Comments on: The Affirmative Action Headache of the Century

By: PassionFruit

PassionFruit — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:37:45 +0000

Let me save you sometime, and tell you that you should all be focused on greater issues. Racism exists in Brazil as it does everywhere else. But the reality is that everyone is so mixed, so in love with the nature of being Brazilian that at the end of the day, they forget all about it in the first place. Is that unfortunate? Yes, to a point. Racism is a big deal, but 130 something classifications is like one of those outlandish laws about throwing pickles in Kentucky, or something like that.

By: PassionFruit

PassionFruit — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:37:40 +0000

Coming from a Brazilian person who was born AND raised there, this issue is being inflated way over what it really comes down to. I don't know if anyone who commented is Brazilian and frankly the responses are all so simliar and all so much like a run on sentence that I couldn't get past the first sentences. First let me remind you all that this was 1976!!!! Do you know how much has happened since and how much the generation has evolved? I understand the humor in 130 something classifications 125 of which haven't been used, probably EVER. I am thankful for my opportunity to escape the violence and poverty that every third world country has but why does every "First World" citizen have to pretend like they actually care about racism in Brazil? Does it make them (even me sometimes) feel like they're making a difference?

By: noname

noname — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:35:34 +0000

Affirmative Action has many supporters for many good reasons. You cannot complete the race relations dialogue without discussing affirmative action. Affirmative action was created to attempt to reverse racism and the inequality that is faced by people of color. Instead of reversing the effects of racism, it is reverse racism of white males. The goal of affirmative action is to be admired, but its use is discouraging. I still think qualifications and experiences should be the deciding factor in any decision instead of race or social status. Now this blog post about Brazil is very interesting. They have many descriptions of race and the color of someone’s skin. Very little of their classifications are based on nationality. These colors or descriptors are hilarious; cashew, cinnamon, coffee, milky, etc. Wow, they are starting to use food describe the color of skin. The Brazilians seem to be very confused on racial identity. The Brazilians are literally skittles. They have every color and shade of the freakin’ rainbow. I read these names and some ideas come to my mind. It reminds me of how I like my meat cooked, milk, beer, food, nuts, etc. I like the easy descriptors that we were taught when we were young. White, black, yellow, and red. They aren’t perfect but are much easier than a list of 15,000. This also brings up the point, that we shouldn’t even use racial identifiers as they provide not real value. Our society focuses on many traits or characteristics that have no relation to performance or abilities. This belief or system causes a creation of all kinds of stereotypes and “isms”. We continue to causes problems for ourselves by accepting a system that is dictated by preconceived notions and subconscious thoughts. Affirmative action is a useless piece of crap that tries to make steps in the right direction but instead creates a larger gap of inequality. It does not shock me that Brazil actively uses quotas for their universities. This is becoming common practice and may be seen as helping race relations as a whole. We talk about integrating all the races and socio-economic classes but Affirmative Action works in reverse and gives priorities to the wrong people. Colleges and businesses should not adopt any kind of quotas or affirmative action policies. The application and selection process of universities and businesses are so complex that it is nearly impossible to have two or more identical candidates. Human Resource departments have applications that list many different criteria and even use tests that would further distinguish the differences between candidates. If a college or business can find two identical candidates then they should be obligated to take the person of color. This is such a rare event I do no forsee it happening. I think the policy of Affirmative Action should be ended.

