The Affirmative Action Headache of the Century

Ron Burgundy says:

Sometimes we become so preoccupied with our own country’s racial issues that we forget that ethnocentrism exists everywhere in the world. To me, it’s profound that any place where people of different races coexist together doesn’t mean that racial equality is not always there. Brazil suffers the fate of so many other countries in that it’s stuck in a pit of ignorance. I thought there already was a huge racial profiling vocabulary in the U.S., but I was amazed after reading the list of names from the 1976 Brazilian Census. The lens viewed through Brazilian culture seems to display all different shades of colors for the entire population (I never thought someone could appear “waxy”). Again, what seems like a very diverse, multicultural nation is actually plagued by prejudice.

Didn’t people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks already establish a new wave of racial equality? Yes, the U.S. has had its history of racial issues and is still climbing out of the pit, but most of us, specifically whites and blacks, went through a process of discovering racial identity in the past. For a country that is so diverse, affirmative action is essential to modeling racial identities and breaking down prejudice barriers. 2.2% of the student population of Brazil is black, and most of them are denied a normal education because they are considered “mentally inferior” to everyone else. Hmmm… this looks familiar, doesn’t it? Although the U.S. has laws to prevent such discriminatory actions from occurring, racial discrimination is still supported by an invisible barrier. It’s not explicitly stated, but statistics and social experiments have shown that white people will have higher priority than black people.

It is possible that discrimination would less likely occur if we all took some time to understand and appreciate our own heritage. As strange as it sounds, this knowledge can give way to gaining respect for other cultures outside our own, which follows the principle of “know thyself.” For example, it seems like most people in the U.S. do not realize who they really are and label themselves as pureblooded Americans. Some white people that I knew considered “American” to be a language! Everyone in the U.S. and Brazil, excluding the indigenous Native North and South Americans, are immigrants. Overall, I think affirmative action for Brazil was something that should have happened a long time ago. This is one approach that will establish racial differences in a positive way, and it’s important that this constructive racial awareness is rooted in the educational system first. Unfortunately, there will always be racial barriers in the world, but there are some countries that can be more ethnically respectful and conscious of others. Brazil is moving slowly, but it’s still moving in the right direction.

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Prime Minister of Malaysia says:

These racial issues in Brazil have clearly been ignored for too long. Once again, we’re confronted with a case of native peoples being discriminated against. The ancestors of the Africans and Indians who are being treated unfairly were some of the first people to inhabit that land, and now they’re being looked upon as outsiders. It’s amazing how all over the world, people believe they have a right to enter a land, declare it theirs, then treat the natives of that land as inferior to themselves. The United States may be the most guilty of this crime, but Brazil is not far behind. Unfortunately, Brazil has not had a movement comparable to that of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, and as a result, widespread discrimination is still prevalent. One of the greatest indicators that there is a problem is the list of 134 different classifications that Brazilians have made for themselves. These people clearly do not want to focus on their shared nationality, and are much to focused upon their differences.

According to this video, Brazil is one of the most racially mixed nations in the world. It has the highest population of blacks in the western hemisphere. It was also made clear that one would never know this, if you were to only observe those in positions of power. The government and higher offices of Brazil are heavily dominated by those who would be considered “white.” Not only are these people underrepresented, but they also seem to be at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. They comprise an overwhelming majority of the slums. These people are consistently at the hands of social, political, educational, and economic discrimination and underestimation. The ratios of color and power are completely off balance, and attempts to even the playing field have been met with serious discontent.

Affirmative action has been a main answer to these issues in Brazil. One such policy involves offering a free education to all blacks. This act came about as a result of a extreme underrepresentation of blacks in the Brazilian education system. They only represent approximately two to three percent of students in college. For a nation with such a dominant black population, that number is simply inexcusable. I haven’t heard of this kind of discrimination since the Jim Crow segregation laws were in place in the United States. To think that any nation has the ability to suppress one of its majority populations is almost unbelievable. It is way past the time for the Brazilian government to take action. The odds are clearly stacked up against the blacks and it is evident that they need some help to rise from the difficult position they have been placed in. Hopefully, with an increase prospect of education, more blacks will be able to create more opportunities for themselves and eventually end the discrimination that they have been victims of for so long.

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dazed Mushroom says:

Watching the small clip of the Brazil article, it absolutely represents a place of which is not equally represented as in race. As the clip is playing there is a large mix of different colored people, many different races, and faces. It was mentioned that about 84% was of a African American decent. They also mentioned how they have been recognized as the most diverse city on the western side, however, they were widely represented in mostly the slums and poor areas. An elderly gentleman said in the history of this area there has never been anyone of the 84% being represented in leading the city. Which makes me wonder if everything that is being represented that the 84% is holding all of the lower income jobs? The woman, Monica, is going almost exactly what I want to do for life. Her study said that 2.2% of African descent was represented in the student population. With the authorities perspective that these people do not have the right to study certain subjects because they are not smart enough. It is heart breaking to find out that all children are not getting any education to further themselves in their life. Which would essentially make families in total not have anyone who is educated, and how would they ever make enough money to get out of the slums?
I would of liked to do further research to find out where the problem actually starts. If it is the people not willing to help out increase the families of their neighbors children’s education or if it starts with a higher authority? If the people even vote for who represents them? If the people are capable to vote, can everyone or is it just limited to the white or higher educated people. Because essentially you would want someone in office who could help make changes for the better instead of letting the people from the slums not have an education and an “equal” chance as the other children.
This is just one way to look at the world and to begin to understand how often things like this happen every day, as you flip through the racerelationsproject.org to understand a little bit of what is happening in the world that we take for advantage. There are hundreds of entries on this page, what if everyone who made an entry would do something small to help out the cause instead of just writing about it? People tend to get lost in their own lives and forget about how we all need to stop and think who is going to make a difference if we all put these on other people. It starts with us.

