Brazzil

The writer writes this:

"condemned to years of dispersion and miscegenation"

I take personal offense on that. I am brazilian and of mixed origins. That's not BAD! Why do some people lately seem so eager to replicate some racially segregated society in here!? With so many good things to copy from Europe or the US why do some choose RACISM? What so special about racial purity? Why do some blacks behave like Nazis?

First, no, this country is not racist. You want to know what is racist? Then go to Europe and see how "well treated" you will be, look around and try to see if you find any people of mixed origins.

Second, this country is formed by peoples of all around the world. I don't think the african influence should be considered better than any others.

Third, I can't help but think that this "African Nazism" follow the same pattern of the neo nazis in lots of other places. Hate groups recruiting young people in the lower classes, people that think they were forgotten or are being treated unfairly, that are told that none of that is their fault because there's an "evil conspiracy" of jews, hispanics, whites, blacks, gipsies, gays, etc (or whatever other group is convenient), for keeping them down. Alienated kids being lied to and used as pawns in some power game.

Denying miscigenation is denying the very thing Brazil is. Slowly this nonsense of race is being exterminated in here, something very different from the binary black/white of the United States and Europe, and now some people want to destroy it! I simply don't get it! What do those people in their minds for Christ's sake!?

"largest black nation"

Wow, now we are a "black nation". I am starting to get disgusted by such racists recently, pretending to speak on behalf of Brazil and of brazilians. This a offense to the brazilian culture, a complete disregard to all other peoples that came here to build a better life, and to the ones that were here already.

The hierarchy of race in the Americas and in Europe is the problem. The result of colonialism, slavery and indigenous exploitation as well as theories of superiority created a world that is already skewedWhy is European heritage so strongly valued, why is white or light skin so cherished? Why is it not strange to have entire NOVELAS about the Italian heritage or Portuguese heritage of Brazil and anything Black or African is seen as Nazi or Racist or portrayed in a negative light? Brazil and many other countries continue to ignore the roots which come from Africa - why? Because deep inside people are embarrassed of their blackness (not their white ancestry). It is just time for a change in point of view. Not putting one race ahead of another but learning to appreciate and accept the contribution of African peoples to a wonderful country like Brazil. And yes it would be good if more research on the African and indigenous peoples' contributions were made known because it is racist to see these groups as just dancing, slavery, costumes and caciques and not as intellectual or skilled people who made Brazil what it is today. Since when have Germans, Italians, Portuguese (even the British) been ignored in Brazilian history? Have Syrian or Lebanese peoples been ignored? Even the Japanese people (though not treated as well in the past) have strong representation in Sao Paulo. One day some friends and I passed the Syrian/Lebanese Hospital in Sao Paulo. I asked if there was an Angolan Hospital and they all started laughing - saying that was ridiculous. Why is that so strange? There are Spanish and Portuguese Hospitals... I dont understand why some things are acceptable and others are not. Until this changes, not just in Brazil but all over the Americas and Europe, we will never reach out full potential as multi-cultural nations. Have a really good day.

I am in complete agreement with the author. I am speaking as an American however I have done significant research on the African Diaspora and the impact of slavery on the Americas. When you look at the sheer numbers, more Africans were sold into slavery in Brazil than all the countries combined and it was the last country to abolish slavery.

At the core of what Mr. Dirce Carrion is arguing is that lack of education has taught Brazilians of African descent that all things European are good, but those things that symbolize African culture is not worthy of respect. Starting with the racism people experience because of the complexion of their skin or the privilege they experience because their heritage is mixed and skin is lighter – at the core of those values is that white is good and black is bad. This overt system of white superiority has set up deeply rooted beliefs in Africans throughout the Diaspora to embrace everything other than their African heritage hence why black women straiten their hair, use creams to lighten their skin and the icons of black beauty continue to be women who look the least African. Plain and simple to deny your ancestry is a form of self hatred.

I commend the project for wanting to help build a positive self image for children – the global future for descendants of people of Africa. To know your heritage and respect it gives you a sense of pride about your origins. In doing so it enables one to not only love who they are but respect other cultures.

Do your schools teach the history of slavery and profound impact African culture has made on cultures around the world in a way that you respect it?

There is a worldwide movement to tell the history and it must begin with the children. We salute your efforts to help educate the children so that future generations will embrace their heritage giving them the confidence and the courage to achieve.

May the peace be with you always

Why wouldn't any people want to know, understand, and celebrate all they are?! The damage done by the slave trade runs deep and will continue to affect generations to come. Unless people are educated about who they are, and the possiblities for their lives; the damage continues. It is easy for people to dismiss the pain of slavery if they do not walk around in today's world wearing a face damaged by slavery.

I disagree with your notion of "acceptance". African culture is recognized everywhere, more than I would like to by the way because I hate dancing and think their religions are primitive. Their religions are relics from an era where men were superstitious and didn't know how nature works. It would nice to see it in books just like the greeks and their gods, but not in some street in the 21st century! This is just sad.

We can see it in our daily lives not only in dances and things like Carnaval, but in religion, food, etc. If you really know Brazil you know "feijoada", "capoeira", "samba", "candomblé", those are just a few things of African origins that are common to any brazilian, of any race. Many of those things are considered genuinely brazilian and not some foreigner stuff. Anyone that has lived in here knows that. It's not hidden is some guetho, it's right on everyone's face. We cannot say the same about the US or Europe, can we?

It's common to see white people in candomblé rituals? Why? Why would it be even tolerated if it's regarded as "inferior"?

I think any culture that wishes to be respected must produce beautiful things, so we can be proud of. What exactly have the african culture produced? I am not saying that there isn't anything, I am saying you should show it off if you wish to be respected. Right now all I see is some international hate groups trying to kill the very thing that makes a Brazil of Brazil, and you won't find anywhere else in the world. You won't rest until you transform this country in some version of the Palestine.

This charge against miscegenation is a pure Nazi power game, more hate and more blacks equals more votes that equals more influence and money that equals more power. That's why in the US race is strictly binary, that's convenient for the governing elites, easier to handle and easier to control.

For the racist comment above, if everything that black is bad why is it so common to see white women and black men in here? Can you explain this phenomenon? Is it some sort of "white people's conspiracy" for taking the "blackness" off the blacks? It's not like those black men want it, they are obviously being forced to give up their blackitude, aren't they?

As a brazilian I praise beautiful things, and this recent wave of racism is definetely not beautiful. Miscegenation is the present and the future, now there's no way back.

Who the hell these gringos think they are to tell others who they are and who they aren't.

You should read the "Antropophagic Manifesto" and get a hint of what "race" is for us. That would be very educational for you all. This victim mindset of americans really don't go well with cannibals like us.

The myth is just the story the portuguese bishop Sardinha that came to Brazil early after the "discovery". The ship he was in sunk but he managed to survive. He ended in a beach but there were some indians there. They were cannibals. In such societies they don't eat enemies for food, but for religious beliefs, they believe that by eating powerful enemies they will absorb their strength.

So guess what? The bishop Sardinha, a representative of the mighty people of Portugal was eaten by those cannibals. That's kind of a metaphor for Brazil and brazilians. We assimilate stuff in us, both culturally and genetically, not just keep it segregated in guettos like in the US or Europe.

The genius of this thinking is that the colonizer/victim roles were inverted. The indians have eaten Portugal! That's us! Eating other cultures!

So this Nazi thing is a kind of new civilizatory effort untertaken by the "powers that be" to bring "civilization to us cannibals? Listen I have white, black and indian blood and I am proud of it and proud of achieving what no other people of this Earth was capable of, living together without killing each other. So, Nazis, do you want to know who I am? I am a cannibal, just like in the myth.

Interesting that no translation is given for Olhares Cruzados. The translator wouldn´t touch that one with a ten-foot pole. How do you think all the cross-eyed people will feel about this infelicitous choice of words? Insensitivity can take various forms....

I'm bored!

1) Brazil was the nation that imported the most slaves.
2) Those who imported these slaves were Brazilians : your own grand-grandfathers, even if they emigrated from Portugal.
3) Portugal is not Europe, but only a small part of it.
4) Brazil was tha last country who changed their constitution on slavery.
5) While you changed your constitution over 100 years ago, the change was only on paper because you still have Today slaves
"employed and used " by Brazilians, not foreigners !
6) The Africans legally in Europe or America even without a European/American passport are well treated, much better than your own black citizens WITH a Brazilian passport.

