Brazil has a Portuguese father and an African mother.
Most people in Brazil, whatever the colour of their skin and whatever they think they are, are part Portuguese and part African. Most people who think they are nothing but white (European) are at least a tenth African. Half the people who look all black (African) have a Portuguese father in their past.
The government counts four races:
1. Whites (brancos) account for 50 in 100 Brazilians. They came mainly from Portugal and Italy, but many also came from Germany, Spain and what is now Lebanon. Most came in the late 1800s. The whiteness of Brazil is new: before 1900 well over half the people were black or mixed. Portugal is a small country and few came to Brazil before 1800.
2. Dark greys (pardos) or mixed account for 43 in 100 Brazilians. Those who live near the Amazon river are part native Indian; most of the others are part African and look it. Unlike the English in North America, the Portuguese did not bring their women with them at first. So, unlike the English, they did not disown their mixed children, of which there were plenty. So a new race was born, just like the Coloureds in South Africa.
3. Blacks (pretos) account for 6 in 100 Brazilians. Those in Bahia in the north-east came from the Guinea coast, just like the blacks in North America and the Caribbean. Most other blacks came from the Bantus of Congo, Angola and Mozambique. They came from Africa as slaves, about three million of them. A princess freed them in 1888.
4. Yellows and native Indians (amarelos e indigenas) account for less than 1 in 100 Brazilians. Even so, Brazil has more Japanese than any country except for Japan itself. Before the whites came there were two races of natives: one red with long faces and hooked noses, like those in Peru and North America, and one brown with round faces and flat noses, like those in the Caribbean and Polynesia.
Thousands of years ago a race of black people once lived in Brazil!
North Americans, because of their One Drop Rule, would regard most of the mixed as “black”. Brazilians do not see it in that extreme way, but they do have a word for people who see themselves as coming mainly from Africa: Afro-Brazilian.
The north is mostly black and mixed, the south is mostly white. The rich are almost solidly white, while the poor come in all colours.
All but one of the first 48 beauty queens who became Miss Brazil were white.
Only lately have universities been required by law to set aside places for Afro-Brazilians.
Some like to think that Brazil is colour-blind, that race does not matter. But if you look at the numbers you can tell that race does matters: whites have far more education than blacks and make twice as much money. Of those who cannot read, only one third are white.
– Abagond, 2007.
See also:
- Brazil Files: Busy Being Foreign – an excellent personal account at Racialicious of how race in Brazil and America is different as seen by Wendi Muse, a light-skinned black American who teaches English in Brazil.
- BBC delves into Brazilians’ roots – the BBC did DNA tests of some famous Brazilians and found they were not always as European – or African – as they thought. Skin colour is not a sure guide, as it turns out.
- Raízes Afro-brasileiras – if you want to know more about what the BBC found out, you can find it here. It is, however, in Portuguese.
- Raízes Afro-brasileiras – if you want to know more about what the BBC found out, you can find it here. It is, however, in Portuguese.
- Brazil
- Race in America
- Lebanon
- Guinea coast
- The word “black”
Abagond 
The notion that there’s no racism in Brazil is a national delusion. On the other hand, there’s definitely a different attitude toward race than exits in the US, for example. I haven’t been able to describe it adequately.
I thought the recent news regarding the DNA testing of various noteworthy Brazilians. Some discovered they weren’t as european as they thought, while others found out they weren’t as african as they thought.
LikeLike
I saw that BBC study too back in July. Thanks for reminding me. I added a link to it.
LikeLike
I always thought Brazilians were less uptight about race than Americans – and they do feel differently about it, like you said – but if you look at the numbers, like income and education, its effects are worse.
LikeLike
Great summary.
ps: particularly, i see miscegenation as a evolution.
LikeLike
Yes, Brasil has racism and isn’t a racial democracy, this is something the media and our government perpetrated. The difference is you have just as many white people in Brasil who are poor as black people, and everyone else in between. We have so many people from other countries that emigrated to Brasil, from Japan, to German, Dutch, and Italian, etc – the list goes on. So the study done by the BBC doesn’t surprise me. To me it’s the fallacy of the eye to think only skin colour and facial features tell the story of the person you’re looking at. Everyone (to me) is so much more complex than that, but at the end of all these studies and tests you’ll still have a human being.