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ScootsMagoots says:

It’s good to see an article about racial issues in another country other than the United States. When we think about race and the issues that go along with it, we tend to think that the United States is the only place where it happens. From this article, we learn that the United States is not the only place, it happens in Brazil and probably around most of the world. Looking at that list of all the names that Brazilians call one another based on the color of their skin, it feels like the whole country is confused. There are one-hundred thirty four names on that list. That is insane. They classify people who are “toasted” color (Tostada), purplish color (Roxa), and high pink color (Rosada), among many others. I had no idea that Brazilians classified themselves in so many different ways and I find it very amazing that there are one-hundred thirty four ways to classify people who live in Brazil. When I think of Brazil, I think about how amazing and artistic they are when they play the game of soccer and how the country itself seems so artsy and full of Brazilian flavor. I would never think that the country would be plagued by discrimination and prejudice to the point where universities are trying to enact policies to have quotas at universities.
I’m kind of on the fence about the whole opposition part of the quota policies that some of the Brazilian universities are enacting. One part of me says, “Hey, this is a good thing.” One reason that I find this to be a good thing is it gives people, no matter what color, gender, or social standing, an equal chance to succeed at university and in the future. Where ever you go in the world, there will be poor people who have no chance at attending schools and getting an education to further their lives in the future. You find them working at a very young age with no way to move up the social ladder. With this quota system that some universities are trying to use, some of the poor people of Brazil have a legitimate shot at getting an education which in turn, would hopefully net them a good job to help out with their family income. However, on the other hand, this could be seen as reverse discrimination. State congressman Flavio Bolsonaro argues that if a person who gets a high mark on the university entrance exam is turned down because of another person who is of darker skin but scored lower on the entrance exam, that it would be totally wrong and making no advance in the fight against discrimination. I also agree with that point because it really wouldn’t be fair for that student to be turned to if it came down to it.
Issues like these will always be around, no matter what part of the world you are in. It is the way that these problems are trying to be resolved is the question. I feel like any type of resolution will be disputed because there will always be people who see the glass half-empty and maybe they’re right, but in the end, trying to resolve the problem should be the primary focus.

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Dick Hardigan says:

This is CRAZY! Obviously there is a very serious issue at hand in Brazil, but I wanted to address the 137 different racial “categories” listed. Never has there been a time when I asked someone what their racial background was and they answered “I am reddish with blood vessels showing through my skin” or “I have Polish features, like a prostitute.” These are insane. How is anyone supposed to know what their racial category is? There are so many! I guess I would be the prostitute. Damn.

Moving on, it is crazy to think that Brazil holds the largest population of people of African decent in the western hemisphere, yet there are barely any people of color in prominent positions within the country; that people of color are prohibited to use the elevator and forced to use the stairs. It is interesting that out in public everyone seems to be living in harmony, but in reality racism is running rampant. So why are people so up in arms about this quota that many universities are implementing? Because they do not want people of color attending schools with white people? Because it does not actually help the race issue because people do not really know how to specify themselves racially?

It seemed to me that the BBC article and the video was saying that the majority of the people of color were from poor areas of Rio de Janeiro So why not create some sort of affirmative action toward people with low income? It seems that this way, there would not be the confusion as to how to mark yourself racially and it would make the ignorant racists shut up about the quota. This seems like a way to kill two birds with one stone.

On the other hand, the video interviews a women who says, and insinuates, that it is wrong for professors to say that some people from the slums are at a educational deficit. So much of a deficit that they are not prepared to take classes such as philosophy. But, wouldn’t that be an accurate statement? Without proper preparation, they will not be able to keep up with the work assigned.

Wait. Now I am confused. Do people of color and indigenous people only make up 2% of the student body because the schools will not admit them due to their race or can these people just not afford to go to university? I feel that they failed to accurately address what the true problem was within the university system.

I think this quota is a good idea to create equality within Rio de Janeiro. I believe this new policy will help even the playing field within the work force and all across Brazil.

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Anonymous says:

Brazilenos
I was surprised about the list of classification that Brazilians have given themselves. It sounds to me like if they were joking. I was able to relate the words that they use to describe themselves in Spanish and it does not make sense. According to the list I am in more than five categories in the list. I can classify myself as white skin with a yellowish tone, and I can say that I get kind of pink sometimes, depending on the weather. I do not really think that many people in Brazil know much about race classifications. It seems to me they were just describing their physical appearance, and not even because who can say, “I am green.” I don’t understand why people do that. I understand that because there is not much new immigration in Brazil, there is not as many tensions either. I believe that there are tensions. However, I don’t believe those tensions can be compared to the race tensions that exists today in the United States. Like any other countries it cannot be the many differences between people that have been race in the same culture.
For what I read, on the blog, I believe that if people in Brazil really want a change, it is necessary to teach children about race in school and not only race, but also the history of Brazil. I believe that a better education system can help Brazilians to find a race to which identify other than they looks or why they think they can be classifying as. By the other side I believe that if there is not much conflict about race differences in Brazil is because people are not totally aware that in Brazil there is more than one race, because after all, the entire Brazilian population can be identify as Brazilians. I believe that the poverty issue, does has to do with race. The fact that people are noticing the relations between color and wealth distribution is probably going to help to change a little be the way Brazilians categorize themselves.
I do not believe that the issues that exist and have existed in the United States are the same as the ones in Brazil. The situations are really different and what has to be done is not the same that has to be done in the United States. I believe that dark color skin or discriminated people by themselves have to open their eyes and find ways to get a fair treatment.
The way Brazilians characterized themselves is not accurate and to me it looks more if the people interviewed were playing by giving those answers. Is a serious problem of unawareness about race and is in my opinion is what needs to be solve first.

