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What do you know about Brazil?

Facts That You Probably Didn't Know.

By SamihaPublished 2 years ago 9 min read
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What do you know about Brazil?
Photo by Agustin Diaz Gargiulo on Unsplash

Although a few minor alterations occurred, racial discrimination has always been present in Brazil. Citizens were always categorized into levels in society being viewed with extreme prejudice according to their status. Ever since colonization, Brazilians were divided into hierarchies that strictly shackled people to their positions. The whites were often blessed with fortunes and high status; they were often elites, their flourishing business and trades giving them wealth and elevated power in society. As colonists, when they had first invaded Brazil, they conquered it by stripping Indigenous people off their culture and using them as slaves. With Africa, their next target, they imported their conquered African slaves to Brazil to extract the tropical goods with little to no payment in exchange for their exhausting labours. Women of the rich and poor were also racialized, favouring the whites to a higher and noble status than the poor. After abolition, substandard Africans and people of colour were forced to survive in shabby areas of the city, poverty-stricken and their lives dominated by the upper classes that lived in the luxuries part of the country. Today, the governing classes still seem ignorant and show racism towards the races of colour. Racial discrimination had always revolved in Brazil, it occurred during African and Indigenous slavery, between women, and even through upper and lower classes segregation in cities.

1. Racism with Indigenous people.

To begin with, racism had first begun in Brazil when colonization had taken place separating the whites from the coloured. White superiority dominated the world; whites often chose lighter partners to bring in a whiter and ‘pure’ generation in this world. (Skidmore 95). They were wealthy and often looked for lands with natural goods. Once the Portuguese colonists docked in Brazil, they discovered that Indigenous people were already numerous, categorized in more than one hundred separated language groups. They were mainly hunters and gatherers, and some were also disciplined city builders. With organized armies, they went into battle with the Europeans because of their aggressive intentions. Once they were defeated and left leaderless, the Europeans brutally stripped them of their culture and captured them as slaves. They were forced to do what their white masters commanded, often making them look for precious metals and goods. (Skidmore 14). The Portuguese Jesuits forced labour upon them by making them work in Jesuit-run ranches and vineyards. The Jesuit linguists also created a substandard form of Tupi, their native language, to completely have them under their control. They also forced them to accept Christianity and become ‘civilized’. Furthermore, the Portuguese crown gave Brazil in the hands of the rich nobles to exploit the woods and extract the goods for the sake of the expansion of trading businesses between European countries and personal profit for Portugal. (Skidmore 10). As a result, due to harsh treatment and colonization, epidemics of the disease broke out and the number of Indigenous people started declining. The colonists had rather a more brutal and arrogant behaviour towards the Indigenous people by physically abusing them and then living off their hard labour through trading businesses. (Skidmore 15). Today, Indigenous people are still targeted for their culture by the governing authority; their reservations are invaded through the destruction of the Amazon forests. They are being verbally and physically attacked, excluded from public transportation, and are also being belittled through media reports and stereotypes. (“Gtr.ukri.org'', n.d). Thus, Brazilians of power arrogantly fails to recognize the problems of racial discrimination towards Indigenous people and continue to ravage them through their insolent behaviour and negligence.

2. Wicked Slavery that still demeans Africans.

In addition, slavery had always been a major concept in Brazilian history. The Africans, on the other hand, were the lowest-ranked and often devalued and mistreated due to their dark skin colour. Since Brazil was home to many rich tropical goods like sugar canes, coffee, and etc., it soon became the best trading post in the nineteenth century. This demanded more slaves to be imported into the country to unearth the goods under extreme climate conditions. New Africans faced societal barriers after immigration that included language, culture, and communication barriers. (Week 4, 2021). If they refused or erred during their labour, they were severely punished by their masters who had scheduled their moves from morning to night. Most Africans served their time in slavery by having their lives controlled by dominating white elites who viewed them as machines. They also worked in shops, warehouses, and windowless buildings, and at night, they slept huddled together or shackled in chains. (Karasch, 59). The white’s on the other hand, enjoyed the dominance, luxury, and freedom of life. They ensured powerful trade between countries, played a part in politics, and had all levels of rights in society. Their children earned the best of education, clothes, and wealth, and often followed their parent’s footsteps. A young man coming from wealthy parents would automatically be trained to be a person of law, medicine or priesthood, and later would be introduced to the imperial court. (Karasch 69). They also got all the wealth from their forefathers' inheritance. White nobility often attended the ‘white’ church, and the blacks were segregated into their own churches that were poor in quality compared to the nobilities. A black priest did not have the same status as a white priest nor was a deceased black saint respected due to his skin colour. Skin colour determined the level of adjustment and favour in society; being white meant a better level of chance in society and black meant one’s life was degraded in every possible way.