It’s always been my opinion that many people have misconceptions about Brasil in general (most due to how Brasil presents itself). Many ask me about race in Brasil, and I always find it hard to explain. There are so many factors from class to one’s skin colour, or the skin colour of their mum or dad, to their features. But I can honestly say when I was little, and where I was raised I never thought second about playing with someone who didn’t look like me. I never thought it taboo to fancy someone that didn’t look like me, because I had friends who were every shade. How race plays-out in the US – while similar does have some very distinct differences in Brasil.
Thanks for allowing me to add my opinions. I will be back to your blog!
LikeLike
Thank you for your interesting reply. I get that feeling too that race in Brazil is different in some way that is hard to pin down.
Come back soon!
LikeLike
Afro-Brazilian women are so beautiful
LikeLike
They are. Here is my own list:
The most beautiful black Brazilian women:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/the-most-beautiful-black-brazilian-women/
LikeLike
Thank you…i think i have learned a lot more……i have been to Brazil and it was kinda hard to understand their culture since i do not speak Portuguese…but this helped me a lot and i have seen so many dark-skinned girls in brasil but i don’t know why you haven’t showcased their beauty anyways as i said “each to their preference”.
LikeLike
Lisa: my various lists of beautiful women are limited to those famous enough to make the Wikipedia. I think that makes the women in these lists lighter in general than even I would prefer.
To see what my own preference in women is, read this:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/black-women-are-beautiful/
LikeLike
God Bless…
I’m Brazilian, Brazilian, Native and Portuguese roots…My complexion is tan or brown. In the summer I get darker brown and in the winter Im light brown…I have big lips, big nose, and rounded musculature…
I’m not hispanic or just latino…I’m mixed, but I consider myself all three, Afro, Native and european…It think it makes me a nice spice hehe…and dark complexion women are the most beautiful of all…Specially African-Americans…they are just so gorgeous, strong, tough and so so sensitive behind that much needed attitude.
Peace…
LikeLike
I am a brazilian woman living in the united states and married to an american, I often face hostility because people do not understand that a cute brazilian girl grows up feeling as entitled to marry a white man as she is of pursuing happineess. I come from a long line of dark skinned women that married white man. All my life when I thought of a husband I thought of gorgeous white man like my father. Yet it is not a racial discrimination is just a cultural thing, on the other hand if my little brother were to marry a beautiful mulata ” more power to him” we would love and embrace her as a dear family member, I hope I was able to to explain my approach to the issue clearly, tchau.
LikeLike
ye, i lived in brasil many years and never minded interracial mariedge or relations betwen people, in brasil is normal to see black , mulata woman with white men, and the oposite, . but since i came to england i notice that many whiteenglish girls are mating with black mens , marring or just having children, it seems fashion,
they want to copy america, but seems so artificial and unessesary, i hete to see an english woman with an african men, there are so many white nice felow in britain, that doesnt seem fare.
LikeLike
So it’s okay for white men to be with black and white women, but white women can only be with white men? How is that not fair? That sounds pretty ignorant… Or do you mean in England it’s trendy, but in Brazil it was natural?
LikeLike
have u ever visited brazil?
LikeLike
Not yet. Before I die I want to see Salvador.
LikeLike
I’m Brazilian and I have been living in US for more than three years, so I understand quite well the different approaches towards race. So I would like to talk a little bit about these differences.
I used to be confused about all this racial debate that happens in US (I’m from Brazil). I didn’t understand why people who were born here would call themselves “Irish-American”, “Italian-American” or even worse “German-Mexican-American”, and etc.
Also, I didn’t understand why some light-skinned people were considered blacks while very dark-skinned people were not (black Dominicans, for example).
Well, as a good student, I started reading about the topic. I read a lot of blogs, forums, documentaries, etc. Now here some lessons I learned:
There is a wide confusion on terminology. People don’t know the difference about race, ethnicity, nationality and culture. Example is thinking that Hispanic is a race. “He looks Hispanic.” Nobody looks Hispanic because Hispanic is not a race: Christina Aguilera and David Ortiz are both Hispanic but she is white and he is black. A Hispanic person can have any race. Officially, people with origins in Spanish–speaking countries are Hispanics. By the way, in Brazil people speak PORTUGUESE, not Spanish. So, Brazilians are NOT HISPANICS.
Also, Brazilian is not a race or an ethnicity. This is a nationality. If you don’t consider American a race, why the hell you will consider Brazilian a race? Brazil, Australia, Canada and USA are all countries founded by immigrants. In Brazil there are whites, blacks, Asians, Amerindians, and multi-racial individuals. So, put everybody in the same category and say that their race is Brazilian makes no sense.
