Blacks in Brazil: the myth and the reality

Ebony, Feb, 1991 by Charles Whitaker

MENTION Brazil and the minds of travel magazine junkies conjure up images of ample-bottomed, amber-colored mulattas strolling Ipanema Beach in thong bikinis, or a parade of elaborately costumed revelers carelessly dancing the lambada into the night during carnival, the bacchanalian festival that lures thousands of tourists to Rio de Janeiro each year.

That's the glimpse of Brazil offered through the filtered lenses of guarded tour guides. It is a travelogue view that shows off the breathtaking topography of the Amazon and the seductive rhythms of the samba.

Conspicuously absent from this view, however, is a true sense of the cultural diversity and racial complexity that are part and parcel of this, the country with the largest population of African descendants (60 million) in the Western Hemisphere. In fact, Brazil's Black population is second in size only to that of Nigeria (pop. 115 million).

Yet, according to the rehearsed blather of many of the country's official mouthpieces, Brazil is the world's one true melting pot--a tropical paradise where the cultures and complexions of the land's Portuguese invaders (who did not officially abolish slavery until 1888), their African captives and the Indian natives from a melange of 140 million people who are uniquely and unitedly Brazilian.

"There is nothing here like the racism you have in the United States," says Adriana Lopez, as she escorts a visitor from Rio de Janeiro International Airport to the lush hotels that line the rich and touristy Copacabana area of the city. "Racism like you know it is illegal here. Black, White, Brown, Yellow, here we are all just Brazilians."

That is the party line: promotion of the myth that a Brazilian national character supersedes any and all racial distinctions. Speak with Brazilians of color, however, and one learns that the country's melting pot is more like a boiling cauldron wherein the suppressed cultural, religious and political identity of Black and Brown Brazilians is now bubbling to the surface.

Race in Brazil, where amalgamation has colored the population, is not the cut-and-dried proposition that it is in America. In a 1983 census from example, when Brazilians were asked to state their racial identification, many respondents labeled themselves not according to "race" but along a color continuum that included such descriptions as "yellow-brown" or "light tan." Census takers recorded more than 100 such categories.

Demographers estimate that of the nearly 80 million Brazilians who classify themselves as White, as many as 15 percent have enough of a trace of African ancestry to be considered Black by American standards. Internationally acclaimed actress Sonia Braga (a frequent guest on television's The Cosby Show and co-star of the movie The Kiss of the Spider Woman) is among the dark, abundantly hipped "White" beauties about whom Black Brazilians whisper: "She has more than a touch of the mother country in her."

Also compelling is the lack of uplifting Black images on display to inspire Afro-Brazilians. Only during the five days of carnival, when competing "samba schools" march hundreds of lavishly costumed Black singers, dancers and musicians down the specially designed parade route, do Afro-Brazilians take center stage in the national consciousness.

Though retired soccer star Pele, who in his playing days led Brazil to three World Cup championships, is still a revered national hero, and artists like musician Gilberto Gil and novelist Jorge Amado have considerable international stature, Afro-Brazilians have a relatively low national profile.

Black politicians are few and far between. The federal congress has but one Black senator and three deputies in the lower chamber. Pele has buoyed Afro-Brazilian political hopes by announcing that he will run for the presidency in 1994.

For all the talk of a national character, nearly 40 percent of the nation's Blacks live in favelas, the contaminated hillside slums composed of thousands of ramshackle houses. Blacks still have a higher illiteracy rate than Whites (33 percent versus 15 percent); and almost 40 percent of the Black population toils in menial jobs where they earn less than the minimum wage of $50 per month.

But in spite of the bleak outlook, or perhaps because of it, a new day is dawning for Afro-Brazilians. After decades in which military dictators preached that complete amalgamation was the cure-all for festering racial tensions, Brazilians of African descent, taking their cues from Black Americans, are in the throes of a consciousness-raising movement designed to help gain political power in the civilian government and to highlight African contributions to the country.

Not only are Afro-Brazilian music and dance, which have always been among the country's great drawing cards, enjoying heightened international popularity, but other forms of Afro-Brazilian art and African-influenced religious beliefs are also gaining acceptance and respect.

Even in the fractious political arena, which for years has been controlled exclusively by either White military leaders or, in the nearly 10 years of civilian rule, White businessmen, Afro-Brazilians are making small inroads, not the least of which is Pele's dramatic announcement last October of his presidential aspirations.