By: Blanquita

Blanquita — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:27:08 +0000

I believe that calling Brazil’s race relations issues the headache of the century is a bit of a stretch, not to mention that it’s a sweeping generalization, which is dangerous and often wrong. Like a lot of other countries on this planet, Brazil has to deal with all different types of people as well. That overly comprehensive list of all the different races was too many for me to ever count. And it can’t possibly be expected of the Brazilian government to use affirmative action in such a satisfying way to all those races. It was not in the blog, but I wonder how many of these numerous groups in the country of Brazil are fairly represented in the Brazilian government. It obviously must not be the greatest of representations otherwise we wouldn’t be sitting here discussing the affirmative action and how it is impacting the people of Brazil.
Affirmative action is a political issue that a lot of actions will have to confront for years and decades to come. However, I don’t believe that there is a computer out there waiting to be invented in order to correctly distribute jobs throughout a country that is filled with a myriad of race and color. Affirmative action in a country with so many different races is a positive thing. It does not always get the greatest support from politicians, but then again, those people and their race already have jobs and stature in any random Brazilian community.
So I guess saying that Brazil has never really had a race issue is a bit premature. If the people of that nation believe that there is a race issue and that affirmative action is a cornerstone of bucking the trend, then I’m all for it. I certainly am not going to sit here and say that there are no race issues in America, so why should I say that Brazil does not face similar racial issues? Now that would be a sweeping generalization and we all know where those lead to.
I am really curious as to whether or not the entire world will eventually become one race, with one skin color. Would we eventually get along with everyone else just because we all look similar? I hardly doubt it. We have discussed this topic in class and I have tried to picture an entire country of brown people. It makes sense that this would happen if we continue to create interracial intimate relationships and produce children. I’m not sure if this concept is realistic though. Won’t people closest to the equator still have the darkest skin? I will never know in my lifetime, but the future scares me, so I’m okay with living here and now.

By: Sarah Beth

Sarah Beth — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:59:07 +0000

After reading this article, I began to see both sides of this story. I think it is fortunate for the people of African descent, like Gisele, who were able to attend a university because of the quota that Brazil is trying to reach. Although she was content with the life she was planning on living, attending a university is going to give her many more options than she ever thought possible. I cannot imagine thinking that you might not be able to go to a university because of the race you are. I know we deal with it too in the United States and this class has opened my eyes to it but I just cannot imagine that feeling being a white, upper-middle class, female.

However, I also see what Simon Schwartzman was saying too. It does have more to do with poverty rather than just being poor and black. Although that is the race that is the majority is the poor areas in Brazil. I think this will continue to be an ongoing battle within Brazil because once a choice is made there are going to be people that don’t agree with it and think another form of action will be better. It is also going to be hard to decide who gets “long end of the stick” when dealing with affirmative action. I see where affirmative action can help and where it can’t. I like what Sam said in the blog, “things aren’t that bad so let the sleeping dogs lie”. That if people aren’t complaining, why give them a reason to complain? However, there might be people complaining, they just don’t have a loud enough voice to be heard and might be hushed to avoid controversy.

On to the list of racial classifications…I had to laugh while reading some of these. Not laughing at them but it is comical how many ways you can say “white”, or “tan”, or “brown”, or “black”. While reading through the list I counted over 15 ways that they describe themselves as just white. No wonder many think affirmative action won’t work. They would have no way of classify who benefits from it and who doesn’t. It was also interesting to me how many of those classifications dealt with characteristics that dealt with food or a description that you could use for one season of the year and not the other. Like sun-burned…most people get sun-burned at one point in their lives but that doesn’t classify what racial group you are in by any means. Or veins showing through the skin, that isn’t a classification either. That is just what that specific person looks like. This list could be shortened immensely and then everyone might a clearly view of their race.

By: hippie chick

hippie chick — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:03:09 +0000

Brazil seems to have deep rooted racial problems. It is a progressive step for the government to try to help correct the issue. It comes as no surprise that other countries have just as many racial problems as the United States. The story of the woman speaking about Brazil’s education system is shocking though. She said that if you come from the slums, many people think you are unfit to study such subjects as Philosophy. The right to learn was taken from the slaves in early America. What is happening in Brazil is modern day racism. The idea that people from the slums can only learn certain subjects is absurd, but it is even more absurd that people believe this and have managed to convince others.
The Afro-Brazilian culture is vibrant and lively. It is odd to me that the race discriminated against in Brazil is the white people. The story of the black insurance salesman who was not permitted to take a white client up the elevator of his building only because the client was white is obvious racism. It is obvious to me that intervention in the form of protest groups or the government needs to occur.
Affirmative action policies for the universities in Brazil seem like a necessary step towards easing racial tensions and leveling the playing fields between races in Brazil. Without these programs, the poorer blacks would not be able to attend public universities and better themselves. Every one deserves a helping hand up. It’s odd that the affirmative action policies are protested in Brazil, in a country which has such clear and present racism in every day life. Even America has affirmative action policies. Yes, America experience a time of horrible racism just like Brazil, it is just all the more reason for Brazil to implement these policies. Of course the upper class whites and blacks can afford to have their children attend private universities, but where does that leave the under privileged? The only way for minorities to move up in life and better themselves is through hard work and education. Give them the tools to succeed. The congressman who believes that this affirmative action is a form of reverse discrimination is way off base. It is surprising to me that he lives in Brazil and without a doubt sees the injustices concerning race and poverty daily. I agree more with professor Paixao and his views on education and minorities. He expressed that blacks are absent from most universities, and that professions should not be exclusive. The argument that quotas even partly based on race introduce racial tension is legitimate. In the case with Brazil though, racial tensions have been present for quite some time. Quotas are a step in the right direction.