Now this is one of the things I had a hard time to understand and I’m still trying: Americans are very patriot people, but at the same time they give an incredible importance to heritage. People know and keep track of their ancestors’ race, nationality, etc… That’s why we have those terminologies “German-Mexican-Americans”. In Brazil, this does not happen. Children of German immigrants born in Brazil consider themselves Brazilian not German or German-Brazilian. They say my father is German, but they never say I’m German or I’m German-Brazilian. This might be viewed as a language issue for those who speak English and Portuguese, but I believe this reflects the society’s view of race and nationality.
Latino/Latin-American – this is an interesting lesson. In US, when people heard this word they immediately associate to race or ethnicity. In Brazil, Latin-American means just someone who is born in Latin-America – geographically speaking. As there are north-americans, there are latin-amercians. So, if Swedish couple or a Chinese couple has a baby in Mexico, this child will be Latin-American because he/she was born in Latin-America. There is no relation to race or ethnicity. If you go to the streets in Brazil and ask people if they are Latino, most we say NO or maybe they will even say that they don’t know what that means. This is mainly because we don’t use this terminology Latin-America as often as people in US or other countries used. We usually use South, Central and North America. By the way, being a little nasty, Latin-America is not a continent, this is just a geographic region created trying to kick Mexico out of North America… LOL
LABELS & RACE – To understand the difference of racial views in different countries, we look at history. Immigrants came to US with their families and interracial marriage was even a crime until some decades ago. On the other hand, in Brazil, many immigrants were single men, because Brazil was not considered a place to settle and build a new life, but a place to try to make money and go back to Europe. This started changing only on the second half of the XIX century when immigrants of Japan and parts of Europe other than Portugal arrived in Brazil. So, early in the colonization period the European immigrants ended up “marrying” non-white wives – mostly black slaves, but also Amerindians. In this context, interracial marriage was tolerated due to the insufficient number of white single women in the colony. So, these facts contributed to make the US society very heritage-oriented and divided into races, while in Brazil race is not a huge issue and heritage is not very important. To support this argument, people will define someone’s race in Brazil based on their looks and not on their ancestors. So, in Brazil people are classified into black (10%), white (50%), yellow (Asian, 2%), Amerindian (1%), or brown (in Portuguese Pardo: mixed black and white; Amerindian and white; or black and Amerindian: 37%). For example, the actress Halle Berry is not considered black in Brazil, but brown.
Finally, the greatest lesson I learned is that racial and ethnic definitions and classifications change from country to country and that at the end they aren’t important. Race is a concept not even recognized by science. Overall, this racial/ethnic discussion/debate works only to divide human beings.
LikeLike
Woosh!
Well, Rodrigo has done a pretty good job of setting out the Brazilian dogmas regarding race, ethnicity and identity. What he says is what you’re going to hear from 90% of Brazilians, whatever their color.
Like all myths, though, it glosses over some major points.
The first one is common to both Brazilians and U.S. Americans: the idea that “Latin America” is seperate from “North America”. In reality, Mexico – which is certainly “Latin” by anyone’s definition is part of North America (as Rodrigo points out) and the English, Dutch and French Guyanas are part of South America. So while Rodrigo’s right when he claims Yanks mix up geography, race and culture, Brazilians do much the same thing.
Secondly, yes we do have “hyphenated Brazilians”. There are indeed Teuto-Brazilians, Italo-Brazilians and Nipo-Brazilians. Rodrigo can go visit the Vale da Itajai if he doesn’t believe this. It’s true that Brazilians place far less stock in this sort of thing than Americans, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
The big myth, though, and the most germaine for this blog, is the idea that Portuguese men mated with Indian and Black women due to lack of white women while English men brought their own wives over and thus did not miscegenate.
This is straight-up nationalist dogma from the early 20th century and comparative history has completely debunked it by now. Brazilians still believe it, however, because it’s a huge foundational myth for the nation. Telling Brazilians that this is simply not true is often like telling trailer dwellers that wrestling just ain’t real…
In the first place, both English and Portuguese colonies were heavily skewed to men in populational terms for the first century or so of their existence. Even that supposed epitome of the “settlement colony”, Plymouth Plantation, was indeed settled as a plantation and the English men outnumbered the English women there by several orders of magnitude well into the 18th century. On the other hand, significant numbers of white women started coming to Brazil well before the 19th century. And in the early colonial periods of both colonies, white men could commonly be found having sex with non-white women. The supposed white “repulsion” for non-white women in the U.S. never existed in fact and even didn’t exist in law until the mid 1800s. And even then, it was only legally a problem for black-white mixes and only in some states, never all. AFAIK, Indian-white mixes where never prohibitted by law, anywhere, and were quite common.