And to the attention of An African American : if you have done some research, you probably found out that millions of
Africans have been ORIGINALLY SOLD IN AFRICA, ....by no one else than the African Chiefs Tribes......!
That doesnt make the White " buyers" Less Guilty, but the Black "sellers".......As Much Guilty !
This has not yet been fully acknowledged by the whole black community.

The hierarchy of race in the Americas and in Europe is the problem. The result of colonialism, slavery and indigenous exploitation as well as theories of superiority created a world that is already skewedWhy is European heritage so strongly valued, why is white or light skin so cherished? Why is it not strange to have entire NOVELAS about the Italian heritage or Portuguese heritage of Brazil and anything Black or African is seen as Nazi or Racist or portrayed in a negative light? Brazil and many other countries continue to ignore the roots which come from Africa - why? Because deep inside people are embarrassed of their blackness (not their white ancestry). It is just time for a change in point of view. Not putting one race ahead of another but learning to appreciate and accept the contribution of African peoples to a wonderful country like Brazil. And yes it would be good if more research on the African and indigenous peoples' contributions were made known because it is racist to see these groups as just dancing, slavery, costumes and caciques and not as intellectual or skilled people who made Brazil what it is today. Since when have Germans, Italians, Portuguese (even the British) been ignored in Brazilian history? Have Syrian or Lebanese peoples been ignored? Even the Japanese people (though not treated as well in the past) have strong representation in Sao Paulo. One day some friends and I passed the Syrian/Lebanese Hospital in Sao Paulo. I asked if there was an Angolan Hospital and they all started laughing - saying that was ridiculous. Why is that so strange? There are Spanish and Portuguese Hospitals... I dont understand why some things are acceptable and others are not. Until this changes, not just in Brazil but all over the Americas and Europe, we will never reach out full potential as multi-cultural nations. Have a really good day.

Is your issue with the artistic and aesthetic expressions found in visual symbolic languages of wealth such as the exterior of a hospital or bank and its name, or is your issue with raw economic that construct such banks and to which certain ethnic and cultural groups with said resources place such names on exterior buildings? Because - and not to be mean in any way - I find many, and especially those of Black American decent, judge and make assumptions based on visual forms and really care little to go deeper into raw economics or how to obtain economic power in terms of business enterprise.

The first question I would have to ask id who financed these hospitals if it has a Lebanese name or title or Catholic name or title? For example many Black non-denominational churches in the United States are in rag-tag store fronts, in contrast to some of the large Catholic basilicas in the United States European immigrants traditionally worshiped in. When one takes care to find out of said basilicas were financed it was often through poor immigrants putting up the money collectively and or through bank loans the parish took out. The visual aesthetics might lead one to believe "racism" between such architectual differences in religious buildings and their symbolic language of wealth, but the underlying economic collaboration resulting either has little to nothing to do with racism.

.....how strange it is that Europeans, Americans, Brazilians and Chineses are "suddenly" so eager to become friendly with Angola since major oil deposits have been found there and already started production. While for decades no one cared for them when commodities prices were much lower, suddenly they are our brothers !
The same could be said with Mozambique, Nigeria, Congo having so much oil or ferrous and non ferrous metals, meaning profits for the new "friends" !

But who really cares, so far, for Benin, Togo, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Namibia, just to name a few ?
Are they NOT AFRICANS LIKE the other Africans ? Are they worth nothing...because WE have not yet discovered
wealth there ???

History just repeat itself, but this time 2 more actors entered the movie : China and Brazil.
Dont quote me badly, they are right, but then they cant accuse the developed countries since they just started doing exactly the same ! Sadly enough, this time even the non whites in America, Europe and Brazil AGREE ¨

Stupid question : what will the blacks african and non african descendants say..... in 50 years ?

In my view they will say exactly what all Brazilians and Africans are saying today :" richer nations (whoever they are, but this time China and Brazil included) depleted and have stolen our country wealth". I can easily think that they will say :" Look today, year 2056 oil is at US$ 600 per barrel and richer nations paid us only US$ 60.- in 2006, and worse, now in 2056 we have only 40 % of our 2006 reserves !!!!!!!!!!

While the reality is that oil producing countries are happy to have their oil sold at today price of US$ 60.-, just as they were happy 50 years ago when oil was at US$ 4.- per barrel or whatever !!!!! The same could be said for every commodity and/or salaries, income.

At the end, supply and demand will always dictate the price. Opec tried to corner the oil market for decades, without success just the same when Brazil tried to dictate the price of coffee for decades !
Buyers always try to buy low and sellers always try to sell high. But the correct price is the one the buyer and the seller signed. That is what Trade is !

written by An African American, 2006-11-27 11:47:50

I am in complete agreement with the author. I am speaking as an American however I have done significant research on the African Diaspora and the impact of slavery on the Americas. When you look at the sheer numbers, more Africans were sold into slavery in Brazil than all the countries combined and it was the last country to abolish slavery.

At the core of what Mr. Dirce Carrion is arguing is that lack of education has taught Brazilians of African descent that all things European are good, but those things that symbolize African culture is not worthy of respect. Starting with the racism people experience because of the complexion of their skin or the privilege they experience because their heritage is mixed and skin is lighter – at the core of those values is that white is good and black is bad. This overt system of white superiority has set up deeply rooted beliefs in Africans throughout the Diaspora to embrace everything other than their African heritage hence why black women straiten their hair, use creams to lighten their skin and the icons of black beauty continue to be women who look the least African. Plain and simple to deny your ancestry is a form of self hatred.

From my reading on Brazil much of what you say is untrue. Dare I say Bahia's culture grants more respect to African religious origins than what you will find in many parts of the African continent today. It is true however, from my reading, that Brazilians associate blackness with poverty and lack of education, therefore there exists elements of racism in Brazil because prejudices and negative connotations are correlated to darker skin color. But the issue is much more complex I'm convinced after doing more and more reading on Brazil. In many ways Carnival gives some sociological insight into the blending and harmonizing in Brazil of what seems to be contrasting things - take race out of it and the transsexual with light brown skin and curly hair epitomizes this with her crucifix around neck and lighting of Candomble candles. Put race back into it and you Brazilians that are mixed with Amerindian, Japanese, and African and European... so to what exactly are they as they listen to Bosa Nova and speak portuguese and admire the qualities of a woman as her back is turned rather than looking at the peaks of her breasts?

Brazil is Brazil and has as much right to her identity as Hutu feel to their's in Rwanda or the Husa in Nigeria or the Portuguese on Portugal or Black Americans in Black America. What I'm suggesting is the Brazilian can figure out who they are as a people - historical experience and all - without the self-righteous pontifications from gringos.

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Having said that I support the authors (of the article) intent to build better bridges between countries in Africa and Brazil. I think it it is an outstanding idea and I with my best wishes hope it works out well.

Strange !
written by ch.c., 2006-11-27 22:42:49

4) Brazil was tha last country who changed their constitution on slavery.
5) While you changed your constitution over 100 years ago, the change was only on paper because you still have Today slaves
"employed and used " by Brazilians, not foreigners !

What, did you come out of a cartoon?

Ethiopia did not end slavery officially until the 1920's so no... Brazil was not the last country on earth to end slavery. Secondly, slavery ending in the United States remained for decades more a matter of official paper work but in fact was de facto in effect in the southern fields of the south. Even today some immigrants are found to be kept as slaves in the U.S.

.
Reply to ch.c.

You should read my article published by Brazzil magazine at:


June 2003 – “Brazil and the Angolan Connection”
http://www.brazzillog.com/2003/html/articles/jun03/p133jun03.htm


.

Black Brazilian guys look for lighter-skinned girls and would never date a darker-skinned girl as this is the ideal image Brazilian tv and magazines have fed them as they grew up.Rich white brazilians think they are not racist because they dance samba side by side with black people during the carnival but in most rich=white condominiums in Sao Paolo and Rio Black people would be regarded as maids or doorkeepers or asked documents by vigilantes if they were foudn in the premises.White people in Brazil send their kids to private schools and go to private hospitals (invisible Apartheid) for the same reason.Most white mothers in Ipanema and Jardins would have a sudden heart attack if their daughter would bring home a Black boyfriend. I am white and European but I really despise SOME white people in Brazil. Some of them are so racist and adore a society where they can live as royals thanks to slavery-cheap labour but then would just like these black/mulatto maids, doorkeeprs, servants, chauffers to disappear in their favelas and lock themselves up. And those who don't fit in the slavery system that make them live in paradise to be just be shot by the police beacuse they "steal". Have I said something that is not true?

