BRAZILIAN RACIAL DEMOCRACY
Student’s name
Professor
Department of affiliation
Course
Date
Brazilian Racial Democracy
Introduction
Brazil is one of the countries in America that suffered from an influx of many slaves who were brought to the country at different times and due to the common reasons that there was a shortage of labor in America. Therefore these slaves who were majorly from Africa upon settling became a full member of the society and advanced different believes and thoughts about their place in the American society. The whites also helped create the different ways the blacks and the Africans in America were viewed and therefore it is upon this that there is a population of black people as well as whites and Indians in America (Wade, 1998). However, this list of the American people does not end here because there are other types of people present within American territories. Therefore racial discrimination was in place in most American parts whereby the black people were seen as being unable to fully function as the whites. The concept of racial freedom in Brazil was coined by Gilberto Freyre in the 1930s (Twine, 1998). This concept explains that Brazil is past the racial classifications of the society due to different reasons he gives. Therefore this paper discusses racial freedom as advanced in Brazil and whether in a real sense this concept exists or it is just a belief which does not apply.
History of Brazilian racism
The concept of racial discrimination according to Sergio follows a man and therefore it is not possible to claim that no country is free from racism. This is because racism is a part and parcel of humanity whereby a person may have a feeling that they are superior to another human being based on different aspects of their life and based on different observations. Therefore it turns out that the assertion that Brazil is free from racism is not true especially with its population which is comprised of individuals from different parts of the world and with different skin colors.
The history of racism in Brazil and most parts of America dates back to the period when slaves were transported to America from Africa. However, Gobineau was the first man ever to come up with racism in 1856 when he wrote his book titled ‘about the inequality of the human races. In his book, he praises the white man as being racially superior. This book declares negroes and whites as completely different because of their appearance and therefore they cannot be termed as equal. Even though there is still no way for science to prove the difference between races and what this means for our existence and lives it remains in our minds that race is a complex phenomenon and it is a very important aspect of human life to ponder upon. In the 19th century Portugal kept on bringing in more slaves and this made a conflict arise between Portuguese men and the English men who were very much against slavery and its trade.
Even though the Portuguese did not consider this a problem England went ahead and declared this illegal in the year 1807 march. In 1808 England declared slave trade a crime against humanity and through its pressure Portuguese at the end stopped slave trade. It was an issue of conflict of interest and fighting for the slave trade to be stopped from one end and fighting or it to be continued from the other end. With the pressure from England, the pressure prevailed, and therefore on 13th October 1855, the last embankment of the slaves happened. In the first half of the 19th century, the traffic of slaves ended completely but slavery did not end. For those born in Brazil, laws were protecting and favoring them like the law of the free womb which was passed in 1871. In 1855 the Sexagema Lw was approved and this law, therefore, freed anyone who was beyond 60 years old from being a slave. In 1888 there was an end to the legal discrimination of anyone who was of color in Brazil and therefore most of the slaves.
The concepts which led to the freedom of slaves were that no man is supposed to own another one since a human being is a human being. One person steps of a free state they become free and therefore the state where they are must make sure that their freedom is fully respected. The slave markets and slave trade were abolished completely. In the first republican constitution, there is no racial discrimination recorded as everyone one including the black people was given full citizenship and they were free people. However, with all these advancements there is a type of discrimination that still exists as portrayed by Afonso Arinos Law of 1951 which states that no one is supposed to be treated unfairly because of their skin color (Bailey, 2004).
Lack of racial freedom
Therefore racial discrimination in Brazil unlike in the USA is on a very small scale due to different issues and conceptions about race and what it means to be racist. Therefore this means that race has to be kept aside for the different people within a community to live together happily and with no discrimination. Even though there has been very positive regard concerning the freedom in crazily there is still a question which needs to be answered; whether truly for sure racial uniformity and non-discrimination are achieved in the Brazilian society (Hasenbalg et al, 1999). This question is very difficult to answer since as commonly known Brazilian racial discrimination does not exist and therefore it is a difficult part of the country to admit that there can and there might be very many cases of racial discrimination committed however without the government’s knowledge.
As some member of the public state in brazil, those whites who have been in the game of advancing the concept and the notion of racially free brazil are the same people who are in the business of having very bad cases of racial discrimination therefore through the creation is this kind of illusion in the minds of the people it becomes very difficult for anyone to believe that racial discrimination occurs and therefore they stick to the belief that racial discrimination does not happen in brazil (Hasenbalg et al, 1999).
These efforts by the whites to provide a national face of themselves come with the different issues purported to exists and have an impact on the lives of Brazilians and which do not happen in a real sense. The concept of racial freedom, therefore, is one of them. The major reason for the desire and the will of the whites to support this kind of campaign is that if they make the country be at peace and whereby no one checks and looks at them then they can go on with their agendas in a clear and undetectable manner. However, these efforts are on the rise, and therefore in most of the time, there is hiding while some few times this is noticed by a few people. even though it sounds very good to have racial freedom it also sounds very bad if a person suffers in silence and due to the lack of proper ways to address this issue then there is a lack of a way to help a person who is really in serious help (Twine, 1998). Therefore it turns out that racial freedom as very much advocated for only exists in the mind.
Many people look at life from a perspective that is high and questionable. This is how most Brazilians view their society and most of them are proud that they are above racial discrimination and racial marking. However, it is easier to keep in mind that racial democracy does not exist while being careful rather than being extremely un-careful and a person gets discriminated against in some very humiliating ways. Most of the black population in Brazil, therefore, has similar opportunities and they live a normal life just like the theorist who came up with this theory suggested that due to the intermarriages there is a production of human beings who are seen as ones who cannot be affected by racism since they are a combination of both races and therefore represents both sides and no one side only (Winant, 1999).
Therefore it is true that there is racial freedom in Brazil. However, with the current weather and climate of events, it cannot be said explicitly that racial freedom is fully present as most of the times it does not hold, and even if it is in the small actions and behaviors that alone is clear communication that absolute racial democracy is not achievable (Bailey, 2004).
Conclusion
In conclusion therefore the nature of humanity is to find mistakes and therefore even though it is a difficult explanation that racial freedom is not as discussed because of its ability to exist free of any mistreatment and have certain rare cases of freedom there is still a firm proof that most of the times racial discrimination occurs and that even though it is good to research which came up with this concept it cannot be applied explicitly in Brazilian environment.
References
Bailey, S. R. (2004). Group dominance and the myth of racial democracy: Antiracism attitudes in Brazil. American Sociological Review, 69(5), 728-747.
Hasenbalg, C. A., Lovell, P. A., Santos, T., Da Silva, B., do Valle Silva, N., & dos Santos, I. (1999). Racial politics in contemporary Brazil. Duke University Press.
Twine, F. W. (1998). Racism in a racial democracy: The maintenance of white supremacy in Brazil. Rutgers University Press.
Wade, P. (1998). Racism in a Racial Democracy: The Maintenance of White Supremacy in Brazil.
Winant, H. (1999). Racial democracy and racial identity. Racial politics in contemporary Brazil, 98-115.
