Why havent we heard much about Latin Americas black diaspora contribution to civil rights for POC?

[Raptor]

Despite having one of the largest Black populations in the world at 110 million.
Everyone knows what the American black movements have done for all people of colour around the world. Everyone knows about Malcolm X, Rose Parks, Martin Luther king Jnr, etc, and their contribution to civil rights for people of colour. Most people know about martin luthers speech and the significant events that lead to civil rights. Yet despite eclipsing the North American black population by about 70 million, i havemt heard much about South American blacks contribution to universal civil rights for poc. Was the situation better for blacks in Latin Americas, to the extent where they didnt need drastic revolutions unlike in Jim Crows America? Or perhaps their revolutionaries didnt recieve much attention from the world?

 

[Primetime21]

The passages of the Law 70 or “Law of the Black Communities” in August 27, 1993, is one of the biggest achievements of the Afro-Colombian civil rights movement. This law is an instrument against the historical exclusion and lack of recognition Afro-descendants have suffered since slavery. According with Law 70, the Colombian government must guaranty the protection of the ancestral territories of the Afro-descendants, invest in their economic development, and protect their cultural identity and civil rights. Despite exclusion, discrimination, poverty, forced displacement and expropriation of their collective territories, Afro-Colombian grassroots communities honor the legacy of their ancestors and continue resisting and proposing peaceful solutions under the framework of the Law 70.

I could not fathom this type of law passing in the United States, ever. more on that here: http://www.afrocolombians.com/Afro-colombian News/Law 70 Campaign.html

I havent read the Civil Rights Act (u.s.) in entirety, but does it specify Afro people in there?

 

[Primetime21]

To answer your question though you dont hear about it because you dont hear about Blacks in Latin America on an international scale period. Invisibility is one of their biggest obstacles

 

[AJaRuleStan]

I have no idea tbh. If I had to guess, maybe it's because the Latin world has always presented it's self as mixed group of people to the world as their identity rather than highlighting the individual races that exist there in general? Just a theory.

 

[Larry Lobster]

Because afro latinos do not control media in their countries. Whites use the tactic of assimilation in South America, they sell the image of docile blacks living in harmony with white people, which is far from truth.

 

[Primetime21]

Because afro latinos do not control media in their countries. Whites use the tactic of assimilation in South America, they sell the image of docile blacks living in harmony with white people, which is far from truth.

I havent read that book by Norman but I have the one by Andrews and its great, good reading for anyone that is interested

 

[Poitier]

Breh, most of the Black diaspora does not have access to 24/7 internet, electricity and definitely nothing to export their culture to the rest of the world via music, films or television.

Racial classifications were different down there so its taken them longer to embrace their Blackness but the tides are turning.

 

[KOohbt]

POC?

 

[Tropical Fantasy]

Another reason is that there is no one drop rule in latin america so you have people who would classified as black in the US but see themselves as just latino

The one drop rule somewhat united the direct descendants of african slaves in america, since they were being disenfranchised because of their ancestry. They wanted the same rights afforded to whites and came together because of their shared struggle and blackness. That camaraderie and quest for justice spawned a lot of the progressive black movements in the US. That hasnt happened really in most latin american countries.

Nationalism is much more emphasized than race in latin america. There has been a concerted effort to push the narrative of a colorless society by latin american governments. Hence the whole "I'm Dominican, Puerto Rican, Brazilian, Colombian, etc not black"

 

[Scientific Playa]

The Economist

Affirmative action in Brazil
Slavery's legacy
Apr 26th 2013, 12:27 by H.J. | SÃO PAULO

TO SUM up recent research predicting a mixed-race future for humanity, biologist Stephen Stearns of Yale University turns to an already intermingled nation. In a few centuries, he says, we will all "look like Brazilians". Brazil shares with the United States a population built from European immigrants, their African slaves and the remnants of the Amerindian population they displaced. But with many more free blacks during the era of slavery, no "Jim Crow" laws or segregation after it ended in 1888 and no taboo on interracial romance, colour in Brazil became not a binary variable but a spectrum.

Even so, it still codes for health, wealth and status. Light-skinned women strut São Paulo's upmarket shopping malls in designer clothes; dark-skinned maids in uniform walk behind with the bags and babies. Black and mixed-race Brazilians earn three-fifths as much as white ones. They are twice as likely to be illiterate or in prison, and less than half as likely to go to university. They die six years younger—and the cause of death is more than twice as likely to be murder.

