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Brazilian society, with a population of 175 million, has an interesting history with respect to racial issues. It was the last nation in the world to abolish slavery (1888); is the most racially mixed society in the world (65 million are mulattos); has the second largest black population in the world, after Nigeria (67 million Brazilians are of African descent); its racism is so subtle and diffuse that the country is wrongly known as a "racial democracy"; its Congress approved a law making racism a crime, but even official data can not hide the social, political, and economic frustration of its black people.

The difficult social climate in Brazil is not new; on the contrary, it has persisted for a very long time. For example, in 1600, in a region named Palmares, a group of 40 enslaved Africans rebelled, went to the mountains, and created a large community which existed for almost 100 years, fighting against and defeating the Brazilian army many times (see "Enslaved Africa Revolts" , at this site). In the 1830s, the Males, a contingent of slaves bought in Muslim countries, organized so many revolts that they were considered "too dangerous", were deported back to Africa, and the government forbade the entrance of slaves that could read and write, as could those Muslims. In 1800, revolts in Haiti killed 350,000 persons, and the country was declared independent. All those events spread panic in Brazil, because the black population was too large and the risk of a new Haiti was real. So, Brazil has had numerous experiences with the "black threat".

The biggest problem the new university quota system is facing is that the government of the State of Rio de Janeiro has not mounted any sort of media campaign to educate the white public about the 'rightness' of the Affirmative Action decision. Of course, the young white applicants who scored high in the entrance examination * which is notoriously hard -- and are denied admission, will feel resentful. But this resentment will be even stronger if these students and their parents know nothing about the reasons for Affirmative Action.

The truth is that white Brazilian students have always gone to university without black students as competitors, and assumed that this arrangement would last forever. Coming from expensive private schools, white applicants were always beyond dispute. In the Universidade de Sao Paulo, the best public university in Brazil, blacks represent only 1.4% of the student body, but they are more than 34% of the population in that state. Of course, no one is naïve enough to believe that a group who has had a privilege for centuries will not use it. So, many white students are looking to the courts to abolish the quota system, while the Brazilian Supreme Court examines if the system is constitutional or not.

The first action facing the Brazilian Supreme Court is not about the quota system, per se. Rather, it is whether or not the principle of the autonomy of the university * which is in the Constitution * has been violated, as the system was imposed by a law. Brazilian black political movements are afraid that the Supreme Court, while protecting the constitutional principle of autonomy, will condemn the Affirmative Action decision.

Today, compared with the past, no one would say that Brazilian society has not moved forward in the direction of black human rights. At least, the existence of racism has never been admitted in so public a way as it is now, and this is, after all, an advance. Of course, no one would say, too, that the advances are remarkable. They are not. Nevertheless, Affirmative Action in universities is a fact, but the opposition of whites to it is also a fact. They were born together.

Among the students and some educational systems analysts, the principal objection to the quota system is the lack of "merit". In Brazilian universities, there are not enough vacancies for all the qualified applicants. So, students must take the most important test in their school life, known as the "vestibular", to gain admission to the university. Those who attend expensive secondary schools, where the preparation is better, have a greater chance to succeed. And they are mostly white, middle-class students. Now, whites are saying that blacks don't have enough qualifications to get in, and that this can be proved by the fact that "some blacks" are against the quota, too. Of course, some of them are. Why not? To suppose that all blacks would be for it is the same as saying that all whites would be against it. So, it is interesting to see how those two little words * "some blacks" * serve to legitimate the position of those who intend to postpone the correction of a form of educational discrimination.

Those who argue for merit forget that merit is not applied to all, as it has never been a guarantee of equal salaries between women and men with the same functions and qualifications in the labor market, for example. If the critics invoke the concept of merit to condemn Affirmative Action, we must remind them of the ICMS. The ICMS is a Brazilian tax, a very democratic one, as it is paid by all consumers, white and black. Part of it is used by the government to support public universities. So far, not one white person has raised a voice to condemn the fact that more than 95% of the university students are white, while blacks, who pay ICMS too, cannot take advantage of that service. Is this a white privilege or not? Where is the merit in this case?

If black Brazilians are paying a tax (ICMS) for a service they do not receive, then the government should give their money back. Affirmative Action is a reparations instrument. Nothing more than this. Brazilian blacks must not expect that it will also serve as an instrument to bring about integration. On the contrary, as far as we can see, history will repeat itself, this time in Brazil, with more blacks admitted to the universities, but with nothing approaching true integration.

(by Italo Ramos and Sheila Walker CopyRight-2003 All Rights Reserved) (Brazilian journalist and American psychologist)