negros. He says that only for research the term does not apply, but that the social familiarity is valid in grouping the two nomenclatures. For the representative of UNEGRO, resistance also occurs in accepting the color preto and many prefer to be listed as pardos, that would be an intermediary term. “The identity of the negro is much bigger, so we advocate the use of that term,” he says.

And afrodescendente?

According to the director of UNEGRO, the term afrodescendente (African descendant), or Afro-Brazilian, is out of usage. “I believe today it’s much more appropriate to call someone negro than afrodescendente. This is much more a political nomenclature, an action of social movements in the fight against discrimination than for designating color,” he explains.

Preto, pardo or negro: How should African descendants in Brazil be classified?

Note from BW of Brazil: This debate over how to classify black people or persons of African descent has raged for many years and is complicated by the tendency of Brazilians in general to avoid classifying themselves as black. As discussed in a previous post, persons of visible African descent can identify themselves in any number of ways and this is how their color will be recorded on the census regardless of whether the data collector agrees or disagrees. Thus, if a person defines him or herself as branco or branca, meaning white, and the data collector sees that person as pardo or preto, the data collector must check the box for branco/branca. The term preto/preta can also be challenging as it generally refers to very dark-skinned persons of African descent but how one classifies what is dark-skinned is strictly up to opinion. What may be brown-skinned for one person may be considered dark-skinned  for another person, for example. 

In respect to researcher José Luiz Petruccelli’s assertion that it would be wrong to join the preto and pardo categories into one negro category, in purists terms he is correct because they are two of the five officially recognized color categories offered by the official census. But in terms of social exclusion, discrimination and disadvantages, there is a whole different way to analyze this. For one thing, according to the IBGE itself: 

“the best way to analyze inequalities in education and income of Brazil’s preto and pardo populations in Brazil is to join the two portions of the population into one. The reason, says the institute, is that the socioeconomic characteristics of the two groups are very similar. Another point, according to the institute, is a statistical issue: the group of pretos is very small (8.2% of the population in 2011) and, therefore, the data may be distorted if this population is analyzed separately.” (2)

It is also true that activists of the Movimento Negro have long argued for the joining of the two groups as a means of constructing a collective black identity among pretos and pardos. According to a study entitled Seminário O Negro no Ensino Superior (Seminar Blacks in Higher Education) that studied quality of life and socioeconomic statistics according to color: 

“…one can draw in Brazil, from these aggregate data, a sharp line separating brancos from pretos and pardos, and that means that the Movimento Negro (black rights movement) is entirely correct to speak of negros (blacks) as the sum of pardos and pretos.”

The study continued:

“If we aggregate data from the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE or Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) in 1972 at anytime, up to today, there is a clear-cut cleavage between brancos and pardos, and there are no major differences between pardos and pretos, such that it is possible to draw a clear line of color in terms of social position, educational opportunities, income distribution, health care or any social indicator that one wants to utilize.

“Configuring monthly household incomes ranging up to R$1,800.00 (about US$900) the percentage is 45.3 percent for whites, 72.4% for pretos and 65% for pardos. More than half of pretos and pardos are concentrated in low-income groups. Moreover, even though the percentages relating to family income above R$9,000 (about US$4,500) are also low for whites, inequality between whites and pretos and pardos is visible. There are 5.1 percent of whites who earn this monthly income, while only 1.1% of pretos and 1.6% pardos do.”

Sociologist Carlos Hasenbalg has studied the connection between racial discrimination and socioeconomic inequality for more than 30 years. His 1979 book Discriminação e desigualdades raciais no Brasil (Discrimination and Racial Inequalities in Brazil) was groundbreaking in drawing a link between skin color and social inequality. In a 2006 interview, Hasenbalg had this to say about racial inequality:

“In all the themes studied for more than twenty years, non-whites end up at a disadvantage. Research on education indicate that non-white children complete fewer years of education than whites, even when considering children of similar social background or family income.

“Summarizing and simplifying, these studies indicate that pretos and pardos are exposed to various discriminatory practices in the labor market. Besides entering the job market with less formal education than whites, non-whites are exposed to occupational discrimination, for which the evaluation of non-productive attributes such as the color of the people, result in exclusion or limited access to positions valued in the labor market. Add to this wage discrimination, evidenced in lower rates of return according to education and experience obtained by non-whites, and the difference in the rate of return increases in higher educational levels.

“The most relevant results point not only to lower rates of upward mobility to middle and upper strata experienced by non-whites, but also to the greater difficulties encountered by non-white middle class families to convey to attained social positions to their children.

“It is worth adding that when we study these inequalities, opposing white/non-white (preto and pardo), we referred strictly to the processes of socioeconomic stratification. When we examined other dimensions of social life involving sociability (i.e. marriage and friendship), this standard does not apply and the pardos differentiate themselves (from pretos) and are closer to brancos (whites).

“I insist, pretos and pardos are exposed to disadvantages at all stages of the life cycle. Demographers have found that preto and pardo women have higher intrauterine mortality rates than white women, that the rates of infantile mortality and mortality of children under five are substantially higher among non-whites, and pretos and pardos live on average five or six years less than whites. The educational trajectories of children and young non-whites are shorter than those of their white peers. Income inequality among groups of color reflect different patterns of insertion in the labor market and discriminatory practices in this market, but are also due to accumulated disadvantages in formative stages, prior to entry into the labor market.”

Over the past few decades literally hundreds of independent studies, dissertations and research have confirmed the socioeconomic division of Brazil into negros (blacks, summing the total of pretos and pardos) on one side and brancos (whites) on the other. In another example from 2012, Bárbara Sepúlveda and Sarah Jane Therese Alves Durães reported the following in their report Raça e Stratificação no Brasil (Race and Stratification in Brazil):

“Data of the PNAD from 2009 posited that blacks (pretos and pardos together) in Brazil, during the research, received on average 57.4% of the hourly income of a branco (white). Separating the color categories, which conventionally would compose the black population, pretos and pardos, but still including the income relationship and years of education, we see that they received when at four years of study, respectively, 78.7% and 72,1% of whites with the same education level; from 5-8 years of education, the figure was 78.4% and 72.1%, 72.6% and 75.8% for 9-11 years and 69.8 % and 73.8% when the years of education exceeded 12 years.

“Blacks (pretos and pardos), according to the same survey, were the majority of unregistered employees; 17.4% of pretos and 18.9% of pardos, while among whites the figure was 13.8%.

“In addressing education we see that, according to the PNAD 2009 study, the illiteracy rate for persons aged 15 years or more for the black population (pretos and pardos) was 13.3% for pretos and 13.4% for pardos, while among whites it was 5.9%.

“In this sense among the population aged 25 years or more with a college education, the proportion of pretos was 4.7% and 5.3% for pardos, in contrast to 15% of whites.”

Thus, the bottom line here is that, being preto or pardo in Brazil, which includes a plethora of skin tones, facial features and hair textures, puts one at a huge disadvantage in comparison to being considered branco. In other words, in reference to the original question of the difference between the terms preto, pardo and negro,  the answer would be not much. Because in a country (and world) where one is at an advantage or disadvantage depending on proximity to a European aesthetic, in the words of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro  professor Muniz Sodré,  ”there is only white and the others.” (3)

Source: Terra Notícias, Guimarães, Antonio Sérgio Alfredo. “Entrevista com Carlos Hasenbalg”. Revistas USP. Volume 18, Number 2, 2006. http://www.revistas.usp.br/ts/article/view/12524/14301. Sepúlveda, Bárbara and Sarah Jane Therese Alves Durães. Raça e Stratificação no Brasil. Congresso Internacional Interdisciplinar em Sociais e Humanidades. Niterói RJ: ANINTER-SH/ PPGSD-UFF, September 3-6, 2012, ISSN 2316-266X. http://www.aninter.com.br/ANAIS%20I%20CONITER/GT04%20Rela%E7%F5es%20%E9tnicorraciais/RA%C7A%20E%20ESTRATIFICA%C7%C3O%20NO%20BRASIL%20-%20trabalho%20completo.pdf. Durham, Eunice R. and BORI, Carolina M. (orgs.) Seminário O negro no Ensino Superior. NUPES, Núcleo de Pesquisas sobre Ensino Superior. São Paulo, Universidade de São Paulo, December 2002.

Notes

* – It has been cited in countless reports that in the 1976 census, Brazilians used 136 different terms to define their skin color. Later studies would reveal that the the pool of responses were not as wide as once believed. For example, For example, Nelson Valle Silva found that of these 136 terms, 95% of these responses were concentrated into variations of only seven different terms. A second study (Petrucelli 2002) gave similar results with 97% of 143 skin color denominations breaking down into only seven categories. See Hasenbalg, Carlos; Valle Silva, Nelson do. Estrutura social, mobilidade e raça. Rio de Janeiro: IUPERJ/Vértice, 1988. Petrucelli, José Luiz. A Cor denominada: estudos sobre a classificação étnico-racial. Rio de Janeiro: LPP/DP&A, 2007.

