Three personal stories that show Brazil is not completely beyond racism |
Three personal stories that show Brazil is not completely beyond racism
The Globe and Mail
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2015-07-31
Stephanie Nolen, Latin America Correspondent
Brazil’s national mythology is built on the idea of a democracia racial – a country whose population is uniquely mixed and has moved beyond racism.
The lived experience of its citizens, especially the majority who are black or mixed-race, tells a different story. Three residents of Bahia, known as the country’s “blackest” state, share their personal stories with The Globe and Mail’s Stephanie Nolen.
‘It’s not easy to start working when you’re 12’
Cleusa de Jesus Santos was one of eight children whose father left when she was small. Her mother, illiterate and living in a slum, had no way to feed them all. “A friend of my mum’s said, ‘There is a person who needs a girl, just to watch her son, to keep him company.’”
So Ms. Santos was sent. “But when I got there, the reality was completely different: They said they were going to put me in school and so on, and they didn’t. I didn’t have vacation. I couldn’t see my family.”…
Read the entire article here.
Tags: Bahia, Cleusa de Jesus Santos, Globe and Mail, Lorene Pinto Silva, Paulo Rogerio, Stephanie Nolen, The Globe and Mail