3. Women were always demeaned.

Furthermore, women were also segregated into societal classes that depended on their father’s or husband’s status. Spouses of white elite men were also ranked high alongside them. However, a woman's freedom was limited as they were accustomed to staying in their homes along with their female slaves who worked for them. If they were to go outside, they were often accompanied by their husbands and would modestly walk behind them to show their marital and societal status. Their only task in the house was sewing and other fine creativity, even their kids were taken care of by their slaves. (Karasch 71). The slaves were often black females or young boys who looked after their mistress’s children, nursed them, cooked meals, and did every other indoor chore for them. They were bound to act modestly like their mistress and dress elegantly to show off that they belonged to an upper-class mistress. (Kasarch 73). In the 1920s, strong demand for feminist rights emerged from the middle and upper-class women towards voting, education, and many other public factors. Although some minor changes had occurred, today patriarchal dominance still rules Brazil. According to the American Watch Report, a man can still get away from the crimes of killing his spouse or lover and gain the grounds of honours. (“Criminal injustice - human rights watch”, n.d ). In sum, women are still devalued in Brazil, especially coloured women who may face both discrimination and violence by society due to their race and the status of their gender.

4. People were always segregated into social classes.

After the abolition of slavery, things still continued to be rough between the upper-classes and lower-classes/ freed slaves. The republicans and the army’s officer corps (positivists) authoritatively started to modernize Rio to bring forth industrialization, advancement, and flourishing opportunities in urban places in order to remake Brazil. (Needell, 241). This of course hadn’t affected the upper classes, but the lower classes and poor of the city were the main concern even before the abolition of slavery. Many lived in poor areas where housing conditions were substandard and overcrowded. They worked strenuous hours earning fewer wages; most worked in stores, tenements, streets, construction areas, docks, and many other low-quality jobs. Thus, they often aimed to live near their jobs by living in crowded mouldering houses. Others lived in the hillside and twisted streets between shorelines or city hills. After the abolition of slavery, the number of poor citizens increased in Rio which also forced child labour since parental income was insufficient to run a family. Their homes were poverty-stricken and in very poor condition causing the start of various diseases in adults and children that often left them dead. However, their misfortunes were due to financial and governmental policies that had alienated them from gaining their due rights. When projects of street creation or road construction were proclaimed, they destroyed many of their homes. Also, many of their houses were ransacked and destroyed for the cause of spreading diseases, leaving many traumatized and homeless. Workers soon gave into strikes and riots in 1903 which led to Afro-Brazilian being monitored closely by the governing elites and police forces. The vaccination campaign made by the patriarchal society and governing elites was a cause of a massive revolt since it violated the rights and privacy of women. As a result, a large number of poor were forced into prisons or exiled. (Needell 249- 267). Thus, society favoured the upper and middle classes living in the urban centre of Rio that was often white and were able to afford adequate housing and a professional job to sustain their family. Although today many things have changed, racism towards the Black is still practised by the police force through violence and abuse. Even though the president has denied the concept of racism, recent news of Brazil reveals that the lower-classes and blacks are more often at risk to face violence and brutal murder by the police force. (BBC News, 2021).

In conclusion, although Brazil arrogantly considers itself a country of racial democracy, it fails to consider its continuous racial discrimination in historical and present times ever since the start of colonialism. The whites of society (whether elites, colonizers, or simple citizens) were always valued over the coloured races. After colonization, the Europeans had defeated the indigenous people, forbade their culture, and used them as slave labour to extract the goods of Brazil. This continued for centuries, and soon African slaves were brought in to work under brutal conditions leaving their lives to depend upon their masters. Women of the elite groups and lower classes were segregated as well; the inferiors worked for their mistresses who held a similar status due to their husbands' empowerment. Even after the ending of slavery, the city's people were treated according to their race and status; the whites often had a governing power while the blacks found it hard to find an adequate occupation and housing to sustain their family. This treatment of racial discrimination is still occurring today which often clashes between the police officers and the coloured races. Although the president has arrogantly claimed racial democracy over the country, Indigenous and Black people still face brutality and racial discrimination from them. Their lives are still threatened and the words of the coloured races are often disposed of by the governing authority.

Work Cited

"Black Brazilians Protest Against Racism And Police Violence". BBC News, 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-57112382.

“Criminal Injustice - Human Rights Watch.” An Americas Watch Report, New York , https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/BRAZIL91O.PDF.

“Gtr.ukri.org.” Racism and Anti-Racism in Brazil: the Case of Indigenous Peoples, Arts Languages and Cultures; University of Manchester, https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FR004374%2F1Racism and anti-racism in Brazil: the case of indigenous peoples.

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About the Creator

Samiha

I'm a fan of poetry. I'm in love with words that are created through imagination.

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