Such stark racial inequality is actually an improvement on the recent past (except for the gap between homicide rates, which has grown with the spread of crack cocaine). A strong jobs market, better-targeted government spending and the universalisation of primary schooling have brought gains to poor Brazilians, whatever their colour. Even so, Brazil's government is turning to affirmative-action programmes to hurry change along—just as the United States considers abandoning them.

During the past decade several public universities have introduced racial preferences piecemeal. Last April the supreme court decided that they did not contravene constitutional equal-rights provisions—which was all that the government had been waiting for. In August it passed a law mandating quotas for entry to all of the country's 59 federal universities and 38 federal technical schools. The first cotistas, as beneficiaries are known, started their courses this year.

By 2016 half of all places in federal institutions will be reserved for state-schooled applicants. Of these, half must go to students from families with incomes below 1017 reais ($503) a month per person—a cut-off that is much higher than the Brazilian average. Each must allocate quota places to black, mixed-race and Amerindian students in proportion to their weight in the local population (80% in Bahia, a state in Brazil's north-east; 16% in Santa Catarina in the country's south). Some states are considering similar rules for their own universities.

Brazil does not require private universities to take race into account. Nor does it require private companies to do so when hiring. A few states have racial quotas when hiring civil servants, and there is talk of something similar at the federal level. But the real action, for now, is in public universities.

Going to university in Brazil is not a mass experience, as in the United States. And only a quarter of places are in public institutions. Other government education programmes, such as creche-building in poor neighbourhoods, better literacy training for teachers and subsidies for poor students who attend private universities, will improve the lives of many more black Brazilians than the quota programme. But public universities are more prestigious—and barred from charging fees by the constitution. That their places have long gone disproportionately to the 12% of Brazilians who are privately educated, most of them rich and white, is hard to swallow.

The supreme court decided that quotas were an acceptable weapon in the fight against the legacy of slavery. That view is now mainstream in Brazil. Just one congressman voted against the new law, and a recent opinion poll found nearly two-thirds of Brazilians supported racial preferences for university admissions (though even more were keen on reserving places for the state-schooled and poor with no regard for colour). But even supporters worry that by encouraging Brazilians to choose sharp-edged racial identities, quotas will create tensions where none existed before.

Brazilians' notions of race are indeed changing, but only partly because of quotas, and more subtly than the doom-mongers fear. The unthinking prejudice expressed in common phrases such as "good appearance" (meaning pale-skinned) and "good hair" (not frizzy) means many light-skinned Brazilians have long preferred to think of themselves as "white", whatever their parentage. But between 2000 and 2010 the self-described "white" population fell by six percentage points, while the "black" and "mixed-race" groups grew.

Researchers think a growing pride in African ancestry is behind much of the shift. But quotas also seem to affect how people label themselves. Andrew Francis of Emory University and Maria Tannuri-Pianto of the University of Brasília (UnB) found that some light-skinned mixed-race applicants to UnB, which started using racial preferences in 2004, thought of themselves as white but described themselves as mixed-race to increase their chances of getting in. Some later reverted to a white identity. But for quite a few the change was permanent.

Opponents of quotas worry that ill-prepared students will gain entry to tough courses and then struggle to cope. Such fears make sense: any sort of affirmative action will bring more publicly educated youngsters into university—and in Brazil, the difference between what they and their privately educated counterparts have learnt is vast. In global education studies, 15-year-olds in Brazil's private schools come slightly above the rich-world average for all pupils. Most of those in its public schools are functionally illiterate and innumerate.

Surprisingly, though, neither the State University of Rio de Janeiro nor UnB—the two earliest to adopt quotas—have found that cotistas did much worse than their classmates. For some highly competitive courses, such as medicine at UnB, the two groups had quite similar entrance grades. And for some of the least selective courses, the overall standard was not high. But even when the starting gaps were wide, most cotistas had nearly caught up by graduation.

One possible explanation is that cotistas with a given entrance grade were in fact more able than non-cotistas, since the latter were more likely to have had intensive coaching in test techniques. Another is that cotistas worked harder: both universities found they skipped fewer classes and were less likely to drop out. "Cotistas take their studies much more seriously than those who thought a university place was theirs by right," says Luiza Bairros, the state secretary for policies to promote racial equality. "They know how important this opportunity is, not just for them but for their whole family."

Brazil's racial preferences differ from America's in that they are narrowly aimed at preventing a tiny elite from scooping a grossly disproportionate share of taxpayer-funded university places. Privately-educated (ie, well-off) blacks do not get a leg-up in university admissions. But since racial quotas are just starting in Brazil, it is too early to say what their effects will be, and whether they will make race relations better or worse.