1. While the idea that the darker the skin and the closer to an African phenotype, the more the possibility of discrimination is generally true in many multi-racial societies, it is not true say that persons who are classified or classify themselves as pardos or mulatos don’t also experience discrimination. As experiences of people like Deise Nunes, the first and only black Miss Brasil winner (1986), volleyball player Wallace Leandro de Souza, the daughter of a state governor, Ana Flávia Peçanha de Azeredo, Claudiane Malachi Nogueira, from the northeastern state of Maranhão, 1960s beauty queen Vera Lúcia Couto dos Santos and many others show, one doesn’t have to be of the darkest complexion or of the most African features to experience discrimination. In terms of placing pretos and pardos into one category as representative of Brazil’s black population, Movimento Negro activists have long argued that in terms of socioeconomic data that measure quality of life (income, education, health care, etc), the differences between pretos and pardos in nearly every area studied are nearly identical while both experience disadvantages in relation to Brazilians who consider themselves to be brancos or whites. 

2. Taken from the December 23, 2012 article “Instituto junta pretos e pardos em só um grupo para evitar distorções”. Accessed December 23, 2012. http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/educacao/1205716-instituto-junta-pretos-e-pardos-em-so-um-grupo-para-evitar-distorcoes.shtml

3. Sodré, Muniz. Claros e Escuros: Identidade, povo e mídia no Brasil. Editora Vozes. Editora Vozes. Petrópolis. 1999

Girls of Bonde das Maravilhas funk group being investigated

Note from BW of Brazil: Actually, I was beginning to wonder if this would ever happen. A little over a week ago, this blog featured a story about the Minister of Policies to Promote Racial Equality saying it was necessary to change the image of black women in the Brazilian media as Afro-Brazilian women are often viewed according to stereotypes associated with domestic work or sexuality. In sharing the story, the above photo was actually one of the photos used to promote the story. A week later and the group in the photo is being investigated for the sexual nature of their shows. The crazy thing is that 4 of the 5 girls in the group are teenagers with the youngest being 13 years old.

In previous posts, the blog has also featured stories that touched on the music phenomenon in Brazil known as “Funk Carioca” but increasingly being called simply “funk” (pronounced “foon-ky” in Brazil). If you haven’t read any of those posts, understand that while this music is called “funk”, it’s style was more akin to ’90s American Miami Bass than the variety made famous by the likes of music legends such as Parliament-Funkadelic or James Brown. Sexually aggressive lyrics, fast beats and suggestive dancing are all synonymous with the style. Dances such as the “one-legged kangaroo” or the “bottle dance”, both plays on sexual positions, were two of the dance crazes associated with this music, thus the dance featured in this music video should come as no surprise. Perhaps surprising (or not) is that this video now carries a message from YouTube that reads “This video may be inappropriate for some users”. 

Young “funkeiras” of the group Bonde das Maravilhas

The manager of this group claims that there is no sexual nature to the girl’s songs. Take a look at the video and you decide. But like the “twerk” and “stanky leg” craze in the US, the dance (if you want to call it that) featured in this video will again draw a line between those who say “it’s only dancing” and those who wonder where these girls’ parents are. Considering past posts about the sexual and/or negative images of black Brazilian women in the imagination of the public, one must ask, why is it that this appears to be the only way that  girls/women of African descent can make a name for themselves in Brazil? Hear the song, see the video and read the lyrics at the end of this post.

The investigation began after a complaint from the Conselho Tutelar (Guardian Council) of the state of Minas Gerais who claim that the funkeiras’ (funk singers) show has a very strong sexual element

by the editors of Gente & Variedades

The girls of the funk group Bonde das Maravilhas, who became ​​famous on the internet due to the success of the video “Aquecimento das Maravilhas” (loosely meaning, the “Maravilhas heating up”), were reported to the Conselho Tutelar (Guardian Council) of the southeastern state of Minas Gerais due to what was described as the strong sexual element of their show. According to the column Retratos da Vida (Portraits of Life) of the Extra newspaper, the Prosecutor for the Children and Youth of the city of Niterói (Rio de Janeiro state) is investigating irregularities in the girls’ performances.

Group’s members are aged 13 to 20

Also according to the publication, the mothers of Kathy, 20; Thayssa, 15; Rafaela, 16; Karol, 17, and Renatinha, 13, have already been heard by prosecutors. In order not to disturb the girls’ groove, there is already talk of a change in their style. They are finalizing two songs for the children’s market and will wear tamer clothes than the Daisy Duke style cut off jeans the group became famous for. “We’re finishing (the songs) “Abcedário” and “A ginástica das Maravilhas”. Our songs don’t are not of a sexual nature,” defends manager Henrique Milão.

Another concern with the group is the girls’ education. Of the five, only Kathy, 20, has graduated from high school. Residents of two communities in Niterói (Engenhoca) and São Gonçalo, they profess to not liking the classroom very much.

Funk singers became an internet sensation

Coming from poor families (some are daughters of street sweepers and manicurists), the quintet met at school two years ago. Together, they had a dream of becoming famous and improving their lives. “I want to buy a house for my grandmother who raised me. I don’t have a father. I really do, but I say I that I don’t,” Rafaela vents, one of the Metralha sisters.

Success on the Internet, with video that has reached 26 million views, they are preparing their first DVD and have even caught the attention of soccer ace Neymar. Through his Twitter account, the Neymar quoted Bonde das Maravilhas as one of Rio’s attractions. “I dreamed that I was his girlfriend,” says Thayssa playfully. “We’re lacking him calling us to dance with him,” Kathy offers.

Source: iBahia, Portal do Maranhão

Bonde das Maravilhas – Aquecimento das Maravilhas (CLIPE OFICIAL)

Aquecimento das Maravilhas (lyrics in English and Portuguese)

The bonde das maravilhas is the new sensation

And to start, call Karol Popozão (big butt)

Put your booty on the floor, go,

Put your booty on the floor, go

Put your booty on the floor, go

At the request of the young ones she’s representing

Come maravilha Thaysa boom, boom, boom, swinging

Bum bum bum swinging bum bum bum swinging

Katy’s heating up, she’ll hypnotize you

Come maravilha Katy sliding, sliding, sliding

The sisters coming out with a new style

Keep your legs up high make a little eight square

Make a little eight square make a little square

Make a little square, make a little eight square

Make a little eight square

O bonde das maravilhas é a nova sensação,
E pra começar chama Karol do popozão
Cola a bunda no chão vai, cola a bunda no chão vai
Cola a bunda no chão vai

A pedido dos novinhos ela vem representando
Vem Thaysa maravilha bum bum bum girando
Bum bum bum girando bum bum bum girando
A Katy no aquecimento ela vai te hipnotizando
Vem a Katy maravilha deslizando, deslizando, deslizando

As irmãs metralhas vem lançando um jeito novo
Fica de pernas pro alto faz quadradinho de oito
Faz quadradinho de oito faz quadradinho
Faz quadradinho faz quadradinho de oito
Faz quadradinho de oito…

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Poster for “Raça” documentary

Note from BW of Brazil: The BW of Brazil blog has featured the work and opinions of filmmaker Joel Zito Araújo in a number of posts. He is the the most productive of any black Brazilian filmmaker of the past few decades producing a number of works, the majority of which discuss the issue of race, racism and racial inequality in Brazilian society, particularly in the media. He is the writer and director of the book and documentary A Negação do Brasil – O negro na telenovela brasileira, which explores the representation of Afro-Brazilians in two decades of Brazil’s ever popular novelas (soap operas). The works are considered benchmarks in the study of Afro-Brazilians on television and Araújo is considered an authority on the issue of blacks in the Brazilian media in general. Lázaro Ramos, perhaps Brazil’s most popular black male actor, has hailed Araújo’s latest work, which will be released on May 17th, only 4 days after the recognition of the 125th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Brazil, as the “documentary of the year”. The new documentary, entitled Raça, meaning “race”, comes at a time when the discussion of the topic continues to rise to center stage in Brazilian society. The national release of the film will also be another milestone for Araújo whose important works have been, for the most part, ignored by distributors of Brazilian cinema. Below is a review of the film with comments from the director and the co-director of the film, Megan Mylan as well as the film’s trailer. 

By Anderson Sotero of Correio Nagô

Senator Paulo Paim and the battle for the Estatuto da Igualdade Racial (Statute of Racial Equality). The granddaughter of enslaved Africans, Miúda dos Santos, and the struggle for land. Singer Netinho de Paula and the attempt to consolidate  TV da Gente (Our TV) a television channel focused on Afro-Brazilians. Three different initiatives that Brazilian filmmaker Joel Zito Araújo and American filmmaker Megan Mylan decided to register in the documentary Raça, meaning “race”, which opens on May 17th.

Miúda dos Santos, Paulo Paim and Netinho de Paula: three personalities featured in film

The documentary is a co-production between Brazil and the United States, filmed between 2005 and 2011. In the 104 minute long film, the video records various aspects of the debate on racial issues in the country. All proceeds from the box office of the film will be donated to the Fundo Baobá (Baobab Fund), an entity engaged in the promotion of racial equality (1).

