Racism In Brazil Essay

There are more people of African descent living in Brazil than in any other country outside of Africa. Although only about ten million of Brazil’s 170 million people identifies themselves as black, according to a recent survey, an additional 40 percent of the population call themselves pardo, meaning “dark,” or mulato or mestiço, “indicating mixed European and African ancestry”. There are more than three hundred Brazilian words for skin color, so racial categories in the country are difficult to define. Brazil is a multiracial society that prides itself on avoiding racial divisions like that found in the United States. However, what is clear is that economic and social problems trouble many black Brazilians. Some argue that poor self-image and discrimination based on skin color has contributed to keeping Brazilians from claiming their …show more content…
Brazil was the last country in the western hemisphere to outlaw slavery. The average income of white-skinned Brazilians are twice the average earnings of blacks. Only 2% of Brazilian college students are black. Brazilian newspaper advertisements for jobs in the private sector often requires applicants to have a “good appearance,” a phrase most Brazilians agree is a code for “whites only.” Even on television, soap operas and commercials rarely offers roles for black actors. As a solution, the Brazilian Congress have suggested a system of quotas that would require 30% of political candidates, 25% of actors on every television show, 20% of civil service employees, and 20% of college students to be black or of mixed race. Some Brazilians insist that quotas will fail in Brazil, but many hopes that such a quota system will increase opportunity for blacks in the country. Politics do not always provide good solutions for difficult social problems. However, the future of a great number of Brazilians looks bleak unless the country find a way to reduce the problem of racial