 

[Scientific Playa]

Afro-Brazilian Woman With Afrocentric Hair Barred From University

Afro-Brazilian Woman With Afrocentric Hair Barred From University | Dominion of New York


Brazilian Student Barred Entry to University for Wearing “Black Power” Natural Hairstyle

Brazilian Student Barred Entry to University for Wearing “Black Power” Natural Hairstyle | Black Girl with Long Hair


Student is barred because of her hair and clothes; accuses school of racism

Blackwomenofbrazil.c om

Ana Carolina (in black top) with her sister




The young Ana Carolina is part of a group that plays African-oriented (Yoruba) music in São Luís. Her dream is to be a sociologist so that she can fight for minorities in the capital city of Maranhão. "When I was barred, my sister cried and I was horrified. A lot of people were looking at me. It was a massacre. I wasn’t start anything. I go to school to be someone in life”, said the student. "I have a black identity and I will not change it,” she added.

Racism is a crime

 

[Scientific Playa]

New site aimed at Afro-Ethnic Tourism launched in Bahia, “An African nation in Brazil”

Aerial view of Salvador, Bahia, with an overview of Praia do Porto da Barra
Today, the results of that intense traffic of Africans can be witnessed in countless ways in this city that has become a major destination of tourists over the years. And while it’s great to see the interest of millions of tourists every year, the racial history and reality of the experience of African descendants cannot be simply glossed over with an eye-catching website. While Brazil was the last country to end slavery in 1888, the effects of this brutal regime can still be noted in the day of day of black baianos (Bahians) today. A sharp contrast to the image that legendary South African president Nelson Mandela had in mind on his visit in 1991. To fully take advantage of the vast interest in Bahia, a new website was recently launched to promote the unique attractions of Bahia in the “ethnic tourism” market. To expose the “other side” of this fantastical journey, José Raimundo dos Santos Silva exposes the realities of modern day racial politics in “An African Nation Called Bahia.”

Historic Pelourinho district in Salvador, Bahia
With the objective of “strengthening initiatives aimed at étnico-afro (Afro Ethnic) tourism and divulging the potential of the segment”, on Wednesday, December 18th, the Secretaria do Turismo do Estado da Bahia (Setur or Secretariat of Tourism of the State of Bahia) launched the Turismo Étnico-Afro da Bahia (Afro-Ethnic tourism of Bahia) site (www.etnicoafro.bahia.com.br).

Pelourinho in Salvador, Bahia
During the ceremony, held at Forte da Capoeira in the Santo Antônio Além do Carmo neighborhood, according to a spokesperson of Sethur, there was a memorandum of understanding to promote sustainable tourism in the Baixo Sul region was also signed, which benefits the quilombola (maroon society) communities of Jatimane and Boitaraca.

Dique do Tororó in Salvador, Bahia
“We have taken an important step with the two initiatives that we launched today. We are the state pioneer in working the disclosure of the potential for afro-ethnic tourism, and the site will add to this divulgation. Already Baixo Sul, the tourist area of Pratigi promises the rise of structures and environmental safeguards, in order to later develop the lodging. This will also bring the strengthening of quilombolas in the region,” said Secretary of Tourism, Domingos Leonelli.

Capoeira in the Terreiro de Jesus in Salvador, Bahia
An African nation called Bahia?

During the period of the Western slave trade, Brazil was the country that most received African labor to work on its lands. The state that the quota was most concentrated in was Bahia. Starting in 18th century, the contingent of African descent was so great that the black influence in various sectors of “social life”, was felt by all who frequented this place. Therefore, Bahia was deemed the “New Guinea” of the New World.

View from Salvador, Bahia
by José Raimundo dos Santos Silva

This strong African presence made Bahia become the cradle of black culture in Brazil, and one of the principal regions of the world of the preservation and promotion of African culture. The cultural influence of black Bahia is so strong that almost all Afro-cultural manifestations of Brazil are sub-originated from there. For example, we have the samba, capoeira, Candomblé, etc. Bahia, in various aspects of its history and culture, had black people as its primary co-adjuvant.

Women of Candomblé
Even in the multiple uprisings that occurred there. Even today, Bahia is considered the “terra da negritude (land of blackness).” The place where music, art, dance, food, clothes, ornaments, speech, conception of time, and all that connects the way of being of its people, is influenced by the strong and striking black presence. The charm of the “terra da negritude” is so great that many Africans and African-diasporics go to Bahia to learn about black culture that doesn’t exist in Africa. Or, given the circumstances, hasn’t even been preserved in other parts of the African Diaspora.