“The film captures the debate about the pursuit of overcoming racial inequality in Brazil. To record this historical moment in which the racial debate became constant in the media and in public discourse, we decided to closely monitor three black personalities that are, each in their own way, at the forefront of this battle for equality,” said filmmaker Joel Zito Araújo in an interview the Portal Correio Nagô website.  Araújo is also the director of the documentary A Negação do Brasil (Denying Brazil) which covers the history of blacks in Brazilian soap operas, and won the award for best documentary at É Tudo Verdade festival, besides having also been awarded at the Festival de Recife in 2001.

Filmmaker Joel Zito Araújo: “film captures the debate about the pursuit of overcoming racial inequality in Brazil”

Joel Zito, who holds a Ph. D in Communication from USP (University of São Paulo), also directed Filhas do Vento (Daughters of the Wind), a work that brought together the largest black cast in the history of Brazilian cinema, won eight Kikito awards in the Gramado Festival, and was the winner of the Tiradentes film festival, in 2006.

Characters – In this new work, three characters were chosen to be the focus of the documentary. In one of the three paths chosen by the directors, Senator Paulo Paim tries to sanction the law of the Estatuto da Igualdade Racial (Statute of Racial Equality) in the National Congress in the nation’s capital city of Brasília. Paim is the author of the original project that took almost a decade to be approved.

From Brasília to the southeastern state of Espírito Santo, the documentary shows the struggle of Miúda dos Santos, granddaughter of enslaved Africans and a quilombola (2) activist, for the possession of the land and respect for their ancestral traditions in Quilombo de Linharinho Community (3). Along with the residents of the region, Miúda fights against a branch of cellulose company.

Miúda dos Santos in scene from film

Behind the scenes of Brazilian TV, Raça shows the process of creating and try to consolidate the television channel TV da Gente, of singer, TV host and businessman Netinho de Paula. Founded in 2005, in São Paulo, the now defunct channel was formed by mostly black professionals and idealized by the artist.

Netinho de Paula and Senator Paulo Paim

“The choice of the characters came from the desire to be able to follow the life stories of people who were at the epicenter of the debate. And as a great part of the controversy revolved around quotas in universities and the lands of quilombolas, the adoption of the Statute of Racial Equality, and the difficulty of an equal representation of blacks in the media, we sought people connected to it,” said Joel Zito.

For seven years, the directors followed the battles faced by each of the three characters. “When you decide to direct a movie, watching the struggles of three people, it is their lives that indicate when shooting must end,” says the filmmaker Megan Mylan, also in an interview with Portal Correio Nagô. Winner of awards such as the Academy Award, Independent Spirit and the Guggenheim, Mylan produced and directed the film Smile Pinki, an Oscar winner in 2008. The social theme is common in her works.

Directors of “Raça” Joel Zito Araújo and Megan Mylan

She emphasized that, especially in the case of Senator Paim fighting for the adoption of the Statute of Racial Equality, the filming had to be maintained while the statute was moving in Congress. “On the issue of Miúda, unfortunately, there is still a lot to be won in seeking land titling quilombola lands, but we decided that with the adoption of the Statute, we were in a key moment for our movie get in theaters. It was time to contribute to the national dialogue around the issue,” adds the filmmaker.

In an unprecedented action, the directors of the documentary signed an agreement with the Fundo Baobá (Baobab Fund) and all the box office revenue of the film will be donated to the organization, which is geared to the promotion of racial equality.

Partnership – For the directors, the film is the result of a friendship that began in the nineties. At this time, Megan was living in Brazil, working in the Ashoka Foundation. “She is a person of great sensitivity to social issues. But it was in 2004 that the idea of directing a movie together came up,” says Joel Zito.

Mylan says that even after returning to the US she continued to keep an eye on Brazil. “The denial of racial disparity in Brazil was one thing that struck me when I lived in the country. In 2004 I was watching the debate over the adoption of quotas at UERJ (State University of Rio de Janeiro) on the internet. I felt that finally Brazil was facing the reality of their racial disparity, recognizing that the beautiful idea that Brazil was a country without prejudice, with no difference between the races was indeed a myth,” she recalls.

She also reports that it was then that the idea of ​​documenting the period that Brazil was experiencing came up. “With my filmmaker view, I wanted to know who was documenting this historic moment so I figured it had to have Brazilian filmmakers already doing it. I called Joel immediately but we didn’t find anyone following it. So as filmmakers we only had one option; it would be us who would do the work,” she says.

“I am from a generation that, in adolescence, these problems were considered only a problem of Afro-Brazilian. It is as if racism was not a problem of an unequal relationship between different races. Therefore, we had the insight that it was time to make a movie about this great new Brazilian historical context,” adds Joel Zito. For him, the documentary Raça only lacks discussing “exterminating violence of black youth.”

In one of the documentary’s scenes, Senator Paim makes a statement that summarizes some debate on the topic. He says “When you go to a company, when you are discriminated against, they don’t ask for your DNA, they just look at you. The issue is that our black people are being murdered, are excluded and are (those) who earn the lowest salary.”

Filming – Mylan also revealed that they found difficulty with financial support for the filming. But for her, the biggest challenge was selecting three stories that could represent the “social change that is happening in all sectors of the country.”

“A film can’t do everything, but we also have a responsibility to create something that well represents this national transformation. Our characters represent three different areas:  government, media, and cultural and historical heritage. The style that we decided to use to capture this dynamic thing was the direct cinema, a style of observation. With this, you have to be present in the key moments and their characters have to be people at the forefront of things,” she says.

The video had its premiere at the Mostra Première Brazil – Hors Concours, during the Festival de Cinema (Rio de Janeiro Film Festival), and Fespasco in Burkina Faso, the most important African festival.

“The film had a reception moving. The public loves and even outside of here, recognizes its social and political importance. Besides having received many accolades for its artistic quality,” says Joel Zito.

For Mylan, Brazilians should not miss checking out the documentary. “It’s a good movie with a good story of three Brazilians whose lives represent a moment of historical transformation of the country. We want to promote a qualified national discussion on racial equity, trying to get people to come out with a better understanding of how racial equality is fundamental to citizenship and for a modern Brazil,” she promises.

Trailer for documentary Raça

Source: Correio Nagô

Notes

1. See two articles featuring Athayde Motta, the director of the Fundo Baobá, speaking on institutional racism in Brazil’s education system and health care system here and here.

2. For an explanation of quilombos and quilombolas, see the note section of this article.

3. Struggles over land rights of descendants of Brazil’s quilombolas (descendants of maroon societies) have been going on for a number of years. See the article Black Brazilian community being evicted by the Brazilian Navy, for example.

Luciana Barreto, Miracema Alves dos Santos and Reinaldo Guimarães: black professionals discuss experiences with prejudice

Stories of discrimination experienced by black professionals organized into a book

A television reporter who has lost count of how many times she’d been mistaken for a makeup artist at a TV station where she worked. A law student who had to convince a professor that the correct answer on a test was the result of her studying, not “guessing”, and faced the distrust of a judge regarding her education.

Although they live in different cities and have different professions, these two personalities carry in common the fact that they are black and participated in a pioneering program of affirmative action in the 1990’s that granted scholarships to poor African descendants at one of the most important universities of Rio de Janeiro .

Book: Afrocidadanização – Ações Afirmativas e Trajetórias de Vida no Rio de Janeiro

The stories of journalist Luciana Barreto and lawyer/historian Miracema Alves dos Santos are part of the book Afrocidadanização – Ações Afirmativas e Trajetórias de Vida no Rio de Janeiro (Afro-citizenship: Affirmative Action and Life Trajectories in Rio de Janeiro) (Publisher PUC-Rio), written by researcher Reinaldo da Silva Guimarães. The work presents the trajectory of 14 students, mostly black, recipients of the first affirmative action programs initiated in a Brazilian university.

Initiated in 1994, the agreement between PUC-Rio (Pontifícia Universidade Católica or Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro) and the Movimento Social Pré-Vestibular para Negros e Carentes (PVNC or the Pre-Entrance Examination Social Movement for Blacks and Poor) allowed that students that passed the examinations could get into college with scholarships, enabling hundreds of blacks from poor communities to begin to frequent the halls of the university.

Shock

But if entering university was already a great achievement, for some the hardest was yet to come. Coming in their majority from the Baixada Fluminense region or from (poor) suburban neighborhoods, these students experienced difficulties shifting to the PUC campus, located in Gávea, in the south zone of Rio, besides having to circumvent economic and social resistances. Luciana Barreto was one of the first students to enroll in journalism as part of the affirmative action program:

“I thought that it was the end of my drama, but it was only the beginning.”

A resident of the city of Nova Iguaçu, Luciana has worked since she was 15 years of age. After failing the first vestibular (college entrance exam) she took, she requested of her parents that she go one year only studying to try so realize her dream of joining the journalism program.

