Over the last several decades there has been an increase, in Brazil, of people whom self-identify as being, “Black/Afro-Brazilian.” Although this is great in terms of accepting one’s own cultural identity for what it is, many of these reasons are not what they may seem to be at first glance. What is it that has triggered the rise of people deciding to self-identify this way in Brazil? Could it be that there are possible intellectual or material benefits to be had? Or was it that it was sparked from activism, or even other factors. This black movement has come along much later in the country of Brazil than it has in other Latin-American countries and certainly much later than in the United States. It is my thinking that the most substantial factors for the sudden inflation in people choosing to claim these identities are for material gains, social gains, and most importantly the benefits that may come to one’s goals from being able to qualify for the quota/Affirmative Action systems in place.
One main reason for the sudden increase in the number of individuals choosing to self-identify as black in Brazil is the Quilombo Clause. With this clause Brazil attempted to become a more inclusive and multi-cultural society. The Quilombo Clause in the constitution gave the decedents of runaway slave communities, rights to land. Land that their people before them had worked before. Historically a, “Quilombo”, was a community made up of runaway slaves. Like the times this definition has come to change and now be thought of as a rural community comprised of black people. Quilombos are the communities trying to take advantage of these clauses in order to gain land. The dream of having land to call yours anywhere is a strong motivator in order to identify this way especially if a group of people or even an individual are coming from a less privileged or poor background. There are many examples of groups of people in Brazil using the Quilombo clause in order to gain access to land but for the purposes of this paper we will use the Mocambo people as an example. The people of Mocambo began their struggle when the land they had worked was sold and transferred between owners. The new owner eventually informed and removed them from the land which they worked and left them to fend for themselves. This situation that they were handed forced them to get up on their feet and act quickly in order to preserve their people as well as their way of life. The first step to this was none other than securing land. The community of the Mocambo was informed that they had a greater chance of being appointed land if they went under the Quilombo clause, but they would have to re-self-identify as black. After that many in this community began to self-identify as black in order for them to be granted land under the Quilombo clause even though many of them had never done it before. The thing gained in this case was land. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
Unlike in the United States where we have the one drop rule in brazil there are more than 135 terms and ways to identify oneself even within the umbrella turn “Black or Afro-Latino”. This term did not sit well with many people within the community and up to 1/3 of it refused the terms in order to be granted the land. Trying to make people label themselves a certain way when they did not need to before would cause people to be slower in adapting to and recognizing these new definitions and identifying in a new way. This is because you don’t necessarily have to be from a black descendance to qualify but only look black in order to do so. For generations it was one of the most horrible things to be labeled as a black person and much more to self-identify as one.
Another reason for the increase in self-identification as black in Brazil has been because of black activism and the light that has been shown on it. A couple of black activism organizations in Brazil are: The Black Experimental Theater, Educafro, and the Unified Black Movement. Educafro is an organization out of Sao Paulo run by a monk whose goal is to further help the cause of mixed Brazilians as well as those who self-identify as Black Brazilians. This group organizes seminars to help educate and make Afro-Brazilians aware of their heritage and opportunities that may be available to them through programs such as Quilombo or the affirmative action program that Brazil has instituted. The only Black party to ever have existed in Brazil has been the Brazilian Black front. Its greatest accomplishment was to get the Anti-Racism clause put into the 1934 constitution along with fighting for the rights of Blacks in Brazil. Through the work of this group Brazil has slowly but surely began to become more accepting of other races within itself. This being said with the country being more open to the idea of other races people who had previously been too scared to self-identify as Black have become more confident and that is one of the reasons for the influx of people identifying as black. Racial consciousness would later be promoted by the Unified Black Movement. What is more if people are made aware of their heritage and history and opportunities to be gained from identifying in such a way they may be more likely to do so. Through the help of such activist groups people who are Afro-Brazilian or black may be more likely to identify.
Yet another factor that has led to this influx of people in Brazil identifying as black is because of programs such as the Quota System and Affirmative Action. Starting in the early 2000s the government of Brazil began to implement affirmative action with a quota system. Quotas were added for university admissions, government jobs, film and media, among other things in order for there to be more representation of blacks and Afro-Latinos in these places. In other words, affirmative action policies favored places that gave fair employment to blacks. The quota systems allow blacks to have more opportunities for jobs and other intellectual gains since places are required to have a certain amount of blacks. There has been a lot of backlash because of this as certain people feel that blacks are there not because of merit but simply because the workplace/school/institution had a quota to meet. These forms of achievement are a way in which people can be coursed into self-identifying as black in order to receive the benefits which come with them. People who may not even look black can do this as a way to gain access to such programs and have an easier time entering universities
The acceptance of a “Black” identity and Black movement started much later in Brazil than it did other Latin American countries, or even in the United States. There are several factors which determine this, such as: the military regime that ended in the 80s and the fact that Brazil thought they had a racial democracy. The military regime, that was in Brazil until 1985, made it difficult for activist groups to form. When the Military was in control it took the liberty of closing down all political groups as well as forcing black politics to go into hiding until democracy was restored. Political and social groups were unable to form or find their footing during this time which made it harder to make people aware of their cultural identity which in turn would make people less likely to join such a movement.
There are several motives for why more and more people decide to identify as black by the day in Brazil. What is more there also exist many explanations for why the black movement took so long to start and get rolling in Brazil. Some reasons why they have begun to identify are the Quilombo Clause, Quotas and Affirmative Action, as well as black activism. Some of these reasons and all of them can or might contribute to get the movement going along.