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Damsel in Distress says:

I used to think race issues were complicated in the United States, but after reading about Brazil’s race problems, I realized that the U.S wasn’t the only country faces racial issues. What was most shocking to me were the 134 race classifications. How can one even remember all of those classifications, let alone pick the correct classification. I don’t understand how there can be discrimination against blacks if the race of the majority of the people can’t even be determined. I also find it shocking that blacks make up the majority of the population, yet they are still more discriminated against then whites.
I think this discrimination has more to do with economic status rather than race. Those people with the money will also have the power. I think it’s more of an issue of upper and lower class rather than black and white. The solution shouldn’t be Affirmative Action. Instead, I think Brazil should focus on providing better education for families with a low income so that these people have an equal opportunity to go to college and earn a sufficient income. The way I see it, the only way to close the racial gap in Brazil is to equalize the wealth.
When I say equalize the wealth, I don’t mean the rich give to the poor. Simply, I think these poor black people are stuck in poverty because they can’t afford college so they can’t get these high paying jobs and are stuck in poverty. Brazil should build schools that are more affordable for the poor blacks, yet offer a level of education that is equal to the expensive, public universities. Just because someone is poor does not mean they don’t have intelligence or the capability to make a difference. Rather than letting people in because they are black, schools can let people in with low incomes, considering most of these people are black it would still diversify the schools.
These schools could also offer a certain amount of scholarships for low income students. Once these poor blacks are able to receive a formal education, they can get into positions of power and start to reduce discrimination. If an equal opportunity were available for all of the Brazilian citizens, racism would decrease and Brazil would get closer to living colorblind.
The issue here does not seem to be race, considering there are 134 different races, according to Brazilians. However, the majority of low income families are black, so people make judgments on these families based on their skin color, when in reality it happens to be poverty. These poor black people were born into poor families and can’t really do much for their kids, who also grow up and remain in poverty. Poor blacks seem to be stuck so people will discriminate against them for their skin color. If programs can be implemented for equal education opportunities, then racism may decrease, as more blacks enter positions of power and wealth.

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Miss Confused says:

I know I seem like I’ve been bashing America in a few of my lasts post, but that is not completely the case. Reading this and seeing this video just makes me more appreciative to be here. I believe we’re a couple hundred years ahead of Brazil on the race issue. I still have an issue with someone having to be labeled under a certain racial category. “Race – mixing” is going to be a continuous thing in any country and having people under a certain umbrella is not going to be possible forever. It is not a surprise that they have not had a Black governor in the country. No one knows how to identify themselves. I feel like I was reading an article about Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka.
This cultural change is a little slow and the fact that it is being allowed to seethe does not make it better. They are trying to speed up the process of integration with their university quotas but it seems as if more needs to be done. Then again I am one of those who are still trying to understand the process of politics and I am continually understanding that things are not going to come in the timely fashion that we want them to. There is a process that must be taken and carefully considered. I find it interesting that Brazil only legally abolished slavery 120 years ago and they still have slaves anyway. So this is just your classic story of those who are in power keeping people down. Most of those people are probably still slaves in some form so they are low on the socioeconomic ladder. They are always going to be in a state of poverty if Brazil can’t even solve their slavery problem. I get the feeling that these quotas are going to lead racial tensions between some people and the citizens are going to start to speak out on an issue that they have all semi- ignored. It’s easy to ignore a problem that no one is talking about.
I’m not sure how old this article is but if it hasn’t started yet it will soon. A revolution. Someone else is going to stand up like the young man in the video and their voices are going to be heard. It is sad that there are still countries going through this. But everyone is independent these days and countries that stick their nose in another’s country business, usually causes some issue. I just hope that Brazil can figure out this problem constructively. It just baffles my mind. I’ve been pretty baffled in recent times just wondering why people and things are so crazy and wondering why nothing has saved us from ourselves.

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Sam the Man Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 9:18 pm

OK…so maybe not quite 200 years…but point well taken.

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kerubin says:

Latin America
When I look at this long list of classifications I can’t help but to think that this is not the official Brazilians classify themselves. I am international student form Latin America and I can tell you that in my country we also have a million different ways we call the same color, we do it just for fun, and different groups have different words. I do believe how ever that the population in Latin America is more discriminatory than in the US. In Latin America there has not been a call for affirmative action. Positions of power do not care for race relations in their countries because they are busy with other things, or so they would like you to think. America, in my opinion has had the most experience with race relations forcefully because this is a country which has had a history of immigration since forever. There are so many different ethnic groups that the issue of representation is a central one. In Latin America, immigration stopped when independence from the Spanish occurred. Since then we have population of different color and back ground but everyone shares a similar past, history and culture, this is one of the things that has kept the population from confrontation… we are different but historically the same; when you ask a person from any country in Latin America they won’t say “oh, I am a quarter Spanish a quarter Portuguese and half black” they won’t, they will simply say I’m Brazilian or Venezuelan or Argentinean, we won’t go into our ethnical composition as if it were some sort of chemical recipe.
While it is true that we have come to terms with the diversity in our culture, as the video from the race relations blog says, racial coexistence does not mean racial equality. I feel all the countries in Latin America have the biggest gap between rich and poor in the entire world.thi sis a place where the people who have, have always had (and historically so) and will always have, and the people that don’t have never had… something that is rooted in history. This spills over into the political grounds. The political game has always been played by the same families, the same elite, and the same group of people for many decades. One of the reason this has happened I feel is because the elites have made a good strategy in keeping those historically less fortunate with less education and less opportunities. They have been blinded by constricting horizons in terms of how far they can go and how much they can accomplish in life; as if they were not part of a the exclusive club that is running the show. I feel as the gap between rich and poor continues to grow the poor will no longer be blinded by the injustices and constraints of the system and we will see a radical change fueled by years of disparity… the perfect formula for revolutionary change

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The Only Kid You Know From Vegas says:

134 different ways to classify the race of someone in Brazil…that seems more than a bit excessive, especially when if you read the meanings of these classifications. I don’t see much of a difference between “bleached” or “bleached white,” especially since bleaching can only make one whiter. “Yellow” “yellowed” and “yellowish” all seem pretty similar to me too. These descriptions feel more like a box of crayons than they do skin tones. I’m forced to wonder if this many classifications are really necessary.

I can understand the need for an affirmative action plan in Brazil. From the readings and the article, its pretty clear that a lot of people are underprivileged, solely because of their skin color. The same thing has happened – and still happens – here in America too. We instituted an affirmative action program to combat this, so I can see why Brazil would too. The whole point is just to put those who were disadvantaged at a level playing field. They don’t have to do any less work or receive grades automatically because of their skin color. Yeah, it’s a bit more aggressive than might be necessary, but sometimes it is necessary to mix things up if you want to create change.