Journalist Luciana Barreto remembers being mistaken for a makeup artist backstage at the TV station where she worked

The strategy paid off. After months of study, Luciana was approved in the vestibular of Rio’s leading universities and decided to enter the journalism program at PUC and History at UFRJ.

“It was a big shock. That world was very different. I went for a long time as the only black woman in the course of journalism. So that was a visual shock, culture shock, an economic shock. Imagine that I needed to wake up at 3:30 in the morning. I took the bus from 4:20 a.m. to take an 8am class.”

But the shock was not restricted to students who were entering the university. The researcher Reinaldo Guimarães, himself black, a former student at PUC-Rio and originating in a poor community, says that the academic community also had resistance to what he calls the new “children of PUC.”

Researcher Reinaldo da Silva Guimarães: Academic community has a preconceptions about black students from poor communities

“It is a resistance to this new public, which theoretically have less cultural capital, besides occupying a space that theoretically they should not be occupying.”

Possessing a Ph.D. in Social Work from PUC-Rio and a Master’s in Sociology at Iuperj (Instituto Universitário de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro or Universitary Institute of Research of Rio de Janeiro), Guimarães has heard reports of program participants that, raising their hands to ask questions during class, were ignored by professors.

“In their minds, this student will not make a relevant question, because he already has a ‘pre-conception’ about what kind of student he received from scholarships, a student coming from the poorest, majority black, suburban residents from the Baixada Fluminense.”

Guessing

With a degree in history from the 1980s, when she decided to attend law school at PUC, Miracema Alves dos Santos had already taught at a university and public schools. Although she paid regular tuition at the beginning of the course, after losing two of her three jobs she was included in the scholarship program for black and poor students.

Historian/lawyer Miracema Alves dos Santos: Professor believed she answered a question correctly because of a guess

Dedicated, she says she used to perform well on tests, though doing double duty, studying in the morning and working at night. Still, she says, in some situations, she received a different treatment by professors.

“I once took a test, I received a good grade, but then I noticed that the teacher had not considered a question that I knew I was right.”

When she questioned the fact Miracema says that the teacher asked how she had “guessed” the answer.

“I responded that I had not guessed, I had studied.”

Asked if she attributes the attitude of the teacher to the fact that she is black, Miracema explains that racist attitudes and prejudices are seldom clear.

“The question of prejudice is very difficult. When it’s not a very direct thing, you always have a doubt. The Brazilian has created ways of being prejudiced without completely showing it.”

“Sometimes I talk to my white colleagues about situations that I go through and they say, ‘ah, but it could not have been prejudice.’ Yes, it really could not have been, but when you’re black, you feel the difference, because it’s with you.”

Market

But it is the labor market that some situations are more evident. According to a survey conducted in 2010 by the Ethos Institute and by IBOPE (Instituto Brasileiro de Opinião Pública e Estatística or Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics), blacks occupy 25.6% of supervisory positions, 13.2% of management positions and 5.3% of executive positions in Brazilian companies, although according the IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística or Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), 50.7% of Brazilians are preto (black) and pardo (brown) (categories used by the IBGE).

Guimarães notes some aspects that highlight prejudice in the labor market:

“In the spaces of power and visibility is where you find fewer blacks, even those who are already qualified. Under identical conditions, blacks will always be passed over, due to historical reasons, of memory, of subordination that was imposed on blacks in Brazil. The black is always subordinate, not the principal.”

Beyond the statistics, these situations are reflected in the daily lives of some of the recipients of the affirmative action program at PUC-Rio.

Currently anchor of public network TV Brazil, Luciana Barreto says that throughout her career she has faced questions about her qualifications being in front of the cameras.

“(People say) ‘Oh, you’re in the video because you are black, because they need someone black.’ You’re never in the video because you are competent.”

In one of her earlier works, the journalist claims she was repeatedly mistaken for a makeup artist backstage.

“I used to rest in the makeup room at halftime of the newscast. Whenever someone walked in for some special program, especially those entertainment programs, they looked at me and asked: ‘Can you do my makeup, please.’”

In Miracema’s case, she continues giving history classes, but occasionally she acts as a lawyer. She says that during a hearing, she had met with a judge who was her former professor, but even so, he was surprised with the fact that she had graduated from an elite institution like PUC.

“Imagine (that he) would find this neguinha at a hearing in a special court in the north zone that had studied at PUC,” she says. “How many abolitions will we need to have in Brazil in order for a black to occupy a space in this society?”

Source: R7 Notícias

May 13, 1888 – Abolition of Slavery in Brazil

by Naira Sodré and Max Milliano Melo

Yesterday, May 13, we remembered the date of the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888. But 125 years after the abolition of slavery, Brazil is still far from being a nation free of racial inequalities. Even so, an analysis of economic and social indicators of the past 20 years shows that the country has advanced.

Research from the IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística or Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) shows that the proportion of Brazilians who declare themselves preto (black) or pardo (brown) in places of higher education doubled in ten years, jumping from 19% to 38%. As a result, the percentage of Afro-Brazilians (pretos and pardos) increased in almost every university career. At the same time, the gap between whites and non-whites in the country in terms of per capita income also decreased.

One of the main reasons for the rise of blacks in higher education is the expansion of the sector, that from 1995 to 2011 saw the number of students quadrupled, especially in the private sector, which concentrates 80% of enrollments. A simple analysis of the Censuses from 2000 to 2010 shows that the percentage of new preto and pardo college graduates has come to 41%, close to their 51% representation in the total population. In medicine, however, they are only 17%, although there was an increase of Afro-Brazilian professionals.

Anthropologist Maria Aparecida de Freitas says the fall of racial inequality in access to education has been the result of an ongoing process of the last two decades. However, inequality will only in fact be fought with the improvement of basic public education. With this investment in the base, there would be less violence, less crisis of manpower and less inequality.

According to the researcher and anthropologist, a change in perspective is happening: ten years ago, few working class people aspired to higher education. This is a process of improvement that has occurred in the last 20 years, with economic stabilization and improved quality of life and the educational system itself in the period.

More Afro-Brazilians are now part of the middle class

The increased presence of blacks in higher education and the reduction of racial inequality in terms of income also correlates with the expansion of the new middle class (whose average income per capita varies between R$291 or US$145 and R$1,109 or US$554), which benefited from the appreciation of the minimum wage, the growth of the economy and social programs targeting the poor. As a result, in 2001, according to a study by the Secretaria de Assuntos Estratégicos da Presidência da República (Secretariat of Strategic Affairs of the Presidency of the Republic), 31% of the preto and pardo population were in the middle class. Ten years later, they are 51%.

Inequality persists

Even within this segment, however, there are still inequalities, as revealed by a study of the Laboratório de Análises Econômicas, Históricas, Sociais e Estatísticas das Relações Raciais (Laeser or the Laboratory of the Analysis of Economic, Historical, and Social Statistics of Race Relations), of UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro). Among the strata which are among the poorest 10% of the new middle class, the percentage of pretos and pardos is 62%. At the other extreme, of those who become part of the new richest 10% of the country, this percentage drops to 39% (Overall, reports estimate that they make up 18-22% of the 10% richest).

Despite the improved levels of higher education and income of the black population in recent decades, the presence of blacks among occupations with lower income persists. Another LaesEr study reveals that while 20% of pretos and pardos are domestic, among broncos (whites), the percentage is 12%. Pretos (blacks) and pardos (browns) earn in this area of work, on average, less than brancos (whites). Clearly marked by the legacy of slavery in Brazil, only in 2013 did domestic workers earn the right to overtime pay and FGTS (1) guaranteed to other workers.

After many years in struggle, in April, a new law granted domestic workers new expanded rights

Even with the advances, slave labor still persists, especially in the North-East of the country, where people are deceived and taken to work far from home, where they come into with debts that a poor salary cannot pay off, becoming even more indebted just to eat. Some are beaten. They are contemporary slaves. And 81% of them are “non-white” (pretos and pardos), according to a survey commissioned by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and conducted by a research group of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

According to the study that interviewed workers in conditions analogous to slavery, rescued and freed in operations carried out by the Ministério do Trabalho (Ministry of Labor) and the Ministério Público do Trabalho (Public Ministry of Labor or MPT), nearly 20% of those rescued from the conditions were preto, and 62% were pardo. In 2012, 2,560 workers were found in this situation in Brazil.

Conditions analogous to slavery continue to exist in some areas of the country

There have been improvements but there is still a ways to go; here’s a report from 2008.

Blacks and browns have only 6.3 years of schooling (compared to 8.1 years for whites). Only 31% of people in higher education are black or brown.

 Negros (pretos and pardos) receive 62% of the salary of whites. The black woman receives only 56%. Among the richest 10% overall, only 22% are preto or pardo while they only make up 13% of the richest 1%. Among the poorest 10%, 68% are preto and pardo. Brancos (whites) receive, on average, R$977 (US$490) while pretos and pardos earn R$506 (US$253). Whites on the same job, earn 11% more than pretos and pardos. Police and justice are more rigid and belligerent when it comes to dealing with pretos and pardos.