I thought this article talked about educating people. Any educated person knows that one cannot dismiss the contributions of any society. I still see no harm in educating people about where and who they come from.

To e harmony :
- your statement : Secondly, slavery ending in the United States remained for decades ...but you failed to add, on purpose, that slavery ended constitutionally in Brazil over 100 years ago....and still exists in......2006 !!!!
- In my comments I forgot to mention that Brazil was the last country IN THE AMERICAS....to abolish slavery !
- In the illegal immigrants and some slavery you are mixing up with Brazilians nationals as slaves IN BRAZIL !
- And no doubt that should I be slave once, I would rather prefer to be a slave in the USA or in the EU rather than a slave in Brazil.
It is like poverty : the 20 % poorests Americans/Europeans have a much better life than the 40 % poorests Brazilians.
90 % of Americans/europeans poors can afford a car...for example. That is not the case with at least the 40 % poorest brazilians. Therefore poverty like slavery has different meaning....depending of where it is. Or another example are
foreign maids in developed countries. 99 % of them dont consider themselves as badly treated and 100 % of them prefer
to be maid in a developed country than in their own country ! Just ask your own maid...what she is dreaming of.....being your maid.....or emigrating in the USA/EU and find a job as a maid....there !

Thus who is the worst of the 2 ?

You also forgot, on purpose, that Brazil is the country that imported the most slaves ! Please dont say they were traded
from Portuguese, because it happens that these Portuguese became Brazilians, and that these Brazilians are your own grand-grand fathers ! May be in your own family...if wealthy your family is !

Finally no one in the audience made an observation as to why suddenly the World (not only Brazil) wants to APPARENTLY reconcile with Africa ! Africa being of course Angola, Mozambique, Congo, Nigeria, but not really Benin, Togo, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ethiopia and all the countries NOT with oil or minerals reserves !!!!!!!!!!!

Strange isnt it ? Totally hypocrisy....in my view !

And to the member referring to the Hutus or the Husa, sorry but both of them are BLACKS, to my knowledge. And the Rwanda
war, for example, was a tribes problems and differences, NOT a skin color racism between blacks and whites!

Have I said something that is not true?

Yes, you did. Your racist cannot stop thinking in racist terms. If you enter a room and don't see the same number of what for you would be blacks, for they are brazilians just like everyone else, then it can only means there racism around.

You idiot, I went to private school, and there were blacks descendents there too. At least here in Brazil people of other origins aren't attacked in the streets by some neo nazi group or see "Sieg Heils" and swastikas in the soccer stadiums! Have I said anything untrue? European trash!

ch.c,

What are you rambling on about? You couldn't cut the mustered in the capitalist environment of Sao Paulo, some bronzed skin mixed-race girl with an apple butt you adored denied you the affection you were certain you rated being a European traveler, and being grossly overweight you'll go into cardiac arrest if you have to walk more than two blocks, is that the root of your problems with the fabled land of Brazil?

So what if many or most Brazilians don't have a car: Caesar didn't have one, Lincoln didn't have one, and Billy the Kid didn't have one. Chalk it up to good exercise and a way to enjoy the tropical landscape.

Brazil and slavery... yes Brazil had the most slaves brought to the Americas and so what is the point? There are slaves (I'm not speaking illegal immigrants) in the United States today. It's illegal in both the U.S. and in Brazil.

As for the Rwanda genocide that was about ethnicity and a slaughter happened. Such things are just as bad as killing over racism, the motive is the same.


You simply are jealous of the Brazilians.

What is helping to destroy the American society is this insistance that there is race. There is no such thing as race.
Just because the pigmentation of your skin is different than someone else does not constitute race.
You come from a different tribe. You are now in Brazil. Learn how to fit in.
You can always leave if you so desire.

I REMEMBER BEING IN SCHOOL IN BRAZIL AND BEING THE DARKEST KID IN MY CLASS. ITS WAS FUNNY. I COULD COUNT IN MY 2 HANDS HOW MANY KIDS HAD HAIR LIKE MINE. I COULD COUNT IN MY HANDS HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE OF DARKER SKIN THEN MINE. I REMEMBER BEING TAUGHT THAT I WAS LIGHT SKINNED AND THAT I WASNT BLACK OR AFRO-BRAZILIAN. LIKE BEING "PRETO" IS SOMETHING BAD. I NEVER REALLY LEARNED ABOUT "ZUMBI". I NEVER REALLY LEARNED ABOUT "OS PALMARES" THESE ARE ESSENTIAL MOMENTS IN BRAZILIAN HSITORY THAT NOT ALL KIDS LEARN ABOUT IN SCHOOL. BUT I DID LEARN WHERE EUROPE IS. I DID LEARN WHERE PORTUGAL IS. AND OF I LEARNED THAT MY COLOR WAS "MARROM BOM BOM" AND MY TEACHER TAUGHT ME THAT. COME TO LEARN THAT WHEN I GREW I WAS ANOTHER "PRETO." BUT IM PROUD OF MY HERITAGE. THERES SO MUCH RACISM WITHIN BRAZIL THAT ISNT SEEN OR REALLY SPOKEN OF. AND ALL THIS WRITING AND SUCH IS GOOD. BUT WHAT ARE ANY OF YOU DOING IN BRAZIL TO MAKE ANY OF THIS BETTER. SOMETHING TO HELP THE CAUSE. BRAZIL IS A CORRUPT COUNTRY WHERE ONLY THE WHITE SURVIVE. IF YOU'RE NOT PLAYING SOCCER OR SINGING AND DANCING AND YOU'RE OF "COLOR"(AFRICAN DESCENT) IN BRAZIL, YOU ARE NOT MAKING MONEY AND EVEN THEN ITS REALLY DIFFICULT BECAUSE THERE IS SUCH A COMPETITION.
I WENT TO SCHOOL IN BRAZIL AND IN THE U.S.A. THE SCHOOL SYSTEM IN BRAZIL IS A LOT BETTER THAN IT IS HERE IN THE U.S. EDUCATION WISE BRAZIL IS A YEAR OR 2 AHEAD. A STUDENT WHO ACTUALLY STUDIES IN BRAZIL. IS WHAT WE HERE IN THE USA WOULD CONSIDER AN "HONORS STUDENT." BUT IN BRAZIL A LOT OF THE "AFRO-BRAZILIAN" STUDENTS HAVE TO DROP OUT DUE TO POVERTY. DUE TO THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE TO WORK AND EVEN THOSE WHO DO STAY IN SCHOOL. THEY'RE NOT BOSSES OF NOBODY. THE ONLY "AFRO-BRAZILIANS" THAT ARE ACTUALLY MAKING MONEY AND THAT ARE NOT IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY ARE DRUG DEALERS. BUT EVEN THEN THEY HAVE BOSSES. AND YES BRAZIL HAS A LOT OF TO DO WITH AFRICA. BUT THE EUROPEAN INFLUENCE IN BRAZIL IS SO HUGE THAT THE AFRICAN INFLUENCE IS LOOKED AT AS A BAD THING. I LOVE BAHIA. BAHIA IS LIKE "LITTLE AFRICA" IN BRAZIL. AND THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THE CULTURE OF BRAZIL'S AFRICAN DESCENT WHETHER IT BE BY SLAVERY OR NOT.

That's not how I see it. I went to private school and there were people of darker skin there, it wasn't 50% / 50% but the point is that there was. I never in my life faced discrimination of any kind, and I am not a 100% pure white. In my profession, which requires high education, I have met many of darker colors, sometimes making more money that I do. I think the problem with poverty in this country is social and political, not racial.

I really don't like the image most brazilians have of Brazil and project it on TV, of happy people dancing, playing football and being friendly, and probably I would be called "chato" because of that. BUT I also think that this "american/european race system" is flawed, short-sighted and outdated. Brazil have no deep roots like some other countries, thousands of years of history, our history is being made RIGHT NOW, and I am sure we can make much better than anyone else!