By: Booty Sweat

Booty Sweat — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:40:51 +0000

After reading an article like this, I have to say that I am absolutely appalled. I think that it is insanely ridiculous that in the year two thousand and nine there is still rampant and widespread racism like this. Even though Brazil is an extremely diverse nation with large numbers of White, African, Mixed Race, and Indigenous peoples, whites tend to hold most if not all of the power. With that being said, I personally believe that the implementation of affirmative action practices will ultimately be a good thing for Brazilian universities. This could also prove to be very beneficial for many Brazilians. With the education of blacks and browns, class divisions will become less about race and based more solely on class. Since Brazil has such a large population of black and brown people, higher education levels will lead to higher incomes of these people, this in turn will lead to a much larger middle class in the country. These newly middle class people will then purchase more goods and services, which will then lead to a large growth in the GDP of Brazil. Once people are being treated equally regardless of there race, and there is a larger middle class of blacks and browns, then the affirmative action policies will not be needed and will then be abolished. However, people tend to stand in the way of this progressiveness. The fact that many people seem to not mind the vast amount discrimination that is seen in Brazil is disgusting. These people tend to ignore the extreme amount of prejudice acts that are committed against blacks and browns in that country. To them it is highly unusual to see people of different races socializing together. It is so baffling to me to all of the loads of ways that people try to down play the discrimination. They claim that Brazil has never really had a big “race problem.” However, this claim seems to not make sense? If any other group tends to enjoy a much higher standard of living, has access to better jobs, better education, and even better healthcare for any reason other than class, than discrimination must be a factor. There is a race problem anywhere if the average person of another race enjoys a much better lifestyle than the average person of another race. It is also very interesting to see that some people in Brazil are challenging the affirmative action laws. They claim that white applicants who earn a better score than a minority applicant on an exam will not be able to attend the university if affirmative action is implemented. These people, however do not seem to understand how affirmative action works, for if they did they would not utter a comment so stupid.

By: Larcenist

Larcenist — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:07:42 +0000

Forget race. Although this topic does deal with some racial issues its probably better to downplay race as a way of getting a quota for poorer students in universities. Why not just say there needs to be a quota of poorer students accepted to universities? It’s true that, while Brazil doesn’t have as many problems with racism as some other countries, blacks and browns are generally in poorer neighborhoods.
But why not just set the quota for poor people? I’m sure there are some whites that are poor to and could use the help and this way not as much racial tension arises. The quota will still bring about a large amount of black and brown students.
I honestly have never seen so many different words for skin colors in my life. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but it definitely will make it hard for quotas on skin color to be classified. I actually kind of see it as a good thing really because its shows that society is mixing and things aren’t just black or white. Its also got to make it harder to have stereotypes for all of these classifications.
I wonder how long it took the government to make that list though. The problem with quotas on race is that they can raise conflict. For example, if I do all around better in school then a black kid sitting next to me then why should he get accepted to a school over me? The same can be said if the kid is poor however then there is no quarrel over race, or at least not as much. There is more of an emphasis put on economically down-trotted people. These people need scholarships and more help, not because they are black or cashew colored, but because they just got unlucky and got born into a poorer family.
There is always going to be a little conflict put on race with this kind of thing. Fortunately I think it will be a lot less potent of an effect with such a wide range of classifications for people. In our society the KKK uses programs like this as excuses to hate other races and put them down. They feel these types of programs unfairly distinguish their power and could lead to future destruction for them. Anything could honestly go wrong with a program like this. Its more the way people see it then what its actually doing. People need to not see it as threat to them, but as a charity case and a helping hand to those down in society, some of which come from their same race/ethnic backgrounds. As long as the program is framed well by schools and the government it will be accepted by the people.