According to the survey, Brazil has a veiled racism in which discrimination make more difficult access and acceptance: denial of jobs, dating, marriage, friendship, cordiality and trust. At the same time, it is quicker and more rigid in charges and convictions in when dealing with pretos and pardos. On television, racism presents itself through the small presence of black actors and the destination of the few in roles of secondary status. The perception that TV broadcasts of blacks (pretos and pardos) is that of a being destined to be subordinate, usually in roles of doormen, maids, drivers etc. In the minds of the population, important positions are associated with white people and unimportant positions to pretos and pardos. Something good is white something white and something bad is preto or pardo.

Despite imrprovements, racial inequalities persist between Afro-Brazilians and white Brazilians

Only 9.7% of physicians are preto or pardo. Among dentists, only 8.6% are preto or pardo, and among the lawyers only 17%. There are virtually no black priests or black soccer coaches (2) in Brazil.

Historically, white elites thought that countries with nonwhite majorities would never progress. While in Brazil only 7-11% of Brazilians participate in trade unions and political parties, the various minorities that make up the Movimento Negro (black rights movement) have managed to reduce the intensity of racism in Brazil.

Source: Tribuna da Bahia, Correio Braziliense, Folha de São Paulo, 23 de novembro de 2008

Notes

1. The FGTS (Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço or Guaranteed Fund for Time of Service) is a savings account opened by an employer on behalf of an employee and acts as a guarantee to protecting the employee in case of unfair dismissal. All registered workers in formal employment (CLT) are entitled to FGTS.

2. Although Afro-Brazilian soccer players are often cited as examples of success of successful blacks, there has long been a stigma against black goalies and black coaches in Brazil’s top soccer leagues are almost non-existent. For more on the historic exclusion of black goalies see here. In the future this blog will feature an article on the invisibility of black coaches.

Note from BW of Brazil: Today, May 13th, marks the 125th year of the abolition of slavery in Brazil which lasted about 350 years until 1888. The country that would become as the Federative Republic of Brazil received nearly 40% of all Africans sent to the various countries in the Americas and nearly 10 times more than the total sent to the United States (about 4 million to 450,000). But all is not well. Although reports of racism, social/racial inequality and police brutality/murder are common, the existence of working conditions analogous to slavery is not something often talked about. In Brazil today, there are still people who are being forced to work in such conditions. Considering the historical importance of the day, there is perhaps no better day to discuss this topic. 

125 years of Abolition: Modern Slavery sights today poverty

• Eight in ten persons freed from conditions similar to slavery are of African descent

by Alessandra Duarte and Carolina Benevides

They are taken to work far from home, arriving there with debts that the precarious wages cannot pay, indebting themselves even more in order eat. Some are beaten. They are contemporary slaves. And 81% of them are “non-white”, says a survey commissioned by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and conducted by a research group at the Federal University in Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). According to the study, which surveyed workers in conditions analogous to slavery rescued by inspection operations of the Ministério do Trabalho (Ministry of Labor) and the Ministério Público do Trabalho (Public Ministry of Labor or MPT), 20% those rescued are pretos (black), and 62% are pardos (browns) In 2012, 2,560 workers were found in this situation in Brazil.

Modern day slavery

“The percentage of non-whites among the enslaved today is much higher than what they represent in our population (51%), and even higher than the percentage in the North and Northeast, which have the highest percentages of nonwhites in the country,” says priest and anthropologist Ricardo Rezende, Grupo de Pesquisa Trabalho Escravo Contemporâneo  (Research Group Contemporary Slave Labor or GPTEC), professor at UFRJ and one of the supervisors of the research, published in 2011.

Also the percentage of blacks is “2.5 times higher than that of the population (6.9%),” says the study, being also higher than that of Bahia (15.7%), which has the highest percentage of pretos in country.

“Until the nineteenth century, the outline of slavery was color. Now it’s poverty. But inside of of it there is an outline of color, because as blacks (pretos and pardos) are more present in the poor and are most vulnerable to this solicitation,” says Rezende.

According to the national coordinator for the Erradicação do Trabalho Escravo (Eradication of Slave Labor) of the MPT, Jonas Moreno, more than half of workers rescued in inspections are illiterate, and are, mainly from the states northeastern states of Piauí and Maranhão.

Francisco de Assis Félix, black and illiterate – “besides my name, I don’t know nothing,” is from Barras de Maratauã, the “largest exporter of slaves of Piauí and the largest in the country,” says the auditor of Labor Paulo César Lima, from Piauí. Felix was enslaved in Pará:

“We worked from 4am to 7pm. Nobody could leave the farm, one that wanted to leave, they beat him up. And to eat meat, we had to hunt armadillo.”

“I found food in caustic soda and ink cans, and people living in tents in the forest,” remembers Roberto Ruy Rutowitcz, MPT attorney in Pará, which supports the approval of a PEC (Proposta de Emenda à Constituição or Proposal to an Amendment to the Constitution) regarding Slave Labor.

Professor of History of Universidade Federal Fluminense (Fluminense Federal University or UFF), Ângela de Castro Gomes emphasizes the term “slave labor” used here since the 1970s:

“It is not fortuitous. It could be “forced labor” as the ILO uses. But talking about “slave labor” is a metaphor that has strength, because it mobilizes national memory. And a memory connected to the first great social movement in the country, abolitionism.

Source: Globo

Black blond Brazilians

Photo: Top, left to to right: Rafaella, sister of soccer star Neymar, actress Aparecida Petrowky, soccer star Neymar and singer Juliana Diniz. Bottom, left to right: Singer/actress Thalma de Freitas, actress Roberta Rodrigues, actress Ildi Silva and singer/actress Leilah Moreno

by Conceição Freitas

In the nation’s capital of Brasília for 17 years, the researcher Mário Lisboa Theodoro, director of development and cooperation of the Instituto de Pesquisas e Estudos Aplicados (Institute of Applied Studies and Research or IPEA), lives in Lago Norte with his wife and two children. Despite living in an administrative region which has 80% branco (white) residents, 11% pardo (brown) and 1% preto (black), Theodoro, black and born in the city of Volta Redonda (state of Rio de Janeiro), has never experienced prejudice. “Maybe because the houses overlook the backyard and not the street, so almost no one knows.” What impresses the researcher is the Escola-Classe of Lago Norte, created to accommodate the children of the residents, but that houses children of caretakers, gardeners, maids and children from neighboring Varjão. “It’s a recess of black children in the middle of Lago Norte. Residents have a real prejudice against those children. They’re afraid of being robbed. That school is the face of Brazilian prejudice.”

Mário Lisboa Theodoro of the Instituto de Pesquisas e Estudos Aplicados

Economist scholar of race, activist of the Movimento Negro (black rights organizations), Mário Theodoro is the editor of the book As políticas públicas e a desigualdade racial no Brasil: 120 anos após a abolição (Public policies and racial inequality in Brazil: 120 years after the abolition), the IPEA’s own edition. In the 12th and final part of the series Negra Brasília (Black Brasília), the researcher deals with the great wound that is the racial question in Brazil, the reasonable advance of public policies, the limits of  abolition (that occurred in 1888) and the role of the Movimento Negro at this moment. He says: “What Brazil really wants is to be blonde” (1) ,to explain the reasons why there is a consensus among researchers and activists that negros (blacks) are the sum of pretos (blacks) plus pardos (browns) (2).

A major milestone

There was a major breakthrough in the past 10 years. Progress was made in addressing the racial question and perhaps the major milestone is the creation of Seppir [Secretaria de Políticas de Promoção da Igualdade Racial or Secretariat for Policies to Promote Racial Equality] (3). Even if the political activity of Seppir is residual, small, prompt, even if it doesn’t take account of the racial issue in Brazil, the creation of it was the recognition by the State that the race issue has to be the object of public policy. This was the breakthrough, for those who are critics. From there, we have to start building.

Reviving the racial question

From the initiation of racial quotas in the universities, there started to appear a national controversy. And this is the most important (thing). The issue of race has become a national issue. Every important segment of society felt the need to position itself. Brazil only truly discussed the race issue between the years 1850-1888 (4) and, since then the issue disappeared from the national discussion. Quotas revived the racial question. People are going to court to say no or yes. This debate is making us tackle race as a Brazilian problem. Silence is the worst of all worlds because silence is as if the problem does not exist. Now, we have to give answers to these questions, to formulate major public policies.

Racism as an ideology

Abolition did not solve the race problem. It freed blacks and nothing more. Abolition threw into limbo the Brazilian workforce, the former slaves. And migrants came to occupy the new jobs. The myth of racial democracy was born and even after abolition racism was just settling in Brazil as the dominant ideology after abolition. This is curious, but all racist thought appeared as a way to justify differences and inequalities as naturalization. It seemed “natural” that blacks continue where they were because they were always in this place. Since abolition settled silence about race and who dared to speak of it was treated as a police matter. As was the case with the Frente Negra (5) of the 1930s, that was persecuted and decimated or Abdias Nascimento, with the Teatro Experimental Negro (Black Experimental Theater) (6). And then came the continuous discourse of: “You want to divide (Brazil), how awful! You are imitating the United States” (7), as if it was a fight that had no legitimacy. Women can burn their bras, cool, the landless can ask for agrarian reform, but blacks, what are they are complaining about?