What makes Brazil more black than the U.S. is that, while it imported huge numbers of African slaves, it didn’t import huge numbers of Europeans of any sex until the late 19th century. The idea that “Portuguese men had to mate with blacks and Indians because there were no white women until the 1800s” is a flat out myth. Gilberto Freyre is real clear on how mestiços came about in The Masters and the Slaves and it wasn’t because of a lack of white women.
Your average white Brazilian slaveowner certainly had a white wife, but he also had black and Indian concubines – exactly as southern slave holders did in the U.S. Unlike the U.S., however, there weren’t millions of white hoi polloi to give an illusion that the basis of the nation was white.
Those Portuguese capitões and senhores didn’t end up “marrying” any non-white “wives” at all, Rodrigo: they basically had white wives and non-white harems. And, like turkish harems, most of the women in them were slaves. I’ll leave you to draw the logical conclusion as to what was going on.
Interracial marriage has not been so well tolerated in Brazil as interracial screwing. Your average white senhor certainly didn’t look with pleasure on the idea that his daughter would marry a black man. He might, however, tolerate a light brown man, if the guy came from cash or if his family was important, politically speaking and that is something that certainly wouldn’t have happened in the classic American South, post- or antebellum. And white senhores never found it a problem to spread mestiço bastards as far and wide as they could. This was not so much because they wanted to increase their property (as was the case with a lot of interracial sex in the slave south): more often than not, it was to build up a cadre of mestiço “middle men” who would be the plantation’s administrators and who could be relied upon, given their blood tie to the senhor. Their fortunes would rise and fall with their illegitimate daddy’s, so they could be counted upon to take Daddy’s side in most fights, either against other white senhores or against rebellious slaves.
(For those of you find this odd, meditate on this little historical fact: Brazil was the only slavery-based colony or nation I know of that would routinely arm its slaves in times of crisis. Just the concept of armed slaves was enough to make Massa Rhett soil his pantaloons in the pre-bellum U.S. south…)
What makes Brazil less heritage-oriented than the States has been two century’s worth of policies by the Federal government designed to downplay any identitary tendencies at all which might lead to the same sort of centrifugal trends which broke Spanish America up into a mass of squabling states. Whether it’s race, ethnicity, regionalism, or class struggle, the Brazilian federal government has always looked with very hard eyes on any rallying cry other than “We are all Brazilians”. This has finally begun to loosen up over the last 30 years or so, but pluralism is still basically an unknown concept in Brazil.
Finally, race is indeed recognized by science as a historical and social concept. What it is NOT is a valid biological concept, at least for human beings. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t scientific, however. History and sociology are sciences and they quite clearly recognize race as a legitimate concept, just as they recognize nationality and religion. Like those, race is a human-generated, but nonetheless very powerful and real phenomenon.
Nice to see another Brazilian posting here, Rodrigo! i hope you stick around and keep contributing! 🙂
LikeLike
Very good post Rodrigo.
LikeLike
thaddeus, your post is really long, nice though.
LikeLike
Abagond sez:
Thank you for your interesting reply. I get that feeling too that race in Brazil is different in some way that is hard to pin down.
Here’s how I gloss it for race-conscious gringos:
Imagine the colorism that’s pretty rampant among black americans. Now imagine that said colorism never hits a clear-cut color line: it just goes all the way up to lilly white and all the way down to what Brazilians call “blue black”. So imagine white folks incorporated into the colorist game (which is just as much based on notions of white supremacy as traditional southern segregational racism).
That’s Brazilian race relations in a nutshell. Most people think lighter is better and more prestigious, if not prettier. They’ll marry lighter and often screw darker.
LikeLike
I’ve heard that comparison of Brazil racism to African-American colorism before. It’s a damned interesting analogy. It would seem too that class is an important parallel issue alongside color in Brazil that makes it more complex than American racism. I think it’s been traditionally easier for a dark Brazilian to “buy his way out” of racism than it was for wealthier blacks in America.