As I said before, I see such initiatives of race affirmation as a second civilizatory effort sent by the "powers that be". Similarly to missionaries sent to teach the "poor indians" about Christ and all that stuff, slowly obliterating their culture. Do we really need this sickening race culture? They are crazy, but leave them with their crazyness, I just don't want it for myself.

BTW, I learned about Zumbi and the Palmares. Maybe it was the material your school used that had it missing or maybe you don't remember, but I don't think there's a "conspiracy" for keeping people from knowing these things.

As a Gaucho immigrant to the US, I've had great opportunity but I know that my Brazilian relatives white and mixed race in Rio, RGS and all over Brazil have their struggles with the economy and social structure in Brazil. I beleive that your individual progress is based on your perspective and a lot of luck. I was lucky enough to have a mother with gumption who moved to the US and left my dead beat dad in Brasil. I also know poverty from my short time there and from the stories that my sisters tell me and that my mother recalls so vividly. She's an Alemao patato as they say in the south. Every racial/ethnic group experiences poverty and Blacks all over the world aren't the only ones that experience it. Many blacks are very rich and oppress like the other rich people. Many of my family in Southern Brazil that are white are poor and their skin color is not helping them pay the bills. They have the same struggle that my mixed race and white relatives have in Rio. Elitism is Brazil's biggest problem. The USA has it's share of that too and it's not just rich whites but rich blacks who forget to help their countrymen. People need to celebrate their entire racial and ethnic identity to be healthy and realize that there are no simple answers to our history. We are responsible for our futures and raising our children to be understanding and broadly educated so that they don't make simplistic comments about what it is to be black, white or Brazilian.

People need to celebrate their entire racial and ethnic identity to be healthy and realize that there are no simple answers to our history.

Brazil needs to create one for itself (if it wasn't created already), not celebrate someone else's. The example of the canibal is one of many, there might be others.

BRAZIL IS JUST ONE BIG RACE. ONE BIG GROUP AND WE ALL SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE. WHETHER IT BE WHITE BLACK OR EVEN ASIAN. BUT ITS CRAZY BECAUSE ONLY 20% OF THE COUNTRY OWNS THE MONEY. ITS ALL ABOUT ELITE.

what is slavery ? we must ask .
a brasilian federail judge using jailed personal for lauor on his land ?
some one whom works for just a house over his head ?
a mother selling her child so she can feed the others ?
the entire working class of brasil works to support the goverment and the elite rich whom are above the law !!!!!!!

all of thies have been on the news in brasil just this past year

I think this Article is great. It is true! Brazil would not be Brazil if it wasn't for the slave trade. I see many people in Brazil who do not embrace their African Ancestory. People refer to themselves as a Morena. This is a false state of mind that someone has created, and it is very dangerous state of mind. If a lot of Afro Latinos were to come to America they would find out what they are really are. Black! The KKK or other hate groups don't care what language you speak or what you are mixed with. They only thing they see is your black skin and features. Blacks in North and South America have been racially mixed with indian and white blood since slavery. That is what makes us black. Any body who think's the world basesd o isn class is a brainless fool. Women lie and Men lie, but numbers don't. The poorest Brazilian are the darker ones. White Brazilain hold all the wealth, and it is not due to thier economic engenuity. It's because they have had an head start on Darker Brazilians. You can't discount slavery or all social injustices blacks have endured all over the world for centuries. An anybody who can't see that is a retard. An for the guy who said" I white and I was a poor Brazilian", You are what they call collateral damage. It is obvious that every white brazilian is not rich, but the vast majority of the wealth is held by white brazilians. It obvious that there are blacks in America who have a lot of money, but the vast majority are poor while vast majority of whites are middle class or rich. I wish I could go around the world an strip all you weak suckers of your blackness, because most of you don't deserve it.

FINALLY... SOMEONE WHO AGREES WITH ME... ALL AFRO-LATINOS ARE TAUGHT THAT BLACK IS BAD. WHY CANT THEY TEACH US THAT BLACK IS GOOD? WHY DOES EVERYTHING BAD HAD A BALCK NICKNAME? WHY IS IT BAD TO BE BLACK?

This is a false state of mind that someone has created, and it is very dangerous state of mind. If a lot of Afro Latinos were to come to America they would find out what they are really are. Black!

Thank God we don't need to live in such a place with so many brain damaged individuals. I know the color your skin makes you feel miserable, but I don't really care about it and I don't really think any brazilian does.

The brazilian culture is rich, the american is racially segregated. The ironic part of that is that blacks themselves are spreading ideals of racial purity and promoting a model of society that would make Hitler proud.

I wish I could go around the world an strip all you weak suckers of your blackness, because most of you don't deserve it.

You should see a shrink.

ALL AFRO-LATINOS ARE TAUGHT THAT BLACK IS BAD

Any evidence of that? This american crappiness is making me sick already.

We don't have portuguese, japanese, chinese, italians, germans, natives, etc making parades and telling others what they are, what they should think and what they should do. Why, in the name of God, do you think that with blacks it should be different?

Some people praise their origins but they do it in their privacy, not by making a nation wide campaign of lies and whining.

The fact that these racists, these Nazis, can't even make themselves heard. Despite of all television campaign efforts every brazilian ignores this black madness because they know it's wrong, it's unnatural and it's a kind of cultural colonization from foreign powers.

The KKK or other hate groups don't care what language you speak or what you are mixed with. They only thing they see is your black skin and features.

This line says it all. Ake bases his values in what the KKK and other hate groups think. Congratulations Ake, you are an idiot!

This line says it all. Ake bases his values in what the KKK and other hate groups think. Congratulations Ake, you are an idiot!

I believe many gringos no matter their color are infused with deep racism even if they can't see it. I agree with your point but for gringos (and I'm one) we are instilled from the cradle to see any color of darkness be it light brown or olive complexion as something phenomenally different from "white." All correct understanding of race - as gringos see it - are predicated upon the opinions of WASP culture from the 1800's through the 1930's or 40's.

If a mulatto or any person of amalgamation of races that includes black African, denotes a quality, and reality of themselves that is other than what the gringo desires to hear they hence are in denial of something. For example I'm mulatto and I tell people I am such or at times I tell people I'm half German. For those gringos fully assimilated into the societies of the "white category" or the "black category" they are often at a loss to figure out why I will denote "German" but not "African." First someone has to inform gringos that "German" is not an entire continent like "Africa" and that "Africa" is not a nationality nor an ethnicity. Good luck though because I believe by survey poll something like 13% of U.S. youth up to the age of 23 can't locate the United States on a map - so asking to many gringos to come to terms with Africa not being an ethnicity is to much to ask perhaps. The gringo then fails to comprehend that a mulatto often may not be able to confirm what black African ethnicity his ancestors were as thanks to slavery often that knowledge has been long lost. More especially the gringo can not comprehend the mulatto can have other ties and experiences racially that develops his or her identity outside of the context of being "black" or "African." Because of the black American's ties and experiences they have developed an identity that they proudly boast and make note is their own and separate from the Husa in Nigeria or any Bantu on South Africa. The so called "white American" has done this proud and boastful separation from Europe and Europeans as well. Yet throughout the Americas they project mulatto and mixed persons self creative nature to themselves and pride in their own identity as being wrong.

But the real racism in the gringo mind comes in the fact that when that gringo sees someone like me they immediately comprehend me as being intrinsically different from my white German American relatives. That I don't comprehend myself as being entirely "different" from them but rather a part of them and a part of that "German" family history passed down orally to me (or in objects)... the gringo sees me as "racist" and him or herself as not racist and full of wisdom.

Having said that, it is true there are dark Brazilians who note themselves as this or that including morena, for various reasons not excluding at times perhaps to evade their West African biological roots. But in what measure is that? What Brazilian or mulatto led the slaughter of 6 million Jews? What Brazilian or mulatto led the slaughter of 800,000 Tutsi's in Rwanda? What Brazilian raped their way through China? What Brazilian created ethnic killing fields in Cambodia? Yet the Puerto Rican, Brazilian and mulatto in the United States are the racial and ethnic problems in the world suffering woes upon all mankind. Having said that I do realize the Dominican mulatto's history regarding her black Haitian neighbor has be brutal and bad.