Blacks are not equal

After the World War II, European social reconstruction was in the sense of removing its equals from a situation of destitution. But the white Brazilian doesn’t see the other black Brazilian as an equal and doesn’t mind if certain group go through hardships. He is not my equal … There is no moral appeal for inclusion. They are two groups, one with all the rights and the other naturally with the right to nothing. It’s as if it’s natural that blacks are poor.

Open wound

Racism is an open wound on a daily basis. A person suffering racism, he or she feels the offense not only in itself. If I’m a dirty black, my mother is a dirty black, my grandmother is a dirty black. So it’s an unspeakable scourge and blight that are in everyday life, it’s only veiled, but it’s there all the time. Antônio Candido said recently that racism diminishes both sides, it diminishes whoever suffers the offense because the person is directly diminished and it diminishes whoever practices it because it demonstrates that he is unable to see the otherness, he is a person who narrows the world. Brazil created generations of racists. And we continue to do that with our children because nobody is born a racist. Little children embrace, kiss, but as time goes on he/she learns to be racist.

Black, the principal interlocutor

It is the first time that the black movement is the main interlocutor of the racial question. In abolitionist debates, there were urban intellectuals from Rio de Janeiro, people from São Paulo, each one had an idea, but blacks were a minority in the discussion. Now Movimento Negro comes in as a prioritized speaker.

Preto + Pardo  = Negro

Blacks and mulattos have a very similar racial suffering, although blacks suffer a little more. But any mulatto who dares leave his social position will feel that the racial issue speaks louder. Someone might even say he’s a moreninho, but police will see him as black. A mulatto can even say that he’s not black, but at the last minute, in a fight with a white man, he will be called crioulo (8). Joining pretos (blacks) and pardos (browns) into only one classification, blacks, is a political choice, no doubt. It’s a way of saying that we are all together, we suffer racism together, we have a problem to face together and we’ll face it together. Because, in the end, what Brazil really wants is to be blonde. It doesn’t want to be moreninho (9), it doesn’t want to be pardo (10). And if the ideal is to be blonde, then blacks and mulattos are together. The fact of being mulatto doesn’t lead someone to the TV. In the novelas, who has the soul are the blue-eyed blondes. All this makes it so that the movement calls everyone negro (black) [pretos and pardos].

Source: Correio Braziliense

Notes

1. In Brazil, it is easy to perceive that there is a premium placed on blond hair in a mixed country where true blonds are very rare, especially outside of the three most southern states where between 71%-85% of the population defines itself as white. According to research by Veja magazine, of each 10 women that color their hair, 7 color it blond. One can also note this obsession with blondness from the various television program hosts. For more see here and here.

2. Activists and many scholars have long argued that pretos (blacks) and pardos (browns) should be combined and considered Brazil’s black population. Although persons of African descent run the gamut of phenotypes in Brazil, socio-economic statistics that measure quality of life of light, medium and dark-skinned persons of visible African descent show that differences between pretos and pardos are negligible while both trail the white population in nearly every important social statistic (income, education, health, types of occupations and invisibility in many realms of society) which supports the idea that the two groups experience discrimination in similar fashion vis-a-vis white Brazilians.

3. Please see various articles on this blog that feature the Minister of this entity, Luiza Bairros

4. The period of an intensified debate and discussion on the need to abolish slavery in Brazil. Slavery would finally end on May 13, 1888.

5. The Frente Negra Brasileira (Brazilian Black Front) was founded on September 16, 1931 and lasted until 1937, becoming a political party in 1936. It was the most important Afro-Brazilian entity of the first half of the century that advocated for equal rights and full citizenship of black Brazilians. The organization had branches in various parts of the country including  São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais and other states. Under the leadership of Arlindo Veiga dos Santos, the organization developed several political, cultural and educational activities of a  for its members. It held lectures, seminars, promoted literacy and sewing workshops and promoted music festivals. At its headquarters it ran the organization’s official newspaper O Menelik, which was succeeded by O Clarim d’Alvorada, under the direction of José Correia Leite and Jayme de Aguiar.

6. In the 1940s, when in Brazilian theaters, white actors painted their faces black to represent black people, Abdias Nascimento, a militant of black consciousness, decided to change this racist attitude. On October 13, 1944, he created the Teatro Experimental do Negro (TEN), which began its activities in Rio de Janeiro, with a cast consisting of maids, laborers and slum dwellers, all black. The purpose of the TEN was not only cultural and artistic, but also social, according to the Abdias. “The need for the foundation of this movement was inspired by the imperative of social organization of people of color, with a view to raising their cultural level and their individual values​​,” he explained. Long-time actresses such as Ruth de  Souza and Lea Garcia honed their crafts with TEN that gave exposure to Afro-Brazilian actors/actresses in a Brazil where the most time blacks spent on stages were in cleaning them.

7. This was and continues to be a common accusation in Brazil. Deflecting attention away from deep-seated racist ideologies and everyday racism that affected Afro-Brazilians, the United States was and is often pointed to as the racist country. Thus, with this train of thought, people who complain of racism or fight against it are accused of importing a problem from the United States.

8. A term that many consider to be racially offensive and a means of reminding someone of their slave origins and/or social/racial inferiority

9. For more on the usage if skin color/phenotype terms and identity, see here, here and here.

10. In the late 19th century as the slavery era was slowly coming to an end, Brazilian elites, noting the non-white majority of the population, aimed to whiten the country through a policy of heavy European immigration. From the 1870s to the 1940s, 4 million European immigrants from countries such as Portugal, Spain, Germany and Italy settled in Brazil, coincidentally, approximately the same amount of African slaves Brazil received between the 16th and 19th centuries. In 1934, African immigrants were strictly prohibited from entering the country and in order to stimulate European immigration, in 1945, President Getúlio Vargas also signed a law designed to “to preserve and develop in the ethnic composition of the population, the most desirable basic features of its ancestry.” Along with European immigration, elites also encouraged racial mixture with the goal of the complete disappearance of the black race. In the early 20th century, many white Brazilian social scientists and statesmen began estimating how long it would take for the Brazilian population to look completely white. Thus, one could argue, although many proclaim that Brazil is proud of its racial mixture, this mixture was not the goal but only a step on the path to the desired whitening of the nation.

Aline Mattos of Globo TV reality series Big Brother Brasil 13

See more of Aline here, here and here

Aline Mattos of the Globo TV reality show Big Brother Brasil 13

Aline Mattos is a former participant on the popular Globo TV network reality show Big Brother Brazil 13.

She’s already been featured here at BW of Brazil a few times (here, here and here) and in this post are a few more photos.

Former soccer star Ronaldo, actress Camila Pitanga, singer Zeca Pagodinho

Note from BW of Brazil: Racial identity and classification are topics often discussed on the BW of Brazil blog. The article below taken from the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper is a good example if how “race”, which is often substituted or confused with “color”, can often be a complicated issue in Brazil. How should a person be classified if he/she defines him/herself as “branco”, or white, when the majority of people don’t him or her as such? For further discussion on this ever-intriguing topic, please see the “related articles” at the bottom of the article. 

by Laura Capriglione

A sort of colorblindness struck the 2,982 respondents of Datafolha (1) when they were asked what color they attributed to 11 national celebrities. An example of this confusion was observed regarding the color of the (former) soccer player Ronaldo, who self-declared himself white. “I think that all blacks suffer. I, that am white, suffer with the ignorance,” said the ace in 2005 about episodes of racism in Spanish soccer stadiums.

Ronaldo: 64% of Brazilians interviewed define him as black or brown

The majority of respondents were not convinced, at least about his whiteness. For 64%, he is preto (black) or pardo (brown). Only 23% agreed with the athlete and said he was white.

“When asked to assign colors to celebrities, it is obvious that the respondents did not respond just about skin pigmentation. They composed response criteria of intellectual qualification, the roles that the person plays in society, how the person wants to be seen. In the case of actors,  it came into question even the characters that they eventually brought to life,” says the historian Luiz Felipe de Alencastro, professor at the University of Paris 4.

Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2003), who in his first term said he was a “little mulatto” with “um pé na cozinha (a foot in the kitchen)” (2), was the champion of whiteness with 70% of respondents defining him as such, versus just 17% who said that he was pardo and 1% who said he was preto.

Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso as a young man and recently

“FHC appeared whiter than Lula (da Silva, president from 2003-2010). But Fernando Henrique is white? He is a mulatto. If people didn’t know that they were dealing with FHC, they would probably only judge him by skin color and would say that he was a mulatto. But as he is the FHC, an intellectual, he is seen as white,” plays the poet and anthropologist Antônio Risério.