The BBC article mentioned that many people in Brazil don’t know or don’t care to know their racial identification. This reminds me of the discussion in class about racial identity steps, and just where these Brazilians are along the path. Are they at a pre-awakening stage because they don’t recognize race, or are they at a farther, more advanced stage because they choose not to let race affect them? I think its hard to define, given the fact that they have little racial tension. Differences in skin color are somewhat impossible to ignore – nobody is truly colorblind – so the differences have to have been noticed at some point. So if they’re able to live independent of racial tensions, they must have moved on.

If this is the case, then maybe this affirmative action program is doing more harm then good. If everyone has been able to live in relative racial harmony, then this would just be opening up a can of worms. But if the people of Brazil really have moved along to this higher racial awareness stage, then they should be able to overcome this issue relatively quickly. So no matter what, this program is good for Brazil, despite the waves it may cause. It’s putting the disadvantaged at an even playing field, which should eventually level the field for all. And if the Brazilians aren’t ready to truly accept equality, then they’re going to have to soon, since from the sound of it, all 134 races are going to be competing soon.

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No Name says:

Brazil. Who would have that that a country like Brazil would have so much discrimination? When I think of Brazil, beautiful, tall, skinny models come to mind. I guess I just stereotyped Brazilian people, but the amount of different types of people that one could be categorized as is actually insane. There were over 100 different types of races. Is everyone actually that different? I am sure that there are even people who would be unsure of which category they fell under, and some people may not fit into one. Why is Brazil attempting to separate people more? By making all of the different groups, it is allowing people to identify differently from each other, when really they are not. It is actually causing more of a problem than there was before. Without defining ones exact race, people will be able to get along better and be treated more as equal.
Affirmative Action occurs here in the United States, especially for Universities and employment opportunities, but it does not totally just allow for minorities to have the upper hand. White people also, if needed, can be given affirmative action. For example an all black college may need to accept white people to meet a certain quota. In Brazil, reversing racism is not exactly going to help solve this problem. In my opinion, I think it may actually make it a little bit worse. The Majority is going to be angry and upset with the minorities, whom r being helped by affirmative action, and it is going to cause more racism. It is going to make racism more apparent and noticeable to their society.
Due to the amount of unjust and minorities, such as blacks, living in Brazil something needs to be done. Affirmative action is the way that they have chosen to fix their problems, just as the United States as. Blacks were the main race that was underrepresented in their society, and a change was needed. They were not being offered education, which was negatively affecting the rest of their lives. Blacks were only representing two or three percent of the college education program, and that is just unheard of and unacceptable, especially since they dominate the Brazilian population. Having a racial group be that discriminated against is not even something I can relate to because I have not been alive to see this occur. I have learned about the Jim Crow Laws in history class, and Brazil needs to follow in our footsteps. One example of how they are attempting to fix it is by offering a free education to all blacks. This may help to fix the problem, but other problems may arise because of it.
Finally, the Brazilian government realized it is time to take action against their racial issues. I do think that by allowing free education to the Black community, a problem will be solved to help them rise on the economic latter, but I also think others will get angry. There are over 100 races, what about all of the others? What about the “white” (majority) people who pay for their education? They are going to get angry, and rebel against these new ideas being passed. Yes, it is a first step to realizing and attempting to solve a problem, but I personally think their needs to be a better way.

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Dazed and Confused says:

That list of names used to describe the skin color of Brazilians is absolutely ridiculous. Wheat colored, blue-ish, cashewlike tan, yellowish, translucent. It seems to me like a good number of Brazilians found a favorite food and claimed they were the same color, so they identified themselves in that fashion. It’s completely unfathomable.
The United States is in a much better place than Brazil is racially at this point in time, yet I couldn’t help but notice some things. First, the reporter was very quick to state that most people in the public eye are white in Brazil. The broadcaster herself was a white-skinned woman. I thought about the number of black broadcasters in the Philadelphia area near my home and I could only think of two. Then, there was the billboard display in the background of one of the camera shots. Alessandra Ambrosio, a Victoria’s Secret and Armani Exchange model who is revered in the United States, was one of the models on that Billboard. After thinking about those two aspects, I can’t help but wonder if our United States culture influences other countries more than we realize or care to admit.
I do believe, however, that the racial problems within Brazil are a matter of the population being uneducated about race and ethnicity. At the beginning of the news story, when the anchor spoke about the slaves who were shipped to Brazil, all I could think about was Disposable People and how more slaves arrived in Brazil and South America than they did in the United States. Our slaves, over time, were educated and freed. A majority of those slaves who exist in Brazil are still slaves and lack the resources to gain some sort of comprehension of their ethnic background.
This piece was particularly disheartening to me. The part that was particularly sad was when the black man was unable to ride the elevator in a building with his white client- he had to take the stairs. It reminded me of the days when the US segregated public places, schools and the like. Luckily for my generation, we never had to witness that kind of injustice- it is a product of our history and our past. Yet, in other countries, people our age have to sit back and watch as the racism unfolds.
The only way for other countries to experience the breakthroughs which now make up our history textbooks is to provide education to minorities. Knowledge is power and for these people, who are living a completely powerless existence, they need a severe turn-around.

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Michelle says:

When the video talks about the white person who had to take the stairs instead of riding the elevator they commented on it saying “normally people would not do anything about it” however this guy deciding to take it another step further and report this. I have strong feelings against affirmative action. I think certain people believe so many white people are against everyone that they take it to such another extreme by treating them worse than white people would treat them. I do not think we should ignore the fact of racism but I really do not agree with minorities taking it to such an extreme level. We have talked about affirmative action in our recitation class we discussed how colleges allot a certain percentage of their acceptances to whites, blacks, Asians etc… I do not agree with this because this is discriminating on “smart” people. If you allow someone into your college because they are black but have worse grades than a white person you are discriminating against the white person. I do not think that people’s race should have anything to do with whether or not they are accepted (honestly that should be taken off an application because then it would become a lot fairer).
“if you come from the ghettos you are not fit to study certain subjects like philosophy” this is absolutely ridiculous, what does it matter where you come from. You go to school to learn something that you are interested it does not matter where you come from because everyone that walks into a classroom knows nothing about the subject until they put in the effort and listen to the instructor and gain knowledge on the matter. I think it is very interesting that even in other countries people discriminate against different people. In America it is white vs. black but in this country it is a little different, the blacks are the majority of people yet they are discriminated against.
The list of different classifications is really interesting. I think the most interesting part is that it says these are how people categorized themselves and not the categories that the Brazilian government used to classify its citizens. People who think they are not racists are probably wrong, they are classify themselves which is giving everyone just another reason to discriminate against other people who are not exactly like you. I actually laughed when I read the list; the fact that they have a name for yellow people and yellowish people is comical. Who is really going to be able to tell the difference between these two kinds of people, and in the end I am sure that they will both discriminate against each other when they are actually basically the same color.

