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June 13, 2006
Op Ed: Educational Equity for Afro-Brazilians
by Nicole Medeiros
With its tropical climate and strong African cultural influences, many imagine Brazil to be a ‘racial paradise ’ — a nation that has extinguished racial and ethnic tensions by successfully fusing diverse racial and ethnic identities.
Brazil is not the racial democracy. Disparities in educational attainment rates among whites and nonwhites are overwhelming. Educational opportunity constitutes a means of social advancement and means of capital; to address these inequities the global community must support Afro-Brazilians in their efforts to gain more adequate educational resources.
In 2004, I traveled to Rio de Janeiro as a Stanford Haas Center Urban Summer Fellow. Working with Mediadors da Paz (Mediators of Peace), a government conflict-resolution program, I visited public schools in the North, East, and West regions of the city — far from the white homes, and tourist-ridden beaches and boutiques of Copacabana and Ipanema.
Teachers were overworked and under-compensated. The parents I met had little education; yet, their graciousness revealed wisdom gained from struggle. The students were bright and perceptive to the shortcomings of their school facilities. Most, if not all, of the parents and students I met were Black.
I was overwhelmed by the inadequacies of the majority Afro-Brazilian schools. I had awakened to the myth of the Brazilian ‘racial democracy, ’ and it resonated deeply. How many of the students I met in Brazil would graduate from college and become professionals? When I returned to the United States, I found an answer – though Black Brazilians constitute 45 percent of the population, only two percent would receive university degrees.
The status of Afro-Latinos is often overlooked. Like the United States, Latin America used the labor of thousands of slaves. Their histories and run parallel to African descendents in North America; unfortunately, their gains in terms of civil rights still are still disparaging. The UN Conference in Durban, South Africa was a great effort to address racial discrimination in our global community. We must continue to address racial and ethnic inequalities by lending our support to the efforts of Afro-Brazilian activists in leaders.
Given Brazil ‘s interest in solidifying their image and role as a regional and international power, they are in tune and susceptible to the critique of their international partners. International government bodies must pressure and challenge Brazil to delve into the fallacies of its racial democracy, and find truth. We must support Afro-Brazilians in their efforts to secure increased diversity programming and educational resources, and affirm the voices of those struggling to address what is a major civil rights crisis.
Posted by hilton at June 13, 2006 12:19 PM