Actress Camila Pitanga with father, actor Antonio Pitanga

The daughter of black actor Antonio Pitanga, actress Camila Pitanga, defines herself as negra (black), a category that is often synonymous with afrodescendente (African descendant). In her case, 27% of respondents defined her as preta (black), against 36% who said she was parda (brown).

Another actress (also self-declared negra), Taís Araújo, was recognized as preta by 54% of respondents, double that obtained by Pitanga. “I have cabelo crespo (kinky-curly hair). Then there were characters I played like “Xica da Silva” and “Preta”, the protagonist of the novela (soap opera) Da Cor do Pecado. Camila has straighter hair,” she explains.

Actress Taís Araújo

“From the times of the hunters of runaway slaves, the criterion for knowing whether one was black or Indian was the hair,” explains Alencastro.

Professor Ronaldo Vainfas, from Fluminense Federal University, agrees: “Look at [former soccer player] Romário (de Souza Faria), for example. Most said that he is pardo (51%), against 31% who thought that he was preto. From strictly the color point of view, he is one of the celebrities most “enegrecidas (blackened)” from the list presented to respondents. But his hair is not the typical, hence the fact that the (term) pardo prevailed.

Ronaldo from the 2002 World Cup wearing the infamous haircut

Ronaldo is already even white, but his hair betrays him. Because of this, he shaved his head. In the end there’s no way, it’s the catchphrase “O teu cabelo não nega, mulata (Your hair does not deny it, mulatto).” (3)

Former soccer star Romário de Souza Faria

The researcher cites a soccer match of blacks against whites held in São Paulo at the end of every year since 1972, bringing together residents of the favela of the Heliópolis in the neighborhood of São João Clímaco. According Vainfas, teams are assembled from the self-declaration of the players.

“But they changed from one team in one year to another. After so much switching, trying to minimally control this exchange of colors, someone said, ‘Okay, but that guy whose hair flies when he runs cannot play on the team of the blacks.’ This is an essential characteristic.”

There are others. The singer Zeca Pagodinho defined himself as “gente (or “one of the people”), when asked about his color. “I don’t live this world of color,” he said. Zeca is pardo to 52% of respondents and preto to 22%.

Singer Zeca Pagodinho on a mid 1980s LP cover (left) and 2010 CD cover

The artist was then informed by Folha that members of one of the most exclusive clubs of São Paulo started a movement against his show scheduled to take place in a upper-middle class auditorium. Zeca attempted an explanation: “I know what prejudice is. Although I don’t have color, I’m a sambista (Samba musician) and from the subúrbio (suburb). Meaning:  I’m preto.”

Source: Folha de S.Paulo

Notes

1. Datafolha is a research institute that is part of the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper.

2. A popular saying referring to one’s African ancestry. “A  foot in the kitchen” means to have at least a hint of African ancestry as the kitchen symbolizes the place of a cook or maid which is usually associated with black women.

3. A popular Marchina song written in 1932. The lyrics, “your hair doesn’t deny it, mulata”, are a means of reminding a light-skinned person of African descent that the texture of the hair is a clue to racial origin.

Related articles

Number of Brazilians declaring themselves preta (black) increases to 16 million
Brazilians don’t recognize their racial identity
Racial classification and terminology in Brazil

Children and teens discuss prejudice in Brazilian society

Note from BW of Brazil: Although many don’t realize it, during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Brazil imported more African slaves than any other Western nation. It is estimated that between the 16th and 19th centuries, around 4 million Africans were shipped to Brazil (compared to the 450,000 shipped to the US) which accounts for 38-40% of all Africans shipped to North, South, Central America and the Caribbean. On May 13, 1888, Princess Isabel signed the Lei Áurea (Golden Law) which officially abolished slavery in Brazil. Although the May 13th date had been celebrated for many years, sometime in the early 1970s, a group of Afro-Brazilian activists decided that the complete abolition of the Afro-Brazilian had yet to come so they initiated the celebration of Black Consciousness on November 20th instead. This year, on May 13th, marks 125 years since the official ending of slavery in Brazil, although many will tell you that this date did not end discriminatory practices against the descendants of those Africans. In this piece, a group of school children discuss the effects of racism that continue to linger in Brazilian society. 

by Luiz Setti

The Abolition of Slavery, celebrated on the 13th of May, happened 125 years ago and there is still, these days, something of which to is free oneself from! Prejudice is one of them. Kathleen Cristina Alves Antunes, 16, knows this well. “This date was the first step toward racial equality in Brazil, but there is still much to fight for. Prejudice still exists,” says she who is the daughter of a white mother and of Italian descent, and father black, an African descent. So much so that, as a child, she recalls, suffering more prejudice than today. “I’ve been called names in various forms,” she says.

Kathleen: “I’ve been called names in various forms”

This prejudice little Ariel Camargo Vaz, age 9, has already noticed, despite not being targeted. “I’ve seen some boys insult my black friends. I remain quiet, I think it’s ugly. I only get involved when they fight,” he confesses. Little Isadora, 9 years old, also has a similar view. Of African descent, she says she has been called names. “I didn’t like it,” she says expressing her pain, assuming that, as we now know that today it’s forbidden, on that occasion, she resorted to her teacher in search of justice.

Ariel: Has seen boys insult his black friends

“It caught his attention and he suspended him from school for a few days. Then they stopped doing this to me,” she says satisfied. For children and adolescents like Kathleen, Isadora and Ariel, who participate in the Cultural Center Quilombinho Sorocaba (Quilombinho Cultural Center in Sorocaba, São Paulo), the struggle for rights, for equality and fair mention of the history of black people, it’s still a daily conquest.

Rosangela Alves: one of the founders of the Quilombinho Cultural Center

“There was the abolition of slavery, but blacks are still not free. There are numerous forms of slavery, imprisonment and prejudices, such as that of sexuality and religion. There’s a lot to fight for,” says Kimberly Caroline Conceicao, 14.

Kimberly: “Blacks still aren’t free”

She is a friend of Gabriel Camargo, who is also 14 years. And it was precisely the exclusion that united them even more. “I am repeating my class and the afrodescendentes (African descendants) are who accepted being my friends.

Gabriel Camargo: “afrodescendentes are who accepted being my friends”

Fortunately, as I frequent the Quilombinho, most of my friends are black and I see no problem with that,” says Gabriel. “People do this out of ignorance,” adds Gabriel de Lima Moraes, 10. Kimberly endorses this, remembering that her ancestors were deceived as such by Brazil, when in fact they were being trafficked.

Gabriel Lima: “People do this out of ignorance”

“Human trafficking has existed for centuries. I think that we have to celebrate the May 13, because it was a first step taken there in the past. Yet we still have a lot to fight for today and the cause is now more ample. Other minorities come together with us, as people who suffer other prejudices, other types of slavery,” she says. And Kathleen concludes: “It’s a shame that 125 years after abolition we still have so many prejudices to be overcome. But I think most people know that prejudiced people are ignorant, because we are all equal,” she explains.

Source: Cruzeiro do Sul

Seminar “Desenvolvimento e Mulher Negra (Development and Black Woman)” approached the topic of the need to change the image of black women in Brazil’s media

Note from BW of Brazil: Yesterday there was another in an ongoing series of discussions and seminars in regards to the necessity of creating policies that help to change the image of black women in Brazil’s media and in society in general. If you’re new to this blog, you might ask, why is this even necessary? If you’re a person who has always believed in Brazil’s “racial democracy” myth in which all the races are treated equally in a huge melting pot, then perhaps you not aware of the invisibility of black women in Brazilian literature, journalism, teen magazines, or modeling runways. Besides this invisibility, when black women are portrayed, they often associated with domestic work or sexual stereotypes, such as Brazil’s huge yearly Carnaval that puts gyrating black women on display for the world to see for a week after keeping them virtually invisible for the rest of the year. Besides the the association with domestic work and sexual stereotypes, unless they have a certain texture of hair, black women are also generally associated with negative images in terms of afro textured hair. Considering all of this, is there really any wonder why seminars of this sort are still necessary?

In Brazil, black women are often viewed according to sexual stereotypes (at left in photo: Rio funk group) or maids

Minister says it’s necessary to change the image of black women in the media

“We believe it is important to reverse the negative image that people have of us [black women] in Brazilian society,” said Minister of the Secretariat for Policies to Promote Racial Equality and Luiza Bairros

Agência Brasil

São Paulo – The minister of the Secretariat for Policies to Promote Racial Equality, Luiza Bairros, participated on Tuesday, May 7, in the seminar Desenvolvimento e Mulher Negra (Development and Black Woman) in São Paulo. According to the minister, the department must develop, in favor of the black female population, integrated projects; the first of them regarding the empowerment of young people at work. “In  the sense of creating e a project in which they are supported in choosing professions and careers that are not traditional for young black women,” said Luiza.