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Mmm...Turkey Dinner! says:

No wonder Brazil has racial identity issues! With more than 130 racial scales and qualifiers, everyone is bound to be confused, especially because they can classify themselves! How does one know if they are “café” or “café com leite”? Hell if I am supposed to know. Seriously, what is the difference if you have cinnamon colored skin or cinnamon-like brunette? And I thought knowing the difference between West Indian, Hispanic and Latino is hard.

Throughout this class, I have found the common consensus that students, including myself, are very narrow minded on racial issues. For example, most student’s comments consist of “I had no idea this was going on!” or “I thought America was the only one with issues.” I have said those type of comments as well.

Some few things shocked me in this blog/video/feature article. The fact that more than 84% of Brazil’s population is black, but only 2% of their universities has black students. Discriminate much? Yes. This is where the affirmative action comes into play (I will talk about that later). I also found it controversial because they even talked about Brazil abolishing slavery in the video and yet, we know from reading Bales book, that slavery in Brazil is very prevalent.

One of the things I wanted to point out is the fact that the 2016 Olympics will be held in Rio. Brazil better shape up this racial identity crisis going on because the shit will hit the fans in seven years. Just as there were equal right protests in China, I bet there will be protests there as well.

As far as affirmative action stance is concerned, I am neutral. In America, I understand that children growing up may not have a well-enough education and universities have diversity quotas they need to fill. Hell, if I would have found out I didn’t get into Penn State because an Asian woman who had lower grades than me got in, I would have been furious. I guess my stance waivers day to day. I do like the fact they are trying to integrate the university more though.

I liked this quote from Simon Schwartzman in the article. “You can not force a racial identity in a population where a large percentage of the population don’t have a clear racial identity and don’t want that.” I find this very true. In order to go through with affirmative action and figure the racial issue out, you need to have clearly defined racial standards. But how do you start that without Brazilians creating an uproar? That I don’t know. That can be left up the politicians of Brazil.

This issue has been going on for centuries and I think will continue to become a prevalent problem in society for the next generation to come.

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Turtle Power says:

This story is very interesting because it seems like an exaggerated copy of our own past in the United States. I can’t believe there are that many names for which Brazilians call different races in their country. I can’t imagine living in a country where I couldn’t tell somebody my race, because it was too confusing to know. Brazil is just a couple decades behind the United States in their rights movement. 2.2% of the student population in Brazil is black and 84% of the population has some sort of African background. Blacks are denied equal education in Brazil, too. This sounds a lot like the United States’ situation decades ago. I can sort of see what the one guy in the article is saying about it being more of a problem of poverty than it is with race. This is about poor people not getting a chance to further their education and better their lives. The woman in the article said she always thought she would work at a shop, get married, and become pregnant. Coming from the United States where opportunity is for the most part equal, it is sad when that is all this woman can expect of herself. The problem with this is the fact that most of the poverty stricken people are of African background and these are the people being discriminated against. I’m not sure how deeply integrated the idea of racism and discrimination is in Brazil, but I think quotas and affirmative action programs might be the only way to turn it around. Many people might call out reverse discrimination, which happens in the United States now. In the grand scheme of things, however, it would be good for the country. I don’t think that many people are directly effected by reverse discrimination in the United States, so I don’t see that many people being directly effected in Brazil. Discrimination will still exist with quotas and affirmative action, but they will greatly relieve it. With quotas and affirmative action in place, Brazil would be able to work towards more equal rights and less racism. With that said, the system would be very difficult, because of the many classifications of race in the country. 134 different classification promises it to be almost impossible to know whether each group is being treated the same as all the others. The article says that as you look further up the social ladder in Brazil, the less you see black people. In the video, it said in Brazil’s entire history, there has never been a black leader. With 84% of the population being of African background, this is almost unbelievable. Brazilian society needs to take steps in the direction of equality, which I think affirmative action can help do.

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Meagan Murphy says:

This is pretty crazy too me. I guess I thought when there were so many racial identifications; the problem would just sort of melt away, since there are so many different names and accepted classifications. It is a shame to hear that discrimination still continues, despite the increased amount of different titles and names for people. I always thought that as long as everyone had something they could identify with, something that felt like “them,” then they would no longer feel like an outsider, because essentially there would be no outsider. How in the world can one group say they are better than the other? Can they even distinguish between all of these different things? I totally agree with the last point about affirmative action being unable to work because there is just too much going on here. 134 classifications, really? That is just nuts! So where is the happy medium? People in America don’t seem to be happy with checking the little boxes in surveys if they are “the other” and a lot of people think we are too limiting in our amount of identifications. But 134; how confusing is that? What if you think you are more than one; what if you still don’t find yourself? I would probably feel just as discriminated against in Brazil based off of this listing because it’s so tiring and tedious, why do we have to specifically classify what we are? To be honest, every time I check those little boxes, I know they want to know for records or what not, but I always can’t help but think, why does it even matter? Like who in the government NEEDS TO KNOW what race I am? Does it affect my job performance, does it make you feel better that you can put me ino a category? I never understood this and after taking this class and talking about all of the issues it brings up (that I never even thought about, especially because I always check white and never even realized there are people who don’t have a box to check) it really just makes me mad. This comes as a disappointment to me, because I thought as long as everyone in a sense had a place to feel like they belonged, then maybe they would stop comparing one race to the other. (And then discrimination would in turn stop…) I think I always try to see the bright side of things but when it comes to racial inequality, I don’t know what kind of standpoint will be able to evoke real change. How can people still be ignoring and denying racial inequality there, just going about their days and acting like it doesn’t exist? Maybe they care about the problem at hand, but are afraid or don’t know what to do about it. Maybe the people who are in power are privileged and don’t see or witness the problem. Or maybe those that do are not making enough noise.

