Re: It's actually amazing how racist the Americans are. I don't say all, but many. Unfortunately for them, the die has already been cast and the future of the US as a black-Hispanic-dominated third world type country is assured.
How about rephrasing it as the Brazilianization of the US? Clues:
Speaking before his departure, Lula acknowledged what he called Brazil's historic debt to Africa - a reference to the four million black slaves who were brought here by the Portuguese.
The president said he was proud that Brazil had the second largest black population of any country on earth. Nigeria has the largest.
[...]
news.bbc.co.uk
Brazil is the largest country in Latin America and more than 75 percent of its population is Black, or of African ancestry. The country has the largest Black population outside of Africa.
"The notion of the Black presence in Brazil is limited because the country is ruled by a white minority, as was the case in South Africa," Vieira said.
However, although the largest segment of Brazil's population is Black, the bulk of the country's wealth is controlled by a racist white minority which comprises approximately 10 percent of the population. Consequently, speakers said, Black Brazilians are deprived very basic necessities.
Black Brazilians are experiencing, "modified enslavement," Harry Johnson, a student in the Brazilian Portuguese class offered at Howard University, said. Johnson added that Black Brazilians are in the same predicament they were in during the years of enslavement, the only difference is that Black Brazilians do not wear visible chains in present days.
Alysha Cassis, who is also studying Brazilian Portuguese at Howard University, said Brazil is the eleventh most industrialized nation in the world, yet living conditions are deplorable, especially for Black Brazilians. An estimated 69 percent of the population has no public sanitation; 63 percent do not have safe drinking water; 400,000 die of curable diseases each year due to poor health facilities, and the
Brazilian infant mortality rate, especially that of Brazilian children of African ancestry, is one of the highest in the world.
Despite the impoverished status of Black Brazilians, one of the first mandates of the newly elected president of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso (a former college professor and university owner whose research and publications centered around Black Brazilians), was to approve a 150 percent salary increase for himself and for all his ministers. FHC, as he is referred to by Brazilians, also required that his salary, and that of all his ministers, be paid in 15 and not the normal 12 annual instalments.
Ironically, immediately after this mandate was approved and implemented, the Brazilian president vetoed legislation which would have increased the country's minimum wage to approximately $100.00 dollars per month. Furthermore, this salary increase would have benefited Brazilians of African ancestry, the majority of the population which earns at or below the Brazilian monthly minimum wage.
Also highlighted in this seminar honoring Brazilians of African ancestry and all Blacks in the Lusophone world was the fact that Afro-Brazilians are often educationally deprived. "Less than two percent of Black Brazilians attend college, and less than one percent graduate," Vieira said. "There are only five Black women with Ph.D.s in Brazil, teaching at local
universities."
Brazil is also faced with a serious problem of homeless, orphaned or runaway children, most of whom are of African ancestry. And these children are systematically killed by official Brazilian death squads and off duty policemen. One of the many examples of these killings was the Candelaria massacre, where seven Brazilian street children, most of whom were Black, were fired upon, point blank--execution style--and killed while they were sleeping. As stated by Cassis, in 1994 two of the main investigators into the death of the Candelaria children were assassinated in the same manner as did the children, which implies that investigation into the death of these orphaned and homeless children will not be tolerated in Brazil. "Of the 50 million 'street kids' worldwide, an estimated 7 million are in Brazil," Cassis added.
Vieira and Cassis said Black Brazilians must realize their selfworth and the need to be liberated from their oppression. They also said because the Brazilian white government will not give Black Brazilians their basic rights, they have to continue to struggle for them. However, segregation, exploitation, and the killing of Blacks in Brazil will not stop until the world community helps, as we did to liberate South Africa.
[...]
lanic.utexas.edu |