LikeLike
I watched a show the other day called ‘only when i dance’. It was interesting because it included a female and a male ballet dancing competitor. the boy looked brown and was too talented a dancer to not win every competition. the other girl was blacker in appearance and also a quite good dancer. but she was viewed too dark and not skinny enough for the world of ballet. judging by the looks of both their parents i wouldn’t be suprised if they were both gentetically between 50-75%, appearance does not always indicate genetics in Brazil.
LikeLike
…appearance does not always indicate genetics in Brazil.
Or anywhere for that matter.
Tulio, yes class is a big factor, but it’s alays conditioned by color. As a famous popular Brazilian phrase has it, “Money whitens.”
So if you’re richer, it’s not that you’re allowed to be of color, it’s that your color is politely bleached out. You, of course, will be held to accounts to act as “white” as possible as well.
Here’s an interesting and sarcastic take on the situation produced by a Brazilian comedy program back in the 1980s. If there’s enough interest, I’d be willing to translate it…
(It’s entitled “Black? Me?!”)
LikeLike
(BtW, note that the actors are in blackface, which doesn’t have the same extremely racist connotations in Brazil as it does in the U.S. Nevertheless, it does point out the fact that back in 1986, Brazilian T.V. simply didn’t HAVE enough black comedians or actors on the tube to enact a skit like this.)
LikeLike
Very interesting post… I also thought of Brazil as a racial utopia until I went there. I do find it less racist than say the UK, but perhaps that is because I am a tourist so everyone is out to impress me. I also found that friends that were darker than I was were treated like prostitutes by white men and they thought that this was because of their skin colour.
LikeLike
Ildi Silva and Adriana Lima are very beautiful but especially very strange!
There is very like that in Brazil ?
LikeLike
I’ll go just staight to the point…. as an African, Nigerian to be specific erstwhile married to a Brazilian, having schooled in the UK, Canada and the United states, but fortunately or unfortunately ended living in Brazil with College degrees, e.t.c
I discovered that compared to all the a forementioned countries in which i’d had the priviledge to live and study in, I can categorically state that i found Brazil a very racist country.
You can find blacks from all professional backgrounds in the US, Canada and the UK, the ratio in Brazil is zero to 10..
I lived in a condo where I was the only blackman, except for the gatemen and the maids who’re of my skin colour.
The stupid questions I’m always asked is whether my parents are so rich in Africa to be able to afford all i had… it’s a question that supprises me all the time… and I just take the pains to tell them that until the late 90’s in Nigeria, college education was free, and that my parents invested so much in our education back home, “It’s rare to find a family in Nigeria without at least four college grad”.
My experiences in Brazil as a Blackman’s very shocking and sad.. .. for example if you’re black driving a nice Car in Brazil, you’re either a bandit/drug trafficker, soccer- player,or musician.. While in the United states and the UK, people don’t look at you this way.
In Brazil as a blackman, if you venture to try to chat-up a girl of your same skin colour, she looks at you as if you’re shit… thinking you’re not financially ok to take her out, but with a white male… the sky’s the limite.. it was very shocking !
Finally, working in my area of profession in Brazil as a Blackman was so shocking to me… speaking english & French languages was my saving grace…. The troubles i had before getting a job in Brazil was purely due to my skin colour, something which in the US or the UK as a professional i might not even feel, knowing however that it’s somewhere out there.
I do not because of this see white-folks as demon’s or something like that, “my best friend’s light-skinned”…. rather, it fortified my spirit of being good to all irrespect of race, color and background, most importantly made me more proud as a new generation of African/Nigerian.
Q.E.D !
LikeLike
I don’t know what to make of Brazil. Some people say it’s real racist while others say it’s laid back about racial issues. I guess I’ll have to visit to get a better understanding.
LikeLike
FG said:
“Some people say it’s real racist while others say it’s laid back about racial issues. “
From what I have read it depends on how you look. If you are from America and are light-skinned it will seem less racist; if you are dark-skinned it will seem worse. Also, something that most Americans do not seem to keep in mind is that just their being American gives them an added advantage.
LikeLike
I discovered that compared to all the a forementioned countries in which i’d had the priviledge to live and study in, I can categorically state that i found Brazil a very racist country.
No intelligent or educated person would claim otherwise.
You can find blacks from all professional backgrounds in the US, Canada and the UK, the ratio in Brazil is zero to 10.
Well, that’s odd now, seeing as how I’m married to a black Brazilian university professor and have plenty of black professional friends.