Brazil is free in that she allows people to create themselves, be that in real terms or in mythological terms, racially and sexually you see this self-creation of identity, the black that is the morena and the boy that is the girl (transsexual). Only in such a dynamic society of freedom and self-creation could a shoe-shine boy missing one finger rise to become President of his nation without the use of a military coup.

The samba dance, the human heart, the heavy diet of Bahia, becomes the vitality and internal strength of Brazil, and that is not bad. That the United States strikes another cord and Ford Motor company and Wal Mart become the vitality and internal strength by which her citizens rally their culture, does not make the U.S. all wise and better.

E Harmony, I must dispute much of what you've written.

You cannot make huge generalisations about gringos or foreigners with no statistical or empirical backing. These foreigners include everyone outside of Brazil. It is obvious that there are significant numbers of Brazilians who have their own flawed conception of race and exhibit behaviour that could only be labelled "racist" or prejudiced

Understand that most Black people in the Americas who descend from slaves have few possibilities for knowing where exactly in the African continent our anscestors came from. Furthermore, our anscestors probably came from a number of different modern day African states. For this reason, we can only ever regard ourselves as African, as opposed to belonging to a specific country.

The use of that statistic that 13% of American's can't locate their own country is quite frankly pointless. If 13% can't locate their country, does that not leave 87% that can. If my maths are right, that a very large majority. Indeed, "African" is not an ethnicity, but it is just as helpful a term in understanding a person's identity. Do you think that the (i suspect) highly educated people who create the census in various countries don't recognise that "African" or "European" is not an ethnicity? They still understand the usefulness of the term.

I am half African and half Caribbean. I was brought up by my Caribbean side, but if someone asks me where my roots are, I will ALWAYS tell them about both sides of my family. The same goes for a close friend who is half-Swedish and half-Japanese. It is clear that she is half Asian and half European, and when people ask her where she's from, what they are essentially asking is "You're part Asian aren't you?" I find it saddening that you can't say "I am both German and (whatever else you are)" You may rationalise this decision to highlight your German side as rebelling against a society that would like to categorise you and ignore your European ancestry. But to me, after reading everything you've said, it would seem you simply hold this side of yourself to higher esteem. I find that truly saddening. You are what you are because of your mixture, why don't you just state it.

I am in total agreement that individuals who are of mixed "race" should not be forced to be put into one category that could never tell the whole story. But by simply stating one side of one's family, this does not make it any better. In addition, anyone who states that mulattos are a refection of the woes of mankind (if that's how you meant it) are clearly ill-educated or have a flaw in their rationalisation mechanisms.

I find it saddening that people of all "races" here are at times sprouting complete and utter rubbish. There is nothing wrong with trying to get in touch with one's roots. What is blaringly obvious is that the response by many of the Brazilians here demonstrates the fact that whatever you may think, Brazil is just as prejudiced as any North American or Western European country.

What is blaringly obvious is that the response by many of the Brazilians here demonstrates the fact that whatever you may think, Brazil is just as prejudiced as any North American or Western European country.

I happen disagree with this assertion. A Western European country is locked in tradition and history that dates back thousands of years, many of the racial ideas are ancient and there's very little hope of changing it. The US could be a lot different, but they just copy the European mentality. Saying that Brazil is just the same is plain wrong.

I read somewhere, not sure if in this very site, that according to the census people identified themselves as 160 different kinds of color. This is unthinkable in the US or Europe. What international hate groups want is to say: "Ok, from those 160, 159 are blacks because they aren't as white as a white american, and only 1 is white". This is convenient for someone seeking political power, but it's completely messed up.

What disturbs me the most is that gringos think color equals "who the person is". I know plenty of people that look like me, some even from my own family, that I despise. And I also know plenty of people that have no relation whatsoever with me that match with my thinking.

In the US, for me at least, it seems people are forced to take sides, and participate in a power game. All identity politics work towards power, there's no difference between African praising and Nazi praising as far as the system works. The only thing is that due to history Nazi is regarded as "bad" and African as "good".

Many people in Brazil celebrate their origins. I don't, because I regard myself as a brazilian. But they do it in their privacy or in local towns whose majority of the population came from a specific place. The peoples of African origins also celebrate their origins, in a much healthier way than the black americans for example.

I think it's the individual's responsibility to build his own identity, and there are many ways of doing so. Either through study or through participation in some group. Giving "pre-made" identities people should adopt and follow with the rest of the herd is just evil. It was evil in Germany 1939 and it's evil now.

And the fact that the poorest of the poor in Brazil happen to be of a noticabely dark shade of colour is of course a remarkable coincidence, a twist of fate that has left blacks firmly rooted at the bottom of the socio-ecomonic ladder. And about pre-made ideas, please read Anderson's Immagined Communities and the power of communication or abscence of it constructing cohesive homogenous groups such as nations are meant. This applies to the removal of the topic of slavery and the exclusion of blacks from the national project of modernisation and development in post-Abolition Brazil. Blacks simply wemt from the plantation to the favela without so much as a token effort to rehabilitate or integrate them into society in the aftermath of nearly 4 centuries of brutal slavery.There are no grand conspiracies just the cruel callousness of a people who exploited free African labour for 400 years then simply discarded blacks as surplus to requirements. Now people have the nerve to compare black conscioness to Nazism? Are you insane? Blacks in Brazil aren't holding party rallies in Frankfurt or planning the total destruction of the Jewish race. No what is being said is take pride in Black in a country where dark skin is stigmatized.They are saying its not fair that they be excluded from the fruits of economic development.They are simply saying that they deserve as much of a fair shot as everyone else. They want a piece of the pie as well.

the presence of 160 racial classification is not something to be celebrated. Its is just a another manisfestation of the mulatto escape hatch, through which many people who have no desire to associate themselves with being black flee. They seek to escape the burden of their African heritage by classfying themselves as morena or pardo, peoples of mixed race. Its the cowards way out for those want to avoid confrontation with the system which biased against blacks.When you live in a pigmentocracy (Rule by colour of skin) you quickly realise that whiter is better.Lighter skin opens previously locked doors, giving one access to superior employment, education and housing. The Gini-index does not lie. It indicates countries of high uneven resource distribution. Brazil constantly ranks in the top 3. Half the population is devastatingly poor and an overwhelming majority of that half is black. The poorest states in Brazil are those which have majority black populations, mainly in the North and North East. I challenge any Brazilian to provide a satisfactory reason as why this is and why does race and poverty in Brazil seem to be one and the same thing. Simply a lot of the people are poor but they also happen to be black. Poverty has a face in Brazil and the colour of that face is black.

A Brazilian, my dear brother(or sister) from another mother, i think u've totally lost it.Do you even understand the implications of the stuff you are saying or are you just a mouth-piece for elite-manufactured, media-distributed, recycled ideas that you would be shocked to discover are given little credence by the same people who first thought them? The idea of a single homogenous race is a fantasy, which was supported by the alledged presence of a large mestizo population and the idea of Luso-Tropicalism, which was a Portuguese conceit invented to justify their continued presence in Africa, pointing their colonial experience in Brazil and how they were morally superior to the French or Anglo-Saxons in terms of their benevolent rule, 'soft' slavery and their non-racialism in mixing freely with non-European indigineous populations. Gilberto Freyre was useful in propogating that myth in Casa Grande e Selenza but he aslo writes about the cruel sexual sadism often displayed by the plantation slave owners. So no slavery i Brazil was not mild and b)blacks had no choice when it came to miscegenation. Roman Law concept Ex turpa causa-no right action can arise from an illegal act. Miscegenation is a relic of the past.And it is right to view it with some sceptism since a Brazilian delegate to a Race conference in London, 1911, once remarked pubilicly that it is the express intention of race mixing was to totally eliminate blacks from the Brazilian population.

