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Race,
Class and Education in Brazil
Race
in Brazil
The
history of slavery in Brazil is considerably different from
the history of slavery in the US. While it was equally cruel
and inhuman, blacks in Brazil were allowed to purchase their
freedom—and many did. Freed blacks would collect money
to free other slaves. In the town of Ouro Preto (Black Gold),
an extremely wealthy town in the late 1800s, successful gold
miners and merchants showed off their wealth by building expensive
baroque churches to 'thank God for their good fortune'. One
of the most impressive examples of these churches was built
by a black brotherhood.
Further,
the most famous architect and artist not only of Ouro Preto,
but of the entire Brazilian baroque was Antonio Francisco
Lisboa (Aleijadinho—The Little Cripple), a product of
a Portuguese builder and black slave. Clearly, one difference
between the US and Brazil regarding slavery and mating of
whites and slaves is that in Brazil this was open and even
'accepted'. Finally, Brazil passed a law requiring children
of slaves—including mixed-race children—to be freed:
the opposite of our one-drop rule.
Brazilian
scholars who study Brazil's ethnic and racial populations
today divide the population into these broad groups: European—including
Portuguese and Spanish (they believe Hispanic is a US made-up
category), British, Italian and Germans; African; Amerindian;
Asian (primarily Japanese), and mixed-race, or pardos.
One
of my most interesting observations is that in Brazil almost
every group I observed—early childhood programs, school
groups, choirs and instrumental groups, Lions Clubs, kids
sitting in shopping centers and eating or just socializing,
and dance groups, were all made up of people who ranges in
color from what the Brazilians consider black to what they
consider white, with every color of brown in between.
I
never saw students, youth groups, or adults voluntarily segregate
themselves by color; I never heard any discussion from the
young people I was around that certain things are a "black
thing", "Asian thing", "white thing",
etc.—largely because most of these youths did not fit
any of these single-race categories.
Classism
& Education
While
racial divisions in Brazil are not clearly defined, class
lines are. There are the very wealthy, the middle class, and
the very poor. And in Brazil the very poor make up a large
percentage of the population. You see them on the streets
trying to sell food and trinkets when you stop at a traffic
light; they descend on you when you park your car, offering
'protection' for a price (and, if you don't pay, your car
will not be protected); and, you see them along the highways
in miserable shacks trying to sell all sorts of things to
drivers speeding by.
Clearly
this class structure overlaps into race; but it is categorically
untrue to say all the wealthy are white, and all the poor,
nonwhite. It is also inaccurate to look at Brazilian society
as if it were a society with the same potential for upward
mobility as exists in our society, and then to blame poverty
of people of color on racism. In Brazil it is extremely difficult
for anyone to advance social levels, regardless of race.
This
is due to a complex set of societal factors, but anchored
in the educational system that only works for families with
money. Children must attend private secondary schools to be
able to pass the vestibular entrance exam to get into the
free universities; if they fail they can go to private universities
that cost money to attend. In both cases the poor are shut
out.
However,.
for socio-economic level, whites and Asians are more likely
to be in the higher socio-economic stratum, compared to whites,
pardos and Indians. For education of head of household, whites
and Asians are more likely to be university graduates.
...
Sociological scholarship on "race" provides scientific
evidence in the current scientific and civic debate over the
social consequences of the existing categorizations and perceptions
of race; allows scholars to document how race shapes social
ranking, access to resources, and life experiences; and advances
understanding of this important dimension of social life,
which in turn advances social justice. Refusing to acknowledge
the fact of racial classification, feelings, and actions,
and refusing to measure their consequences will not eliminate
racial inequalities. At best, it will preserve the status
quo.
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