By: Chewi

Chewi — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:08:22 +0000

When I scrolled down and saw the list of all these racial classifications I honestly just started laughing. That is so wild, to have that many distinct racial groups. Some of the names that stood out to me were Regular, I wonder what shade of people that would be? My guess is you wouldn’t have to look farther than which shade of people are most represented in the government, also most likely the ones who came up with all these crazy classifications. Other ones that stand out to me are the ones that incorporate physical features in association with color, such as Negrota, Loira, which are bulky black and blonde white people. This just says to me that, because there is a whole separate classification for them, their bulk or their blonde implies something else about them in Brazilian culture. That’s not to say that we don’t do the same thing here, we all know dumb blonde jokes as well as the stereotypes of black athletes for example when the famous sports broadcaster Jimmy the Greek stated his opinion on why he thinks blacks are better athletes leading to the end of his career and a tarnished legacy. And then there are just the ridiculous ones like Bem-clara, which means Translucent people? Really? Is that albino or just really pale or what? I don’t think that it is a bad thing to group people though, in the sense that we have to acknowledge that we are different, but it is a shame that over the course of human existence we have attached, contributed, and developed so many things to ones being, demeanor, intellectual capacity, etc. simply because of color. When I read this article I was somewhat surprised because I knew that Brazil was extremely diverse in this sense, but I never knew of the discriminatory aspects of their society. I guess I just assumed that because there were so many different looking native Brazilians that everyone just kind of ignored it or it was a non-issue. It’s actually somewhat disheartening because I see this situation as Brazil being both in front of and behind the United States in a couple of senses. In front of in the respect that the color representation seems to be much closer to what the world is heading towards, this “caramelization” as someone said in class today, and behind in the sense that they are having similar problems with race that we had approximately fifty years ago. I stated disheartening because at first I saw this as a cause for concern that, oh great so even when we are all brown we’re still going to discriminate by shades of brown. But then I realized that I had to recognize globalization, and that ignorance is slowly fading away from the list of viable options when it comes to race relations.

By: Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:51:38 +0000

It’s always interesting to hear about news from different parts of the world, especially when it’s dealing with race relations issues like these. Different races and ethnicities face people differently in different parts of the world. For instance, one race could be the super race in one part of the world and be completely discriminated against in another. That just seems so strange to me and just makes it all seem to pointless. Anyway in this case, Brazil shows similarities to America because of the discrimination faced by people of African descent that were first brought to the country as slaves. It clearly shows how hard it is for that group of people to fully gain respect after such a horrible history. People can acknowledge that and say that they are equal, but in reality it is tough for these peoples to really be equal to everyone else in all the same ways. It seems to be very similar to the United States in this way. It’s really a difficult thing. You can free slaves and say they’re equal, but of course it’s never just that easy. People have to struggle and work way harder than they should need to to succeed.
Brazil, seems like it might have a lot more problems with discrimination than the United States. Just looking at all the different types of classifications people could be fit into. It’s just like Sam says, how would people even know what to classify themselves as? There are way too many categories and they are somewhat strange categories if you ask me. That many are definitely not necessary. I don’t know about Brazil, but I don’t think a system like that would ever work in the United States. There are way too many biracial families in America today to have such narrow categories like ones saying whether they are “thistle colored”, “waxy”, or “tea colored”.
It really is a shame that such racism exists practically everywhere. If only one country could lead the way without it, but it just seems inevitable. It really surprises me sometimes. You think about these places, but never as a place full of discrimination and hate. I personally just picture Brazil as a fun place with beautiful beaches and beautiful people never really considered diversity issues. My boyfriend spent a whole year in Brazil and has told me tons of stories, but of course I never thought about Brazil in this way before. So it always just surprises me when we talk about issues like this going on in different places around the world that I’ve heard about or even know someone that has lived there and I never even knew about this going on.