Black Consciousness
written by Kunta01, 2006-12-10 12:18:19

And the fact that the poorest of the poor in Brazil happen to be of a noticabely dark shade of colour is of course a remarkable coincidence, a twist of fate that has left blacks firmly rooted at the bottom of the socio-ecomonic ladder. And about pre-made ideas, please read Anderson's Immagined Communities and the power of communication or abscence of it constructing cohesive homogenous groups such as nations are meant. This applies to the removal of the topic of slavery and the exclusion of blacks from the national project of modernisation and development in post-Abolition Brazil. Blacks simply wemt from the plantation to the favela without so much as a token effort to rehabilitate or integrate them into society in the aftermath of nearly 4 centuries of brutal slavery.There are no grand conspiracies just the cruel callousness of a people who exploited free African labour for 400 years then simply discarded blacks as surplus to requirements. Now people have the nerve to compare black conscioness to Nazism? Are you insane? Blacks in Brazil aren't holding party rallies in Frankfurt or planning the total destruction of the Jewish race. No what is being said is take pride in Black in a country where dark skin is stigmatized.They are saying its not fair that they be excluded from the fruits of economic development.They are simply saying that they deserve as much of a fair shot as everyone else. They want a piece of the pie as well.

Again a gringo who seeks to understand only through visual symbols but not underlying dynamics. Impress upon then why is it Nigeria has so much poverty? A country run by people that clearly denote themselves not just as black but by their West African ethnicities. If a person is mulatto, black, or clara-blanca in a Brazilian favela racial pride shall not relieve them of their socio-economic sufferings if they are high school drop outs. There are plenty of poor Neo-Nazi's in the United States, from trailer parks or low income housing, and their "white pride" has created no magnificent wealth for them. By the extension of your logic if all the poor Mexicans in Mexico adopted "black pride" they would find themselves escaping the pains of economic poverty.

And last I recall President Lula came from abject poverty.

the presence of 160 racial classification is not something to be celebrated. Its is just a another manisfestation of the mulatto escape hatch, through which many people who have no desire to associate themselves with being black flee. They seek to escape the burden of their African heritage by classfying themselves as morena or pardo, peoples of mixed race. Its the cowards way out for those want to avoid confrontation with the system which biased against blacks.When you live in a pigmentocracy (Rule by colour of skin) you quickly realise that whiter is better.Lighter skin opens previously locked doors, giving one access to superior employment, education and housing. The Gini-index does not lie. It indicates countries of high uneven resource distribution. Brazil constantly ranks in the top 3. Half the population is devastatingly poor and an overwhelming majority of that half is black. The poorest states in Brazil are those which have majority black populations, mainly in the North and North East. I challenge any Brazilian to provide a satisfactory reason as why this is and why does race and poverty in Brazil seem to be one and the same thing. Simply a lot of the people are poor but they also happen to be black. Poverty has a face in Brazil and the colour of that face is black.

You're contradictory, a large portion of the poor in Brazil are mixed race, they are "mixed race" for gringo sociological perspective when they are middle class, when they are in a favela the gringo will label the same peoples "black." Hey, is Jeniffer Lopez "black" also. Wait one minute gringo... since mixed-race Amerindians in the United States are "Indian" and not mestizo, then why does the gringo identify the Mexican mixed-race Amerindian as "mestizo" Mexican and not Indian when they don't want them crossing into Texas or California?

Listen gringo... 160 racial classifications does not all constitute black and brown. And "moreno" can refer to anyone brunette white to dark brown. President Lula is moreno. And I love how you gringos always imply any mulatto that has accomplished anything in life has never worked for it but has just been given to him or her. On the other hand you all will insinuate any black person that robs or murders has just been shafted by "the man." Mixed-race people work and struggle for things just like everyone else in the world. No one gave Tiger Woods a free nothing in the game of gulf - he worked for it. Life was no bowl of cherries for the light skinned Brazilian football star Ronaldo... he worked with his talent and earned his fame.

Your views are backwards and I think e-harmony expressed already pretty well about the situation. If "race pride" give anyone any escape from poverty lots of Neo Nazis would be wealthy in the US.

Now people have the nerve to compare black conscioness to Nazism? Are you insane? Blacks in Brazil aren't holding party rallies in Frankfurt or planning the total destruction of the Jewish race.

They are holding up rallies in places of Brazil for the total destruction of the brazilian race (that I am included in). This is foreign induced to an extent. The tatics are the same as of neo-nazis, get the underachievers that believe that are being treated unfairly and tell them it's not their fault, there's a conspiracy for keeping them down.

No what is being said is take pride in Black in a country where dark skin is stigmatized.

My experience in this country shows that poverty is stigmatized, not color. Poor people is treated like crap by everyone, but no one will prevent blacks from making money.

This must be fixed of course, but not going 200 years in time in the matters of race. There's no way back now.

They are simply saying that they deserve as much of a fair shot as everyone else. They want a piece of the pie as well.

Better to work for it the same way I do.

They seek to escape the burden of their African heritage by classfying themselves as morena or pardo, peoples of mixed race.

This is the african nazism expressing itself. Why do you think your african heritage would be better than others? Why would it be above others?

So no slavery i Brazil was not mild and b)blacks had no choice when it came to miscegenation

I think you have no idea of what you are talking about. In Brazil today blacks do have a choice, otherwise we wouldn't see so many black men or black woman with non-black partners.

I think Brazilian society is hundreds of years ahead of the american society in what concerns race. You are stuck this disease for the mind. The funny thing is that I often read complaints from americans regarding their "race system", racial profiling, racial statistics affirming that blacks are dumber, etc. And now some blacks are trying to implement the same crap in here.

The irony of it all is that such separation would make Hitler happy.

written by Kunta01, 2006-12-10 12:36:28

the presence of 160 racial classification is not something to be celebrated. Its is just a another manisfestation of the mulatto escape hatch, through which many people who have no desire to associate themselves with being black flee. They seek to escape the burden of their African heritage by classfying themselves as morena or pardo, peoples of mixed race. Its the cowards way out for those want to avoid confrontation with the system which biased against blacks.When you live in a pigmentocracy (Rule by colour of skin) you quickly realise that whiter is better.Lighter skin opens previously locked doors, giving one access to superior employment, education and housing.

Kunta01, expresses duplicity in his gringo proposition that mulattoes are non-existent and that one can only be white or black, when he - as all gringos - makes note of the mulattoes existence (as in the words of his I placed in bold) and differentiates the mulatto from the black person.

According to the logical end of Kunta01 and the gringo's proposition on race, mulattoes do not exist biologically, culturally, or in family ties just only in their minds, and consequently black women can only give birth to black children but white women have the superior ability to give birth to both white children and black children.

Brasileiros, falemos somente o português e deixemos esses gringos se virarem com tradutores pela rede mundial, se assim quiserem. Assim podemos conversar livremente e comentar as asnices aqui escritas por eles. Esse site não pode ser sério ao permitir coisas como bem exemplificados nesses comentários. Isso não é apenas ofensivo de uma forma inocente, mas sim proposital. O intuito desse site é denegrir a imagem do Brasil e de seu povo, portanto gastar tempo e saliva argumentando é inútil.

Escrevamos somente o português para que outros brasileiros não se iludam ao visitar o site, e deixemo-los na escuridão de sua própria ignorância.

I am an American. I am not an expert on Brazilian social issues, but I have learned so much about the culture from my Brazilian friends of 6 years.

Bottom line: The only way an individual may grow is to ask themselves important questions about their exsistence in this world which we all share, and further ask themselves, How can I make this world a better place? I have read many of the responses from the original article. I am shocked by the name calling in the responses, ie: stupid, ignorant, wrong, idoit, crazy nazis, and too many comments about Hitler, and so forth? Hitler burned men, women, and children alive, so let's be delicate with these terms and not exaggerate the circumstances about trying to understand one's existence in the world. How does name calling improve anything?? Instead ask yourself, how can I make this world a better one?? What can I do on a personal level to help out??

Second...I have travelled to Salvador several times. It is a unique, beautiful and special place. I LOVE IT THERE AND CAN'T WAIT TO RETURN!! The people are so alive, they laugh, and have a unique way about them. Like in the way they tell a story, or resolve problems and help one another out. Sadly, I saw some real poverty and a poverty mentality which I am not accustomed to, which was depressing. I did not see many blacks on television, for example on the novelas. I saw many African ways still present and alive in modern Brazilian culture, which anybody can learn and benefit from. My Brazilian female friends (total of 6) some of which are black/mulatto/ or mulatto/indian, I don't know how best to describe them, only date lighter complexion guys or white guys. They say darker guys don't like them. It is a unique place. Black and whites live in the same neighborhood and go into each other's homes. In the USA, that is another story. Its very segregated. Blacks on one side of the city and whites on the other and not much conversation, only at work. The beauty of African culture in modern American culture is hidden. Many Blacks in the USA (not all of them) have no idea what Afican culture is and most of it has been forgotten. Many White Americans do not know what Brazlian culture is. Most Americans are only concerned with what is in their immediate world: Pursue higher education (or not ), work, try to get a higher paying job, pay the bills, pay more bills, buy this and buy that.