Young women and girls from the Colégio Estadual Nossa Senhora de Fátima in Salvador, Bahia
Bahia, without a doubt, is one of the principal focuses of resistance and preservation of original worship and/or African tradition. Deserving, as such, from the bloco afro Ilê Aiyê in a past Carnival the name “nação africana (African nation)”. Thus, the clothes of Ilê Aiyê brought the following sentence: Uma Nação Africana Chamada Bahia (An African Nation Called Bahia). And it was reflecting upon this statement that emerged my desire to write this article. Well, it is indisputable the striking presence of black-African culture in Bahia of current times. Even today, Salvador, the capital of this state, is a city of absolute black majority. Having the highest populational concentration of black men and women outside of Africa estimated at 82% of afrodescendentes.

People in the Piedade region of Salvador, Bahia
Also Salvador, for its strong religious influence, was, and still is, considered the “Roma Negra (Black Rome)” or “Meca Negra Black Mecca” of the African Diaspora. It is considered the city of all rhythms and charms. However, all of this charm for the “land of blackness” is over when we replace the historical-cultural with a political-economic view. Looking from this critical approach, the political and economic conditions of blacks, we see that Bahia cannot be considered a “nação” (africana) (African nation)) in its broadest sense.

http://blackwomenofbrazil.co/2013/12...ion-in-brazil/

 

[Scientific Playa]

The historical political-economic exclusion of blacks in Bahia, and its consequent and continuous social degradation, makes the “land of blackness” becomes a nightmare for black people themselves. A land that, due to the concentration of political and economic power in the hands of whites, is more like an “African nation” experienced by racist terror of apartheid. Where the conditions of housing, education and health access, urban violence, unemployment, illiteracy, infant mortality rate, and many other indicators relating to social conditions, are so unequal between whites and blacks, the expectation life of black people, in a region where they are the majority, are similar to the countries of the African continent.

Women dressed in the attire of the Ilê Aiyê bloco afro
Still, as a consequence of the exclusion of black spheres of political and economic power, there is in Bahia an intellectually oppressed black race, because the mental oppression by whites stifles the emergence of any mind or making of revolutionary consciousness of blackness. The theft of culture, as an example, for those who are mostly in power, only allows the local black community to have access to the crumbs given by the executioners of black people. So the status quo remains the same between whites and blacks, with the latter remaining in the support base of society.

Overview of the Mercado Modelo and Baía de Todos os Santos from the Elevador Lacerda
As such, for Bahia to become a true “African nation” where the black presence is marked in all its aspects, it is a must to have a greater black participation in the spheres of political and economic power of this state, in proportion to their numbers in the population. Ie, in order that Bahia become a “nação Africana”, a true “terra da negritude”, it is necessary that 82% of spheres of government (executive, legislative and judicial) are occupied by representatives of black people.

Women dressed in the attire of the Ilê Aiyê bloco afro
That 82% of the political-economic power of the region is concentrated and partitioned among that 82% of the black population. That the means of information and communication are legitimately in the custody of that portion of the population. And that social institutions (schools, churches, universities, etc) be blackened, proportionally, for the good of the local population. That, finally, all areas of human life are represented, when not appropriated, proportionally among black men and women.

Figurines sold in the Mercado Modelo
It is treading these paths, in my view, that we legitimize Bahia as “land of blackness.” Is weaving and realizing these goals that, finally, we may in the future, treat Bahia as a true “African nation”. Only when all aspects of social life, including political and economic, are filled with blackness or Africanness, can we say that there is “An African Nation Called Bahia”. So, any political project that will enable the improvement of black people of Bahia should aim to materialize these objectives. Because true democracy is constituted with the embodiment of representative democracy. Ie, the different social segments proportionally represented in spheres of power. In this case, black men and women occupying 82% of the spaces of spheres of political and economic power of Bahia.

“Baianas”
Still, it is necessary that we, black men and women, understand that the whites of Bahia don’t want that. After all, Salvador is the most unequal capital city socio-economically in the country; where the socio-economic indicators and indices show that there is a blatant and brutal racism. Being that the true beneficiaries are white elites of this region. Therefore, a new political project for black people must consider the short-term viability of the political-economic empowerment of our community so that we can have the freedom to realize our ideals of a fair, equal and fraternal society, starting from our life experiences. It’s necessary to end this illusory notion of black society. It’s necessary that we black men and women start thinking about assuming political power of our state, so we can manage the economic-financial resources and provide for the needs of black people.

 

[Raptor]

POC?

People of colour

 

[Poitier]

@Scientific Playa are you autistic fam?