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Different Perspective says:

After reading the post about affirmative action and discrimination in Brazil, I decided that people who complain about racism in America need to read this article, because they could have it much worse off. Citizens in Brazil are struggling with their own racial identity since there are so many different classifications. It’s actually a little ridiculous that there are names for every slight difference.

People can be anything from Alverenta (“shadow in the water”…whatever that means) to Roxa (purplish). What human being have you ever seen that you would describe as purplish?!? The majority of these classifications of different races and skin colors are absurd! I have to agree with Sam when he said, “Frankly, I’m inclined to think that the reason that Brazilians never had a ‘race issue’ is because people are too confused about their own racial identity to have any thoughts about the matter.” If people didn’t identify themselves based on the slightest differences, then maybe Brazil wouldn’t have to implement affirmative action in order to combat discrimination in the country.

I think the best part of this entire article is that the government didn’t even put all of these classifications on their 1976 census. This is how people classified themselves…134 different ways! Where do people come up with this stuff? It’s hard to believe that Brazilians are able to agree on anything, considering they can’t even agree on simpler racial classifications.

However, affirmative action has been used to give those of us who are less fortunate a “fair” shot or equal opportunity in comparison to the more fortunate or well off. If Brazil believe this will help solve or lessen the discrimination problem the country is facing, then more power to them. I personally think that affirmative action in the universities will not solve the country’s overall problem. Like Sam mentioned in the article, there is leftover, underlying discrimination that is similar to America’s Jim Crow laws.

I think it is going to take quite some time for the country to repair itself and move forward and away from all this discrimination. I think although America isn’t perfect, and we still have our own problems going on regarding race, I believe we set a good example with equality among the races. There is no denying Americans have come a long way since slavery in regards to racial equality. I think that there is potential for Brazil provided they really put forth the effort needed to truly change. I think that the Brazilian government would have a better shot at equality if they eliminated the “other” option in the race column of the census. Maybe if people have to start fitting into one group or another, there wouldn’t be so much discrimination and racial tension.

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Jesse Freda says:

I lived in Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, Vitoria, and Brasilia a few summers ago. I saw the separation of different people firsthand. I lived in rich communities while I was down there, and I lived in poorer communities (not favela-poor level, but shower out of a hose in the back yard poor). What I noticed was that everyone I came into contact with was open and accepting, but there seemed to be a rift amongst the rich and the poor. The branca (white) people who more often than not were branca-queidmada (sunburned white)or branca-suja (dirty white) generally were fearful about the poor. They had poor people as servants, but they would not dare wander a few miles from their safe haven community to the poor community. The poorer people who were parda (dark brown) or negra (negro) generally saw the rich as having an aire to them that they were too good for the poor.
I was called “gringo” while I was down there. I was called this by my friends and the people that knew me. The first few times I was called this I did not know what to think. I don’t take offense to anything like that, but my question was about the person’s intent with that word. I quickly learned that people down there were often called by their classification. I grew to appreciate “gringo” as it was usually accompanied by a Brazilian “what’s up” five, which is a five followed by a quick pound.
In a conversation with a friend I tried to avoid using the word “negra” to describe my black friend. When he said, “oh the negra guy,” I was a little shocked. I was surprised to learn about how much Brazilians knew about US culture. He explained to me that racism in Brazil was not like racism in the US. He explained that everyone in Brazil was horny and that everyone just kept hooking up for hundreds of years until they became a mixed race. While there are clearly more wealthy whiter people than browner people, the attitude is different about race.
The list of descriptions confirms this belief. When people were asked what they were, they did not have the typical questionnaire that you see in the US that divides people into groups. “Please check: White, Hispanic/Latino, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American, Other.” These people looked in the mirror and did an evaluation. “My skin is not that black, I’m Pretinha (black of a lighter hue).” My skin is not white, I’m Castanha-clara (clear-cashew like). This method of describing yourself as you are, rather than putting yourself in a group, is a much better method. It prevents the few groups from forming that create large racial tensions.

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Chunky Monkey says:

Brazil’s got a really complicated racial classification chart so good luck to ever finding equality between all million of those categories. It’s almost as if Brazilians want to point out each little tiny difference to place them above and beyond another micro-race. But at this point, are Brazilians just trying to find even the slightest association to whites so that they can identify if even just a little bit with the more desirable and accepted race? In a country where there is a struggle for social racism, it isn’t going to be solved by aggressive affirmative action. Brazil has the diversity to demonstrate a city or population living in racial harmony however there is the ever present difference between dark and light skin.
I think affirmative action is an unpleasant solution to the effects of racism on society. In a lot of ways I think affirmative action just sets apart populations because “quotas” allow for less qualified students to be admitted in the place of adequately or over qualified students. As a student of color I am constantly reminded that Affirmative Action exists and could have given me the edge to my scholarship or admittance. What people don’t realize is that maybe I am actually smart enough to have earned those things on my own and it’s not attributed to my race. I think that same sort of idea flows through here: black students that are being given a chance are facing opposition because of the fact that they are taking the place of other students. What gives them the right over anyone else. I feel like setting a quota isn’t the way to get around that.
The government should instead focus on educating the lower class and helping them earn their way into universities among the same criteria as those of their different race counterparts. Once this admittance process is fair, white people won’t feel the need to criticize blacks on “taking their places” because instead they will have rightfully and obviously without question earned them and receive credit for their achievements and hard work rather than hearing the assumption that it was because of Affirmative Action that they got to where they are.
As for the Brazilian way of classification, it kind of reminds me of classifying animals with the same genus for a lot of the names and different species based on tint/adjective/sun exposure. I feel like Brazil’s racial issues are so deep rooted in their communities that they are going to be very hard to uproot. And in addition to that, Brazilians have no concept of what individually they themselves are. What they don’t realize is they do have something in common and the slight off shadowing of 1 square inch of their body doesn’t put them into another category. I mean think about it there are a ton of variations of “white” people: really Pale Irish to super tan Greeks, Northern Italians with whiter skin than Sicilians to the extreme of Albinos. We don’t see that sort of classification when we hear white…but it’s there and we definitely don’t see all those options on the SATs.