Last...I really don't have the answers to any of this. All I know, racism does exist. Whether it exists in the world, politics, economics, or in our own minds. The discussion of color, race, complexion, mixed, black, white, mulatto, brown, Indian, Portuguese, African, European, bad hair, good hair, Brazilian butt implants and what have you...Let's all try to ask ourselves some important questions, raise our kids the right way, try to get to know one another, and try to make the world a better place by being the best person we can be for ourselves and God.

Hitler burned men, women, and children alive, so let's be delicate with these terms and not exaggerate the circumstances about trying to understand one's existence in the world.

Entender a existência? Como? O que você quer dizer com isso? Hitler não começou sua carreira queimando gente. Ele começou como um militante e político que defendia idéias racistas. É perfeitamente comparável ao que pretendem fazer ao Brasil, esses racistas americanos.

Agora a conexão entre isso e entender a existência de alguém é o que não faz sentido algum nessa frase.

All I know, racism does exist.

A Bahia não é representativa do país todo, e esse bahia-centrismo é irritante.

I a 25 year old african american, of course I think that just being called black would put me on more equal footing with a white american,( are we not both naturally american, I have never known africa and in most cases they haven't known their families ancestral hailing spot.) But I digress. To some people some things are more important then others. Of course I could note that I am only 1/4 black but it would all seemingly come undone, when the dark reddishness of my skin isinspected. So for me the my familial make-up is an issue that is a past issue. It seems that every generation finds in itself several of the same arguments or vices of the past. Can humanity really expect to traverse galaxies in search of intelligent life, when the life on our own planet is wrought with strife? Within all of us we have ascribed ourselves a self worth. And then we venture out into the world and use those interactions and expierences that we find to tweak that innner self worth number. Oh my hair is black, society values blonde right now, thats 5 demerits. I am short and the world values taller men, oops, 5 more demerits. Oh no white is en vogue now, and here I am with this dark skin. Damn 100 demerits. I would like to relay a very short, relevant story. About 6 months ago, I met a brazilian online. We often talk on the telephone, and internet, and have become the best of friends. He belongs to the lower middle class in Brazil, and I, if it needs to be said am technically impoverished, even though my parents are quite affluent. We have on many occasions, talked about race and gender in this modern world. His views about his country are very honest( I have seen many of these same views on this very forum). Daily the differences between he and I become more glaringly apparent. But we, in our infinite 25 year olds wisdom, have decided that we would be sensitive to each others cultures. Now, be not confused, we will argue points, and and make all manner of claims an accusations, but at the end of the day he is my friend, and I his. This end to racism as it exist today is a moot point. It will remain a moot point. Complexes are born everyday, But we who are here on this forum and the forum of the world have to make a decision here and now. Do we want to effect change or no? Is this endeavour worth my life,yes, or no? If the Answer is yes I want to use my life to effect change, then do it. No more talk of how difficult it is, or claims that someone doesnt get the way the system works. In order to effect change it is vitally important that you change yourself. How dare anyone go out into the world half informed about who the are and what the believe, and then spew this mixture of wisdom and bile on to the masses as a cureall. If you are for racial equality, live your life in such a way that you are more sensitive to other races and cultures. How do you do this, you say? Unlearn the stagnant lessons you have stashed away in the recesses of your mind. See every person for the first time. When you see a person whose skin is fair, dont see him as the same color of your father, thus making him inherently good. When you see a person whose skin is of a dark pigment then your own, dont make this guy an inperson replica of the "shoot em up" movie you watched last night. See these two people as they are. MEN. That is all they are. Not statistics, or graphs, or charts.Or proven sterotypes, or former experiences. They are as you are a being, put here by what ever means to expierence this life and then move on. One last word of pontification. Brazil is Brazil, America is America. They are who they are and will be who they will be, long after your last footprint goes cold. The only thing that you have complete power over is you. Heres the formula---- Changing You, May change Others, Which Changes the World. (p.s.) There will be people who will write my comments off as the over simplifications of a 20 something. But it is simply, just try it, give it a shot. Change is a very fragile thing, but it has the power to affect others. So I admonish everyone on this page to try something different, something not opposite but new.
Later

I will answer this one in English because I think I spotted something interesting. The values of Brazil and the US are very different, and by that I mean 180º different. Let's see:

Oh my hair is black, society values blonde right now, thats 5 demerits. I am short and the world values taller men, oops, 5 more demerits. Oh no white is en vogue now, and here I am with this dark skin. Damn 100 demerits

Seriously, this says it all. Why do this people think that "white" and "blonde" is in vogue and it is good? At least here where I am from people that are tanned, not too dark and not too white are considered good looking.

I think we have found where the source of this american black-hatred, in american society the black people don't feel they are part of the notion of "good"!

I had a few girlfriends that where as white as a white wall and were embarassed about it, I don't know why. Although I thought they were fine, in their heads they thought the tanned girls that had more curves were pretty. I wonder if this phenomenon happens in the US, I remember there was a blonde girl I met that was embarassed in showing her belly because it was too white.

http://www.nature.com/embor/jo...0158.html

It gives a clue of why black americans are so troubled with their existence in the US. Anti-miscigenation laws? WTF?

Please! you fools are brainless. You guys are the main reasons why blacks will always be at the bottom the ladder. You have some many retards who can't even understand basic logic. e harmony is a prime Example.I already know! You are going to give a stuipd A$$ comment. Why don't you explain why white brazilian hold all the wealth in the country? Explain why Brazil invited and took in a lot nazi's. Explain why Brazil would not let blacks in the country around the mid 1900's. Do your home work e harmony. I wish Africans would have never brought there, because we wouldn't have this problem. You wouldn't exist e harmony and nethier would brazil.

Brazil is too much for your narrow mind. I see a bright future for us all, when we are one race and both Africa and Europe are just a memory from a distant past.

Thank you Afro Brazilian! I see someone has some sense. I lost hope for a second, but back to your questions.

FINALLY... SOMEONE WHO AGREES WITH ME... ALL AFRO-LATINOS ARE TAUGHT THAT BLACK IS BAD. WHY CANT THEY TEACH US THAT BLACK IS GOOD? WHY DOES EVERYTHING BAD HAD A BALCK NICKNAME? WHY IS IT BAD TO BE BLACK?

It would pose a great danger to the ruling class if black latinos learnd how to love themselves and thier diaspora.Once that happens than they can no longer feed you bogus sterotypes and myths that have been created to keep blacks down. As long as Afro Brazilians possess values that will devalue them than they will always feel inferior.Hitler is great example! He created a very powerful movement in germany. Hitler made all white germans feel that were superior to every other race. They created false artifacts and documents to prove german superiority. This just an example of how powerful and dangerous orginization can be. you should read the willie lynch letter-it would open your eyes up. Everything is about power and money and Race is used as tool. That is why white brazilians hold all the wealth. That is why whites control all the wealth in USA. It's not because they out worked everyone- they out robbed everyone and history shows it. Afro latinos are have been robbed. Think about it! What resources do the darker latinos own in comparison to the white latinos? Why do the white latinos own everything? How does this relate to crime,educations and image. Learn about the generational wealth that created from slavery .

I speak the truth unlike most of you.

AKE

I have no words to express the disgust with the above. These blacks are really lunatics, their minds and spirit are broken beyond repair.

I wonder though what have castrated those people that victimize themselves all the time trying to invoke pity in others. This is despisable. Why don't they are proud of THEIR personal achievements? Why do they classify themselves with some generic brand and equate themselves to other people they don't even know? Why can't they just conquer their way through life instead of whining?

As if being so low weren't bad enough now they want to tell others what they should think. All I could do I think I already did, anyone that come in here and read this will be able to weigh and judge by themselves. Nobody can inject "self steem" in those short of it, or make those that prefer to live in the darkness to see the light.