The problem with these kinds of stats is that definitions are a b1tch. What’s “professional” and who’s “black” in Brazil? If we go on self-ascription, only 6% of the country considers itself to be black. If we go on afro-descendence, then there are many more “black” professionals that you’re willing to admit (though, of course, it is still a racist country). The problem with black gringos who make these comparisions is that they move the definition of “black” around as it suits them.
When they want to shock, they’ll use “black as defined by the census” (6%) and conveniently forget non-black afrodescendents. So they’ll say things like “Brazil has no black elected officials”, conveniently ignoring the fact that we have many elected officials who are afro-descendent and would be considered “black” in the States or Europe, but who don’t classify themselves as “black” (and, btw, we do have a few “black” elected officials in both sense of the word, but – as in the U.S. – these are very rare).
Then, when they want to exagerate the numbers to show injustice, they’ll all of a sudden switch to “afrodecended is really black”. As in “Brazil is 60% black!” (counting all afro-descendants as black).
Put the two together and you get assinine statements like “Brazil is 60% black but has no black elected officials!”
I would put it this way, using an off-the -top-of-my-head guesstimate and talking about the federal university system, which is what I know best in terms of “black professionals”: I’d say some 20% of my colleagues have obvious visual African ancestry, but that most of these people are very light. Maybe 2% are “black” by Brazilian census self-ascription standards.
So the ratio of “black to white” professionals in Brazil is not “0 to 10” as you would have it, Tbabs: it’s more like 2 to 10 and it’s about 1/3rd of what it should be, were race not a factor.
Note that in the U.S., the “black to white” professional ratio is hardly “1 to 10”. I’d put it more at “1 to 20”, or at about HALF of where it should be, were race not an issue (if anyone has good data on this, I’d like to see it).
I lived in a condo where I was the only blackman, except for the gatemen and the maids who’re of my skin colour.
Yep. Then again, what percentage of Brazil do you think lives in condos? I have never lived in one in twenty odd years living here, nor would I live in one. Your only options in this country are NOT faveles vs condos, you know.
My experiences in Brazil as a Blackman’s very shocking and sad.. .. for example if you’re black driving a nice Car in Brazil, you’re either a bandit/drug trafficker, soccer- player,or musician.. While in the United states and the UK, people don’t look at you this way.
Oh, really? Have you ever heard of the phrase “Driving while black”?
In Brazil as a blackman, if you venture to try to chat-up a girl of your same skin colour, she looks at you as if you’re shit… thinking you’re not financially ok to take her out, but with a white male… the sky’s the limite.. it was very shocking !
This makes me wonder where you were hanging out. The majority of heterochromatic (different skin color) marriages in Brazil are black men/white women and the majority of couples in general are homochromatic (same skin color). Obviously, then, there are plenty of black guys dating and marrying black women and plenty of BM/WW stuff, too.
You married a Brazilian, so apparently the situation isn’t absolute even in your case.
Perhaps your pick-up style isn’t in line with what Brazilians like? That’s a common problem with gringos. But seriously, as a white gringo living in Brazil, I can tell you that the sky is definitely not the limit. The only women who fawn over my white skin are the ones who are looking to make money off me – prostitutes, in general. Blue eyes and blond hair are exotic here, so that might get you some play now and again. I’m not blond, however.
The troubles i had before getting a job in Brazil was purely due to my skin colour, something which in the US or the UK as a professional i might not even feel, knowing however that it’s somewhere out there.
It’s damned hard gettting a professional job here no matter what your skin color. I’m sure being black doesn’t help.
Q.E.D !
Uhn? What have you demonstrated, exactly? You’ve stated an opinion, not logically demonstrated something.
LikeLike
I don’t know what to make of Brazil. Some people say it’s real racist while others say it’s laid back about racial issues.
The problem has to do with how you judge racism.
If you see racism as prejudice based on color, then we are a very racist country. If you see racism as prejudice based on ancestry, we’re not so racist.
Americans are used to a racist system which is based on ancestry, so when they come here, things seem much more relaxed to them, particularly if they are white or light-skinned blacks.
Americans also make cross-racial sex into a big taboo. It thus takes them awhile to figure out, for example, that miscegenation in Brazil isn’t a sign of non-racism but a historically used strategy to “whiten” the population and “purge the Brazilian race of the vices of African blood”.
