Racism in Brazil

Because the country has a long history of miscegenation, color lines in Brazil have long been blurred. At the same time, more and more people see themselves as Black and seek to reclaim their Blackness due to the Black pride and Black power movements. The Brazilian census organizes the population into five, albeit imperfect, racial groups. These are branco (white), preto (black), pardo (brown, or multi-racial), amarelo (yellow, or Asian), and indígena (indigenous). Because there was never a legal genetic definition for these categories, throughout history, each of these racial groups has been defined in different ways. Racial classification in Brazilian society is often inconsistent and influenced by a myriad of factors including: class, status, education, location and phenotype. For example, a light-skinned multiracial person who held an important, well-paying position in society may be considered branco while someone else with the same ethnogenetic make up who had darker skin or was of a lower class may be considered pardo or even preto. == History ==

Slavery and abolition Soon after the Portuguese began to settle in Brazil in the year 1500, they began to enslave the indigenous population in order to sustain their growing sugar economy. However, European induced wars and disease quickly began to deplete the indigenous populations and Portuguese settlers soon looked to Africa to satisfy their labor demands. By the end of the slave trade in 1850, the Brazilian colony had imported an estimated four million slaves from Africa, the largest number of any other country in the Americas and seven times more than what was imported to the United States. Britain also contributed to the push for abolition in Brazil, by abolishing the slave trade. This was a significant move due to the fact that the United Kingdom was Brazil's main trade partner. A small amount of legislation also helped lead up to the official abolition of slavery in 1888. First, in 1871 the Law of the Free Womb declared that all the children of slaves that were born after the law was passed were to be freed; followed by the 1885 Sexagenarian Law, which freed slaves over sixty years of age. Due to her gender and her marriage to a foreigner, Isabel had trouble gaining support, despite having twice served as regent during her father's reign. During her brief time as regent, she took small measures to abolish slavery. Due to the obstacles she faced, she had to appoint an entirely new cabinet in order to completely abolish slavery. She succeeded, and the abolition of slavery was referred to as the Golden Law. Rather, newly freed black Brazilians were left to create a life for themselves out of nothing—no land, money, or education. This disadvantaged state left the country with massive amounts of inequality between whites and non-whites. Because of this, the conversation about race in Brazil became closely intertwined with conversations about poverty and class. Though there were no laws directly targeting those of African descent on the basis of race, there were laws that were put in place that created inequality between whites and blacks. For example, when Brazil first became a republic in 1889, voting was restricted to literate men, which barred the majority of the black population from voting since there were large disparities in education after the abolition of slavery. European critics had long criticized Brazil's racially diverse society for its lack of "racial purity". Eugenics of the time suggested that blacks were inferior, and mulattoes were "degenerate," putting Brazil's large black and mixed populations in question. as the solution to the "Negro problem". Amidst discussions of eugenics and the country's demographics hindering its development, the first Brazilian Republic decided to institute a policy of "whitening" wherein it would try to dilute the black population and drive out all signs of African culture. == Shifting views on race ==

1910–1920s The end of European immigration in 1910 meant the resurfacing of fears among Brazil elite about the "blackening" of the Brazilian population. Importantly, the idea of racial democracy became central dogma to the military governments of 1964–1985. While it was in power, the military preferred to think of race as a non-issue and pushed the idea of a unified identity among all Brazilians in order to quell resistance. During military rule, racial democracy became a consensus among almost all Brazilians. The idea became so popular that the mentioning of race would become taboo and bringing up issues of race was deemed as racist. Some argue that the long consensus of Brazil as a racial democracy was what prevented the country from dealing with issues of racism. In her article "From 'Racial Democracy' to Affirmative Action" Mala Htun argues that the unwillingness of the Brazilian government to define race prevented Afro-Brazilian rights organizations from forming and limited the group's political power. She also argues that refusing to acknowledge race created inaction that allowed for racism to continue. == Persisting inequality ==

Many Brazilians still think that race impacts life in their country. A research article published in 2011 indicated that 63.7% of Brazilians believe that race interferes with the quality of life, 59% believe it makes a difference at work, and 68.3% in questions related to police justice. According to Ivanir dos Santos (the former Justice Ministry's specialist on race affairs), "There is a hierarchy of skin color: where blacks, mixed race and dark skinned people are expected to know their place in society." Although 54% of the population is black or has black ancestry, they represented only 24% of the 513 chosen representatives in the legislature as of 2018. For many decades, discussions of inequality in Brazil largely ignored the disproportionate correlation between race and class. Under the racial democracy thesis, it was assumed that any disparity in wealth between white and non-white Brazilians was due to the legacy of slavery and broader issues of inequality and lack of economic mobility in the country. The general consensus was that the problem would fix itself given enough time. This hypothesis was examined in 1982 by sociologist José Pastore in his book Social Mobility in Brazil. In his book, Pastore examines the 1973 household survey and compares the income and occupations of father-son pairs. Based on his findings, he concluded that the level of economic mobility in Brazil should have been enough to overcome inequality left from slavery had opportunities been available equally. Racial inequality is seen primarily through lower levels of education and income for non-whites than whites. Quality of Life Indicators vs. Race == Studies on racialized violence ==

Due to the ongoing questions surrounding race in Brazil, there have been various studies of violence in the country and whether race was a contributing or main factor in these crimes. One particular study looked at a series of homicides that occurred in Brazil, spanning from 2000 to 2009. The statistics were obtained from the Mortality Information System, which looked at race/skin color, gender and education as explanatory variables for potential causes of racialized killings. In the discussion section, the authors suggested that anti-gun legislation in Brazil has yielded different outcomes among Brazil's population due to race or color. The risk of death by homicide in the white population declined during the period studied. In the black population, the risk of being victimized based on race increased regardless of gender, even after gun control measures took place over the studied period of time. As the overall homicide rate registered in Brazil has been rising, the number of homicides per 100,000 Preto and Pardo Brazilians also increased from 32.42 in 2006 to 43.15 in 2017, whereas the number of homicides per 100,000 for white and Asian Brazilians has decreased from 17.12 in 2006 to 15.97 recorded in 2017. Another study determined that in 2008, 111.2% more blacks died proportionally than whites in Brazil. The disparity is especially pronounced among young adults between 15 and 24 years of age. Among whites, the number of murders fell from 6,592 to 4,582 between 2002 and 2008, a difference of 30%. Meanwhile, the murders of young black men rose from 11,308 to 12,749—an increase of 13%. In 2008, 127.6% more young black men died proportionately than whites. Ten years earlier, this difference was 39%. In the state of Paraíba in 2008, 1083% more blacks died than whites. In the state of Alagoas, 974.8% more blacks died than whites. In 11 states, this ratio exceeds 200%. ==See also==