This is the victim mentality, the victim culture of the US. It transforms otherwise healthy human beings into something small and despisable.

Only God knows what is going to happen, but of one thing I am sure. Either way, we brazilians, the descendents of those cannibals of the myth, the creators, will dance and celebrate because nothing weak is meant to survive. My heart says "inequality"! Let's life follow its path.

Please, everybody knows Brazil is a racist country. The word is out. Many of us who have been to Brazil have seen it for ourselves. It's pathetic why you simply can't answer any of the questions that Ake posed to you--such as, why on earth do the White Brazilians control the country's wealth, resources and power and yet the Black Brazilians have absolutely nothing? It can't be just a coincidence....we are not stupid.

I can't answer false questions, otherwise I would lend them credibility. As I said, it's like asking "why all cars have 7 wheels?", it's impossible to answer correctly such thing.

The fact is that he has absolutely no data or knowledge about anything of he wrote.

I thought you said you have no words. Why not just leave it at that?

I traveled to Brazil more than 12 times, Brazil is defenitely a Racist country, I have some great friend there and they have told me to be careful when I'm out by myself.I've been told to carry my id because the fact that I'm black will make me a target. My friend said to me the police that would give me the toughest time are Balck police officer.This is in Sao Pualo. I met a young lady who to me looked like a light complexion black women, and a young man the same friend I mentioned earlier. he looked less black but i saw a picture of his mother and she is black, both told me they were White or considered white in Brazil.This is how they saw themselves. The young lady's friend said to me my friend is mixed.another white brazillian said she is black.
I met an actor his name is norton Naciemento, He is black,i said to my friend he must be rich and my friend said no because he is black the imcome potential is different for blacks compared to non blacks.
The reason i say brazil is Racist is because i went to Brazil expecting a non racist society and found different.The people there are the most exotic and buetiful, but there is alomst no pride in blackness.

LIFE IS NOW!!!!!!

"I still see no harm in educating people about where and who they come from."

You have not been listening. There is harm in telling people that their black ancestors would be ashamed of them because of their mixed blood. That's like some sort of racist version of original sin. "Your ancestors were CONDEMNED to miscegenation: condemned to have half-breed descendants like you." See the harm yet?

Brasileiros, falemos somente o português

I don't fallo your language but I do follow it. It's not like Navaho or Finnish; the words are fairly easy to figure out.

e deixemos esses gringos

Ooh. Namecalling. Does maleducado mean in Portuguese what it means in Spanish?

se virarem com tradutores pela rede mundial, se assim quiserem. Assim podemos conversar livremente e comentar as asnices aqui escritas por eles. Esse site não pode ser sério ao permitir coisas como bem exemplificados nesses comentários. Isso não é apenas ofensivo de uma forma inocente, mas sim proposital.

Oh sure, there's nothing offensive about regional namecalling like "gringo;" that's perfectly "innocent."

O intuito desse site é denegrir a imagem do Brasil e de seu povo, portanto gastar tempo e saliva argumentando é inútil.

I had a much better image of Brazil before I started reading this page. In fact, I was horrified at some of the things that my fellow Americans were writing. And that crack about "miscegenated" -- that made me embarassed for my country, and I apologize that we still harbor such bigots. But ... you're country is not perfect either, and you should be more aware of that. The ongoing slavery of indiginous peoples in the Amazon ... that's serious stuff, and it's kind of disturbing to see people trying to bury that under the table by hurling ugly names, and being more concerned with "imagen" than actual slavery. When I see Americans acting like that, I tell them off. You should not use American arrogance -- and yes, we are arrogant, that's one of our problems -- as an excuse to deny your own problems. There are a lot of things that we could learn from you, and vice versa. In some senses the way you deal with racism is greatly superior to us, and in other respects, you have farther to go. Americans have a mindset of classed racism, while the Brazillian variety seems more incremental, about lighter and darker rather than "black" and "white" like the US. Incremental racism overall seems less destructive, but it's still a problem.

"Gilberto Freyre was useful in propogating that myth in Casa Grande e Selenza but he aslo writes about the cruel sexual sadism often displayed by the plantation slave owners. So no slavery i Brazil was not mild and b)blacks had no choice when it came to miscegenation."

Let's get this straight. You're talking about people getting RAPED, and the worst thing you can say about it is that it was "miscegenation"? Can you not say the word "RAPE"? You think the worst thing about getting RAPED by a white man is that he's white? Like getting raped by someone of your own color would make that OK? You're trivializing rape!

There are worse things than being racist. Trivializing RAPE is one of those worse things.

My interest in Brasil began when I learned about the extent of West African influence in the music, food, religion, and all around culture. Being half Yoruba, I saw the direct link between my mother's culture and Candomble and other religious practices. Over the years, as I read more about Brasil, I created this image in my mind of a country that claimed to be a true melting pot--where racism did not exist--while not admitting to a system that operated on the subjugation of "black" people or people of "obvious" African heritage. Hearing about how Brazil had the most beautiful women in the world and then reading descriptions of the women as being mixed/mulatta or "white women with black women's bodies" increased my sadness as it demonstrated the re-occuring theme of black not being beautiful (atleast, being too black is not beautiful). Being a dark skinned Nigerian girl, I've struggled with images of beauty...and though many--black and non-black, though mostly non-black--have told me I'm beautiful, it's almost as if their is this underlying qualification--"You're pretty....(for a dark black girl)." Thus on my way to Brazil, I kind of built up all these expectations of what I would see, experience, etc. Here are some of what I saw...some things suprised me while others didn't really. **I was only in Rio, so I can only speak for that region--and I will do my best to be unbiased).

The population was diverse--I saw everything from pale white people (somewhat rare because everyone is tan due to exessive sun exposure) to dark people (not necessarily black). I must note that although there were black people, at times I would notice that I was the darkest person, or that I was a "different" kind of dark...which was interesting. In the more common areas were very mixed....integrated...but in certain areas (beaches in safer/richer parts of town, certain clubs/restaurants, etc.) there was an obvious (to me atleast) lack of non-white people. Hmmm...

Seeing the favelas was heartbreaking. I mean, it's good that as opposed to being homeless and just living, in large crowdes, out in the street in open air the poor people actually have some sort of shelter. But it was still a bit shocking. Just houses stacked on top of one another in the mountains--juxtaposed to the other side of the mountain where you have the beautiful and expensive house...). Poverty there knows no color lines...though a higher percentage happen to be people with dark skin (black or not)...due to, I think the history of slavery and lack of complete assimilation into society after slavery.

I was treated well everywhere I went. I was expecting to be looked down upon because I was black, but wasn't. But, on the otherhand I'm American and many complimented me on being beautiful...so, that may have played a part. Who knows. Continuing on that trend. So many people (of all shades) said I was pretty...But it was interesting the terms used for me or the way I was complimented: linda preita....muneca...morena linda...mulatta (a little suprising because I thought this term refers to mixed people...if it does, then it's bit insulting in that the only way I could be so beautiful is if I was a mulatta), preitihna, etc. I remember being at a Carvnaval parade and several European tourists would stop me and ask to take pictures of me, thinking I was Brazilian. I felt like such a fraud =) But just smiled and went my merry way. (On one had it's flattering, but on the other hand it's degrading and cheapening to be made to feel like an object or an exotic animal at the zoo you take pictures of to show your friends back at home).

Watching the novelas was interesting. As someone mentioned before, there are only white faces. I watch one show where I was actually suprised to see some dark and black faces. But for the most part, most were white. I mean, forget not seeing an black faces, there weren't even tan(white too), mulattos, other non-white people. That was shocking. I mean, atleast show me a couple tan people walking up and down the street....if most of the population is tan, then they should get at least some representation. (Same thing with magazines too).

Overall, I had a great and interesting experience. As far as race relations, I'm not sure yet. Brazilians seem to be less concerned with race when it comes to certain things....but I could definitely tell that there is much disparity due to race/skin color in other ways. I'll definitely be traveling to other parts of Brasil to experience life as the people do.

You need to visit Bahia. All is different in Bahia. We have many many beautiful women. 85% of the population in Bahia have black blood. Almost no black white boundries in Salvador.