Brazilian Ethnic Conflict
Much like what used to be in America, Brazil thrived economically till about midway through the 19th century. This is due to the vast amounts of rural land that could be used for products like Sugarcane, Tabaco, and Diamonds but mostly because of the large amount of slave labor. From the moment, Portugal discovered the country of Brazil the economic possibilities were known. The Portuguese came in set up farms and mines to acquire the natural resources that were available in Brazil. To speed up the amount of time it took to do things along with increase profit the Portuguese started enslaving the Native People. The new diseases brought over from Portugal though took a huge toll on the population on Native Indians. With the population of the Native people dwindling the Portuguese looked to bring in African slaves to take over the work load. With the large population of African slaves and the accessibility of acquiring slaves in the late 16th century it be illegal to use the indigenous people as slaves. It wasn’t till 1888 though that all slaver was eliminated. With the many Africans brought into Brazil for slaver they were originally looked at as property and now as second class citizens. Today in Brazil there is a large racial ethnic conflict. Afro-Brazilians are looked at as second class citizens and treated as such. White Brazilians even use the term have a term afro-descendentes discriminate against Black Brazilians who have African descent. Many live in overly populated poor cities that are usually crime ridden with very opportunity to grow their own human capital or proper health related services. The major ethnic conflict that is still taking place in Brazil today has much to do with the colonialism.
In the country of Brazil today most of the population lives in Favelas, which are shantytowns where the people are basically living on top of each other. With the large populations in these Favelas there is also a large increase of crime. With the Large amount of crime there is a larger amount of police presence and police brutality within these areas. It should come as no surprise that the population of these of these cities is primarily afro-descendentes. Do to the poor funding there are many medical issues that affect the population. One of the largest issues being that is that the infant mortality rate for afro-descendentes is three times larger than Whites. The poor funding also leads to poor education of black Brazilians. This leads to black Brazilians having worst jobs which keeps them stuck in these Favelas and ensuring that the African-Brazilians are poorer than White Brazilians. The cycle has been going on for many years. White Brazilians also tend to get more front office and desk jobs while Afro-Brazilians have unskilled grunt work. There is less job opportunity for afro-descendentes as a whole which can be due to a combination of being looked at as second class citizens along with the lack of education to the citizens of these Favelas. With the lack of well-paying jobs available there tends to an increase of gang violence in these cities. With the increase gang activities, there is an increase of homicides and police brutality against Brazilians who live in Favelas. There is more than 3 times more homicide in Brazil compared to the United States even though Brazil have a smaller population. Most of those homicides are to people who are looked at as Black.
The ethnic conflict that is happening in Brazil still looks quite similar to the conflicts that took place in America before the Civil rights movement. What is going on in Brazil though is a more heightened form because in Brazil it is almost impossible for afro-descendentes to become educated. This among other main factors is part of the reason the ethnic conflict in Brazil is still so prevalent unlike in the United States. The lack of education leads to black citizens of Brazil leads to them having to continually live in Favelas because they cannot afford to live anywhere else. Since they can’t afford to live anywhere else their children get the same education that they have gotten which is why white Brazilians continue to become wealthier and live in better areas and get better access to state funded goods such as hospitals and education. This leads to an endless cycle why afro-descendentes can’t get better job and are thought to be lesser educated than white Brazilians. There are of course few Afro-Brazilians who do get proper education still have issues getting jobs and promotions within their jobs. The actual average income for white people in Brazil is almost double that a black person in Brazil.
With the poor education system, many within the Favelas citizens continue to find way to make better money. This lead many to join gangs and crime rings. Some start as children stealing to help their families. With all the violence, there is a larger amount of Police involvement in these cities. With the larger involvement of police officers there are two things that are currently happening. The officers are either taking bribes from gangs and other crime related organizations or are trying to lessen the violence by killing afro-descendentes in these cities. While yes this does reduce the number of criminals and in a sense crime in these areas but it is doing this by increasing crime.
With increase crime and poor education there is also health care disparities to afro-descendentes. Though Brazil has free healthcare the care available in areas where there is predominantly non-white citizens is worse than that in white areas. This can be seen with things like white people living 6 years longer than their black counter parts. There is also a larger amount of black who are refused care from hospital even though these hospitals typically offer worst care than that of hospitals in wealthier areas. Black women also have a much larger maternal mortality rate along with a larger infant mortality rate compared to their white counterparts.
The endless cycle of oppression seems never-ending. As long as a large majority of Afro-Brazilians continue to live in Favelas its seems like nothing will change. One of the largest issues though is that because they can’t afford to live anywhere else except these slums then they are paving a path in essence so that their children with also most likely have to live in these areas alongside their parents. This in itself seems like and endless cycle that doesn’t seem like it will change in the near future. Especially since the government that decides how government money is spent is also predominantly white because they are the only people who can afford to get enough education to acquire these powerful positions. Even if a afro-descendentes had the education to run I would assume he would never been allowed to get in a position strong enough to actually make a difference because of the color of his skin and the stigma around it.
Even though the Portugal hasn’t been in control of Brazil for hundreds of years and slavery has ended for over a hundred years the effects left behind can still be seen today. The Brazilians who come from slave decant are treaded as second class citizens though they are almost forced to live in these over populated crime infested cities. Within these cities, they get worse education and healthcare than white Brazilians who can afford to live in better areas. These things can all be traced back to slavery making colonial effects the largest factor in the effect of this racial ethnic conflict.