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Dwight K. Schrute says:

I find it difficult to understand why some people think that the color of your skin has an impact on your intellectual abilities like suggested in the video. How is it ranked then with the 134 different colors that Brazilians identify themselves with? My brother and I have the same parents and he shows the dark skin of our Lebanese ancestors while I have pale, freckle-covered skin of our Irish ancestors. Would one of us be considered superior to the other if ranked in the Brazilian identification method? Maybe if I lived in a different time or a different place I might feel differently.
Something absolutely has to change in Brazil. I wish I could say it was bizarre that the black individuals were looked at as inferior but that was our country a few decades ago. The addition of affirmative action in the school systems is a move in the right direction. However there needs to be a mentality change because the one girl in the video said she is still discriminated against by the professors and administrators of her school.
I think in this situation affirmative action is a good thing. I am afraid that it is currently having a negative effect in the United States. Segregation laws have fortunately subsided and the legal rights are equal for individuals of different races. Affirmative action is supportive of separating individuals by their race instead of looking at the abilities of the individual when deciding acceptance into a higher education institution. One of my professors told a story where his friend’s twin daughters applied to the same school. The twins had comparable activity levels but the one twin had higher academic grades than the other. The twin with the slightly lower grades got into the school while the other twin was rejected. When they looked into the situation, they realized the twin that received admission had accidently checked that she was Hispanic. These are situations that I fear in our society. People of every race have the right to apply and if the race is not even looked at, then there will not be a bias. Many will say that there are still discriminations in the United States and I am absolutely not denying that. I just think that we should not be judged by our ancestry and race when we are applying to schools.
Like I previously stated, Brazil is at a point where affirmative action is a positive addition to the admission decisions in their schools. A lot of changes have to be made to change the open discrimination and racism going on there. The United States is also not finished in the fight against racism. What will hopefully do the trick in both countries is time.

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golaub-williams says:

For a good portion of my life, I’ve struggled with racial classifications. I was never entirely sure what I should truly be putting myself down as- if I should put down black, if I should put down Indian, if I should put down Middle Eastern, if I should mark all three… or if I should mark Other and write Jamaican, or if I should mark Bi/Multiracial. Big confusion, very little answers. Right now, I’ve settled on marking down Black as I always do because I’m most comfortable marking down that box since I’ve been doing it my entire life. I do acknowledge the fact that I am multiracial all of the time. It is something I pride myself in because it’s a beautiful thing, but it also comes with its worth in baggage, and confusion would be a huge part of that. Now, just think, I get confused trying to fit myself into one of those very broad boxes that the United States categorizes us in. How the hell could I possibly live in Brazil?
I knew beforehand that Brazil had many racial classifications, all stemming from the color of their skin- that they were what they desired to be, and that racial classifications could change over a person’s lifetime. Originally, I thought that this was a brilliant idea. Instead of just squeezing me and “people like me” into one little box, we could define ourselves and fit into a box designed for us. However, looking at it now, and seeing all the racial classifications, the names and their meanings, I can’t fathom how anyone could possibly live in such a rainbow of confusion. Going through that list, I could find multiple classifications for myself. I could fit under many categories, just given the day or my earnings in Brazil- I could be Chocolate, Bronze, Cabocla, Café, Canela, Escura, Escurinha, Morenada, Morena-escura, Mista, Morena-fechada, Quase-Negra, Retinta, Preta… fourteen racial categories that I can see myself blending into. It’s insane.
And then the issue of affirmative action comes in. How can you possibly give affirmative action to a country that has such a racial system of chaos? I don’t understand how such a system can work, being that you can mold yourself into different categories and become something other than you were the day before. We have enough trouble in America getting affirmative action to work, and we only have five racial categories. Perhaps what they need are inflexible categories that they cannot change, in order for affirmative action to work there. Granted, we very clearly stuff people into certain boxes, whether they belong there or not due to the accuracy of their so-called racial identity (which, again, is solely based on phenotype, though not to the radical extent that Brazil does it); however, our system is much less chaotic. I don’t even see Brazil’s racial categorization as being liberating and inclusive in any way either. I just find their racial pseudo-categories to be fancy ways of dressing up a term and avoiding the word “black” because it’s prettier to say Chocolate or Retinta, and being dark-skinned in Brazil is such a negative thing. There are so many shades of white (reminds me very much of the cosmetics aisle in too many stores) and yet all of them clearly state “white”, but for black, the term has to be dressed up. It’s really quite tiring.

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pillar says:

I have always looked at Brazil as a pretty strong nation with good values, I never had any idea of the racial injustices there. I thought they were accepting people because I knew that they were a pretty diverse people. It comes to me as a surprise that Africans and Indians have been discriminated. I had no idea that the situation there was as worse off as it was in the United States during the Jim Crow laws. In the video there was an event of a worker telling a black worker that he could not use the elevator and that he had to use the stairs. It is a shame tat they are so far behind and are dealing with these ridiculous problems, but I guess so did the United States early in its develop so it has to be taken with stride. It is great that they are taking strides in affirmative action to try to ease and find a solution for the problem. It is good that they are making sure that Africans and Indians are allowed into the universities and that they are able to take the courses they want to. The African student in the video spoke about how the professors thought that Africans and Indians coming from the slums and ghettos had no business learning some of the material in some courses because their mind could not handle it. I would be so outraged if I were in this situation just like the student was. How dare someone say that you do not have the intelligence or capability of learning a subject. Or even the right for that matter. Even if somehow they were able to take the courses that allowed them to get a strong degree moving up to a manger position in business will be very tough. The African worker said that only non- Africans and non- Indians were allowed to hold these positions. Hopefully with the affirmative action in universities that is being placed will be able to educate people on these subjects and change can come. Now here comes the tough part, the absolutely ridiculous classification of Brazilian people. There are one hundred and thirty four of off white, reddish, deep blue, caramel, blood vessels, translucent, pink highlights tints. Even with affirmative action how are they supposed to give affirmative action to the right people. With so many different race classifications and people not wanting to be labeled black I do not see how it will work. Just like how Sam jokes about only a supercomputer could sort out these classifications it seems like something drastic must be done. Some of these are pretty funny actually maybe next time instead of classifying myself as white I will say I am translucent with pink highlights with sun kissed marks. I think that sounds pretty good.