The older I get, the more I think we need to understand racism in Brazil based upon its own coordinates, rather than as either a “more liberal” or “more hypocritical and hidden” version of American racism. This is one of the reasons, by the way, that I don’t buy the old pan-Africanist saw that “People of color instantly understand the experience of people of color the whole wide world over because they struggle against a common enemy: white supremacy and racism”.
When you have a white supremacist, racist system in the U.S. which prohibited interracial sex and would even hang black men for the suspicion of it, and then you have white supremacist, racist system in Brazil which ENCOURAGED interracial sex, I think we can say that the two racisms, though founded on a common ideological base (“white = better”) cannot be understood as interchangeable.
LikeLike
@ MsBeautySoul
I also thought of Brazil as a racial utopia until I went there. I do find it less racist than say the UK, but perhaps that is because I am a tourist so everyone is out to impress me.
Sorry if you had a bad experience. Brazil can be a difficult place to understand culturally – especially for a tourist. (not to mention language barriers) Men can be aggressive when it comes to pursuing women (for those of your friends who were treated disrespectuflly.) I can’t really comment specifically without knowing details. Brazil is my home away from home and I have family there. I wish more people visiting Brazil had the opportunity to see it by participating in the culture WITH Brazilans. (friends, family, etc…) I guess the travel experience can be relative. I have Brazilian friends who visit one or two places in the U.S. and automatically think they understand “Americans”. lol…
Cheers !!!
LikeLike
Yes, there’s racism in Brazil, but at least there’s no neighborhood just for black people, like in New York for exemple.
LikeLike
Abagond, are you still interested in Brazil? Eu sou brasileira e gostei muito dos seus posts sobre meu país. Estou escrevendo em português porque você disse que consegue ler minha língua.
LikeLike
This is clear,easy to understand post. I intend to use it in my classroom. Thanks!
LikeLike
Brazil has actually about 15% whites now (2020) and the numbers are dropping each and every year due to heavy miscigenation promoted by the jewish media and the degenerated culture. Pardos (mulattoes) are clearly the majority but still they have have mandatory reserved places at universities and work (affirmative actions), since a leftist government was elected. If eventually you get robbed and killed in Brazil, it will definetely be by an african descendent criminal, only them commit such crimes. Most brazilians think the corrupt politicians are pure white but most of them are actually half white half sephardi jews. The southeast region of Brazil, where i was born and raised, is completely taken over by mixed people and some of them are triracial. There was a huge migration between the 1950s and 1980s by the poor northeastern people looking for better life, so they brought their africanized culture with them and deeply changed the region’s demographics with their humongous birth rates. Until 1970’s the southeast was mainly white with italian-brazilians being the major ethnic group. In the upcoming years they will probabily do the same at the southern region, destroying the last few white generations in this country. Finally, there is no racism in Brazil, most people hate racist people and do not accept them or their beliefs. Unlike what foreigners think, brazilians usually don’t treat you well, unless you have money, look very good or are famous. So, if a white man is mistreated is ok, but if a black/mixed one has the exact same treatment he will automatically say it is racism.
LikeLike
“Until 1970’s the southeast was mainly white with italian-brazilians being the major ethnic group.”
Hmm, Did these pure European whites leave behind their well known criminal organizations when they left Italy for Brazil, you know, “Cosa Nostra”, ” La Stidda”, “Camorra”, ” ‘Ndrangheta”, “Basilischi”, “Sacra Corona Unita”, “Società foggiana”, “Mala del Brenta”, “Banda della Magliana”, “Banda della Comasina” and other “Mafia” clans too numerous to name?
LikeLiked by 1 person
“…there is no racism in Brazil, most people hate racist people and do not accept them or their beliefs.”
Hilarious!
A White supremacist Brazilian spews out a racist rant against non-Euro-descent Brazilians with such stinkers as:
➢”… If… you get robbed and killed in Brazil, it will definetely be by an african descendent criminal, only them commit such crimes.”
➢ “…half white half sephardi jews.”
➢ “…completely taken over by mixed people and some of them are triracial.”
➢ “…poor northeastern [Afro-Brazilian] people [with]…their africanized culture [and]… their humongous birth rates.”
➢ “…destroying the last few white generations in this country.” Sob
The rant ends with mewling about how, “…if a white man is mistreated is ok…”, AND THEN rattles off the “there is no racism in Brazil” canard.
You can’t make this stuff up.
still laughing!
LikeLike
More like a Portuguese father, a mestizo maternal grandfather, and a mulatto maternal grandmother. Brazilian DNA as a whole is nowhere near 50% black.
LikeLike