Stupid Foreigners - Racism in Brazil

Racism in Brazil

Racism in Brazil has been a major issue ever since the colonial era and the slave era imposed by Portuguese settlers. A research published in 2011, indicates that 63.7% of the Brazilians consider that the race interferes in the quality of life of the citizens. For the majority of the 15 thousand interviewed, the difference between the white people’s life and the nonwhite’s one is evident in the work (71%), in questions related to the justice and the police (68.3%) and the social relations (65%).

A result of the research, elaborate in 2008, is not exactly a surprise in a country where, although being barely half of the Brazilian population, the black peoplehen no more than 8% of the 513 chosen representatives in the last year. And the salary of a white man in Brazil is, on average, 46% over the one of a black man, what also can be explained by the difference of education.

Of those earning less than minimum wage, 63% are black and 34% are white. Of the richest Brazilians, 11% are black and 85% are white. In a survey conducted in 2000, 93% of respondents acknowledged that there is racial prejudice in Brazil, but 87% of those same respondents claimed that they felt no racial prejudice. This indicates that Brazilians recognize that there is racial inequality, but prejudice is not a current issue, it is the remnants of slavery. According to Ivanir dos Santos (the former Justice Ministry’s specialist on race affairs) “There is a hierarchy of skin color where blacks appear to know their place.”

(via of-praxis)