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Taz says:

Well, you know what? The United States isn’t the only racist country. I guess America is not that bad of a place to live after all? It is not good that America is racist or other countries are; it is just good so see that America isn’t the only racist country and that whenever we talk about racism it’s about America and the white Americans killing Native Americans and so on. Well, I guess Americans are not as bad as everyone makes us out to be, and that’s a good thing. But now onto the issues in Brazil, because this video educates us that other countries are racist, so were just not getting the idea that white Americans are only racists. But Brazil seems to be facing the same racial problems we are. I still don’t understand why people think they get special privileges just because of their skin color; it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. The person trying to go up the elevator to the 7th floor or whatever floor it was, it’s stupid he had to take the stairs. We are all people, why can’t we act like we are all people? I think the only way to cure racism in the world is if aliens came down and decided to live with us so we could discriminate against them. That is not a good thing either but at least we wouldn’t be so concerned with each other and treat everyone as humans; because we are. I think we need a situation like the movie District 9 gives us. The aliens get stuck on our planet and we make them move and do what we want and treat them like they don’t have feelings. If you have not watched that movie, go do it because it was really good and intense. I think people just need to relate to each other in some ways and the easiest is obviously the persons appearance. Well, if we look the same and they look different, I guess were of different species and we should treat each other differently and make inferior to the other. That sounds like a good idea right? WRONG. That’s the vibe I get when I think about racism or hear it. If people would just stop being stupid and listen/understand we would realize that we are all the same. But if the aliens never came down and we somehow realized that we are all human and skin color does not matter, we would probably just discriminate more on people’s lifestyle choices, such as being gay. In regards to that list of identifiers, I think it was pretty funny. Why do people need to classify themselves like this? It is a waste of time and people need to stop being stupid.

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champ says:

I found this story to be very intriguing. At first I was very surprised that racial inequality is still very prominent in Brazil. Especially when I considered that Brazil is probably the most developed country in South America. However, when I thought the situation over again, I realized that our country was faced with the same problems just fifty years ago. The key difference in Brazil is that Blacks make up such a large population; therefore, one would believe that they would have more power to overcome these difficulties. When I read this story I began to think about the section on Brazil in the book “Disposable People” which we were assigned to read for the SOC 119 class. In the book they demonstrate a form of slavery called debt bonding in which people fall into permanent debt, and thus become owned by their creditors to be used for cheap labor. While I was reading this story I hadn’t had race in mind. I had just figured that they just targeted people from the slums in general. But, after reading this article and watching this video it is clear that the slums are overwhelmed by blacks, and thus the slavery in Brazil is a form of racial slavery.
As far as the extreme Affirmative action policy, I think it is good idea in theory. I do not think it will pan out to work on a large scale. I am sure that there will be a few people that will benefit from this policy, as well as there will be deserving people that will be left behind from this policy. However, if it is true that the black population does not get equal treatment within the University then it is almost a waste of a spot for them to be there anyway. Although this affirmative action system is bound for failure, it is still encouraging that the government is taken action to try to resolve this problem, rather than just ignoring it. I think government action is necessary in resolving this racial discrimination problem within Brazil. I believe that education will be the prominent factor in lifting these racial barriers. However, I believe that Universities should not be the focal area. If Brazil implemented programs in their grade schools to emphasize racial equality, this new way of thinking could stick with this generation as they grow up. Within a few years, when this educated generation begins to take power within Brazil, then they will be able to implement these ideals that they were taught as they were raised. When you consider Brazil’s strong black population, one must realize that it is only a matter of time before they begin to take power and make strides towards equality.

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Bluish? Greenish? says:

Wow. This is crazy! I cannot believe that there are that many race classifications in Brazil! This is very interesting considering the issue at hand – getting rid of discrimination through affirmative action programs. I just can’t imagine how there could still be a race issue with all of those self-identifying race categories. It seems like it would be way too hard to differentiate which group you are being racist against, right? I mean, I could barely pick one of those descriptions that I thought would best describe me! And who describes themselves as bluish or greenish??? At the same time, however, I guess it is still possible to recognize which people belonged to the groups ‘African’ and ‘Indian’. I think maybe the issue in Brazil is not racism, but a problem with ethnicity. In this example, it’s obviously not just skin color that is determining who is being discriminated against, because it seems very difficult to discriminate against only members of one of those 134 racial categories. In this case it seems like ancestry and ethnicity are key players. The terms African and Indian seem to be more terms to describe these things than to describe skin color. I suppose that Africans and Indians do often relate to just a few of the selected 134 racial categories, however. There has to be some other people who share the same color skin as these groups, so I wonder how exactly it is that Brazilians can differentiate between Africans, Indians and everyone else. It seems to me that in the United States, skin color is the primary tool used for determining race. Facial features might be a bigger indicator there than here, although we also use these attributes here as well.
A second interesting thing to think about is how affirmative action programs would even work in this situation. Assuming that there is a way to determine which people are those being discriminated against, how would they go about promoting equality? To be honest, I’ve never really understood how these types of programs work. Promoting equality is one thing, but that often doesn’t do much to change the way that people think and act. It is also one thing if members of different ancestry groups have different rights than other, like what happened in the United States with slaves and property and voting rights, but if everyone has the same rights, what is there to change besides the way people think? Education seems like a good place to start, and I guess that’s why these programs originated in universities in Brazil. Promoting equal opportunity and having penalties for those who commit racial crimes or acts of discrimination is also important. I’m not sure if Brazil ahs these types of policies in place, but I hope that these and other affirmative action’s will help their current race situation.

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