A second aspect is to support initiatives led by black women in communication. “We believe it is important to reverse the negative image that people have of us [black women] in Brazilian society,” she said. The minister said that the two projects should be implemented in the first semester. “It is an initiative in partnership with civil society to strengthen black women’s organizations in Brazil,” she said.

“We believe it is important to reverse the negative image that people have of us [black women] in Brazilian society,” said Luiza Bairros

Luiza Bairros commented on the inflow of black students in São Paulo’s state universities. “I don’t agree in general with the format that was presented, but I think São Paulo society will take account of making a process of discussion so that affirmative action can be taken in São Paulo universities stripped of any kind of prejudice in relation to the black population,” said the minister.

The Minister of Racial Equality stressed the importance of access to education, especially after witnessing the changes that have happened in Brazil in the past 10 years and the process of economic and social advancement of the people involved, mostly the black population.

“The most interesting is that among black women, you notice the ability to seize opportunities,” she said. “This brings us a possibility of a very important reflection because when you look at the big numbers, racial inequalities still remain, and they are strong. And black women as a whole remain part of the segment that experiences more disadvantages in the Brazilian population.”

Source: EBC

Persistence, dedication, entrepreneurial spirit, courage and discipline on the job are the secrets of these super powerful women

by Adriana Reyes

Work trips, professional lunches, agendas full of commitments. Occupying an executive position in a company or open one’s own business requires dedication, discipline and preparation, conquests based in years of study, dedication and a lot of reading.

Changes and new conceptions of the world have been accompanied by the labor market. If prior executive positions were occupied almost exclusively by men, today it is increasingly common to find women in positions of leadership, a sign that the labor market has accompanied the modernization of concepts and professional advancement of women. These changes, of course, permeate contemporary family life that go through through a time of redefinition.

More than competence, the professional that assumes an executive function needs to have persistence. It is common reports of women receiving lower salaries than their male counterparts and that experience discrimination due to still bearing the stigma of the weaker sex. It couldn’t be more outdated. And if it’s already quite complicated for women in general, the situation is even more difficult for black women, who also experience with racial prejudice. Being an executive is a choice that involves sacrifice. But there are rewards. The main one, confirmed by all unanimously, is job satisfaction. The countless hours devoted to work are justified by the results of efficiency and a special feminine touch. Here are five successful executives who tell through their trajectories what are the five steps to get there.

“In college there were almost no women. It’s necessary to believe in your potential and persevere.” – Laudely Aparecida Sampaio

Entrepreneurial spirit

Wanting to occupy a position of leadership is the starting point for any executive. Early on, the businesswoman Zulma Vital Nunes Pereira, 54, knew she would be owner of her own business. The inspiration came from home: her father owned a mechanic shop. But until opening her business, Zulma had a long path of education. She studied Philosophy and Letters in Belo Horizonte (state of Minas Gerais), studied French, typing and secretariat technique.

Zulma worked as a teacher and came to compete for a vacancy of secretary in a multinational company. “I remember that I only managed to work temporarily in that function, even with my excellent training. Once I competed for a vacancy with a blonde candidate who was far less prepared than me. Of course she got the job and I realized that the problem was prejudice,” she says.

Zulma Vital Nunes Pereira

Refusing to become discouraged, she moved to Sao Paulo and decided to open a language school with three friends. But as soon as the business prospered, the partners asked to buy Zulma’s stake in the business. After the shock, the entrepreneur sold the part that belonged to her and opened a new school. Again, once settled in the competitive market, she received a proposal from other members to sell her share. This time, the prejudice came more directly. “I even heard of one of them that I must have done something very bad in another life to be born black,” she recalls. Zulma bought out her partners and opened the Purpose Centro de Idiomas (Purpose Language Center), which she manages today. “We black women, we can’t be mediocre. The area of business is difficult and, as women and blacks, we are doubly questioned about our capability. Education is the only way to be the best,” she advises. “More than courage, you have to have persistence to win.”

Persistence

It’s not enough just to have an entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to get there: it’s necessary to persist, which, in some cases, may mean insisting, as did Vanda Ferreira de Souza, 57, a teacher and ombudsman of Petros, the Pension Foundation of Petrobras. “Despite being the daughter and granddaughter of a street child and having been born on the outskirts of Niterói (state of Rio de Janeiro), I studied piano since childhood. One day, I was invited to play in a recital, but one person ruined my joy. Seeing that I am black, the stagehand delayed my entry to the end of the attraction.”

Vanda Ferreira de Souza

Fortunately, this sad episode was reversed in giving Vanda incentive to become a militant of the Movimento Negro (black rights movement). She studied, graduated and became a teacher, with talent and insistence, received recognitions. She held positions in the Secretariat of Education of Rio de Janeiro, as the coordination of a group that operated in the penitentiary. Even with the whole experience and a successful track record, Vanda realized how important it was to study. She entered the university and completed the course in Pedagogy.

Today, Vanda applies all her experience to help retirees of Petrobras, who bring their complaints to her. Taking advantage of the space that she has to advertise and promote events highlighting the black history and culture. “I always find a way to do campaigns in favor of blacks. It’s the way that I found to show my face,” she says happily.

“Education is the only way to be the best. More than courage, you have to have persistence to win.” – Zulma Vital Nunes Pereira

Dedication

There is no successful type of work that doesn’t require effort and dedication. That’s how civil engineer Laudely Aparecida Sampaio, 47, became a partner of the paving company Soleil Engenharia e Tecnologia Ltda (Soleil Engineering and Technology Ltda). But she had to open her own space. Despite having the encouragement of her father who was also an engineer, Laudely had to deal with the fact of being an exception: “In college there were almost no women. Blacks, then, don’t even think about it,” she recalls. For the same reason it was not easy to get a job in the area. It came only after an internship, which earned her the post of technical responsibility of a company. In 1998, the company was split in two and she had the opportunity to become a partner and managing her own business.

Laudely Aparecida Sampaio

In addition to the many hours of dedication, Laudely had to learn to defend herself. “I went through embarrassing situations because of being female and black. Once, I was overseeing a job and the engineer in charge asked if I had no clothes to wash and a husband to take care of at home,” she recalls, ignoring the comment and doing her job. This, incidentally, is a lesson that Laudely is keen to pass on. The difficulties appear. Therefore, it is good to be prepared for when they arise. “You have to believe in your potential and persevere.”

Discipline

Organizing time and planning career paths only brings results if the woman makes use of discipline. This is a lesson that the director of research at Research International, Maria José Alves, or simply Mazé, 55, learned early on. “I always took my studies seriously and so I could show my differential,” she says.

Maria José Alves

As an adult, Mazé worked in a bank, where she was not promoted simply because she was  black. “My manager used to say I was competent, but I was black. This served as an excuse for not promoting me,” she recalls. Mazé was not discouraged and soon got a job at a company that did research for advertising agencies. At that time, she had already studied Literature. There, because of being an excellent secretary, she had the opportunity to show her talent as an executive. “I could only hold this position by demonstrating commitment to my duties,” she believes. It teaches that discipline is won with a lot of effort. “Today’s businesses require English, Spanish, and one must know the job well,” says the executive.

“I always took my studies seriously and so I could show my differential. I could only hold this position by demonstrating commitment to my duties.”  – Maria José Alves

Courage

Having butterflies in the stomach when making an important decision is part of the universe of successful professionals. At the moment of choice, it’s often necessary to have the courage to take a deep breath and move on.

The journalist Eliana Alves, 39, owner of Enter Assessoria de Comunicação (Enter Communication Advisor), went through a situation like this. Born in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, Eliana saw her life improve as a teenager, when her father passed a public competition. At the time of the campaign for Diretas Já (Rights Now) in the early 80s, she discovered her passion for journalism. She went to college and after graduation she came across a market with few opportunities. “I went over a year unemployed. Until one day I saw an ad of a vacancy in the press department of the Confederação Brasileira de Desportos Aquáticos (Brazilian Confederation of Water Sports). I was approved and I started working there,” she recalls.

Eliana Alves

The turn in Eliana’s professional career came when the confederation got a sponsor and needed to increase the sector in which the publicist worked. Earlier, a third party had been contracted to do the job. Then the publicist resigned and it was Eliana’s chance to start her own company, already with her first client guaranteed. “Since 2000 I’ve lived another reality. Now I’m a businesswoman, but also an executive. I have to worry about taxes and bureaucracies. I wasn’t used to it. However, I feel fulfilled,” she confirms.

Source: Raça Brasil

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Adriana Barbosa – Black, female, entrepreneur – Meet the founder of Feira Preta (Black Expo), the largest black cultural event in Brazil and all of Latin America
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Fabiana Araújo, a former makeup vender, starts her own beauty business and school and sees revenue grow five fold
Former maid’s formula for curly-kinky hair leads to a 12-store hair salon in Rio, a rare example of a successful black Brazilian businesswoman
Four powerful black women discuss racism, determination and professional success

Model Priscila Medeiros resides in the famous Copacabana region of Rio de Janeiro

Check out her photos below and see more of her here and here