Afro Brazilians have had to deal with centuries of oppression. During these times, Afro-Brazilians have had to deal with various methods of oppression. Many of these methods have had effects so profound, they are still affecting many Brazilians till this day. Political oppression is one of the oldest methods known to man, along with forceful police force. Authoritarian rule also played a major role in the shaping of the country. Furthermore, an inept justice system will fail those who need justice the most. These four key modes will be objectively examined, as well as the efficacy of each of these repressive strategies, and the impact that they have had or still have in the Afro-Brazilian communities.
Political Oppression
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Over the past fifteen years, the percentage of violent deaths in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo has almost doubled. The increase of violent deaths does not just happen in Sao Paulo. In the 1980s, the killings in most Brazilian metropolitan areas increased significantly. However, the way the police have responded to this crisis indicates they may not have the Afro-Brazilians safety in mind. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Brazilian police have become known for their excessive use of violence. The number of civilians who died in confrontations with the military police in São Paulo increased considerably in the late 1980s: it surpassed 500 in 1989 and 1990, reached 1,171 in 1991, and 1,470 in 1992 (Caldeira, 703). This shows that the police reaction is still unable to take Afro-Brazilians into consideration. Furthermore, they continue to become further desensitized to human life. To make matters worse, the majority of the officers who commit egregious acts are never charged or punished. This still seems to be the case in brazil right now …show more content…
Instead authoritarian rule has played a major role in the countries development, and in rejecting the nations diverse cultural history. Brazil was under the rule of the armed forces for 21 years. In order to gain power, the commanders attempted to purge the country of communism, and to take action to obtain economic development. The military dictatorship increased its power and modified the constitution and laws by means of a series of institutional Acts. The Afro-Brazilians’ were effected negatively by this because the president was given greater powers, especially powers like purging congress. It wasn’t until 1968 that the Brazilian government began to see the rise of staged protest by students and civilians. This led to the government cracking down, and regaining the power they desired, by suspending congress indeterminately. This included music and media censorship, as well as the inserting armed forces into the police force. The downfall of congress negatively affected the Afro-Brazilians’ by stripping them of their political rights. In 1937, President Vargas overthrew the constitutional government. The government canceled the election originally scheduled for 1938. This led to a coup and created a new autocratic government, entitled "New State". The coup was greeted quietly, with no resistance (Reid, 78). The Estado Novo was the only unbridled personal dictatorship in Brazilian history. The
In Samba, Alma Guillermoprieto describes the Carnival celebrated every year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and explores the black cultural roots from which it takes its traditions as well as its social, economic, and political context in the 1980s. From her firsthand experience and investigation into favela life and the role of samba schools, specifically of Manguiera, Guillermoprieto illustrates a complex image of race relations in Brazil. The hegemonic character of samba culture in Brazil stands as a prevalent theme in numerous facets of favela life, samba schools, and racial interactions like the increasing involvement of white Brazilians in Carnival preparation and the popularity of mulatas with white Brazilians and tourists. Rio de Janeiro’s early development as a city was largely segregated after the practice of slavery ended. The centralization of Afro-Brazilians in favelas in the hills of the city strengthened their ties to black
While the Brazilian Revolution emerged largely from the influence of the American Revolution, some variation remains between those two revolutions in exactly how those revolutions were executed and what the reasons for them were.
Slavery as it existed in colonial Brazil contained interesting points of comparison and contrast with the slave system existing in British North America. The slaves in both areas had been left with very little opportunity in which he could develop as a person. The degree to which the individual rights of the slave were either protected or suppressed provides a clearer insight to the differences between North American and Brazilian slavery. The laws also differed greatly between the two areas and have been placed into three categories: term of servitude, police and disciplinary powers, and property and other civil rights.
Racial identity is a complicated thing to examine when looking at the social politics of Brazil. The film Brazil in Black and White and Benedita da Silva’s book both tackle the issues of racial identity in similar manners. Brazil has the second highest black population in the world, following only Nigeria, yet Afro-Brazilians are heavily unrepresented in Brazilian education, government, and media. Benedita da Silva, being an Afro-Brazilian congresswoman faced these issues on a personal level and her criticisms are integral in understanding the marginalization of blacks in Brazil.
Authors of this document had written an evidence that proves the tensions between the minorities and the police. In their article, there were unanswered questions of the behavior of the police. Statistics were involved explaining how characteristics of police and communities affect the incidence of filed complaints on police violence. There were two hypotheses on threatening minorities made relatively to complaints. These authors had made analytical theories behind
The cultural importance of soccer is essential to an understanding of the progression of cultural practices in Brazil and the formation of culture in Brazil today. In particular, soccer in Brazil has greatly broken down barriers of a racial stigma that still exists in many well-developed nations today. Franklin Foer discusses this importance in his essay “The Brazil Syndrome.” One of his first main notes is that soccer arrived in Brazil at just about the same time as emancipation in the country, in the late nineteenth century (Foer 41). The significance of this fact is not that soccer was something for every Brazilian to turn to at the time, but that there was a certain shame in the separation of white and black soccer players. The slaves were recently freed and became very intrigued by the sport, as did many of the elite white Brazilians. The elite Brazilians were very prejudiced but were quite undecided about allowing blacks onto their teams, especially considering the shame of slavery due to the recent emancipation. Regardless, African-Brazilians made it onto some soccer teams, whether they were allowed or they snuck on by hiding their skin color in some way. Eventually, the allowance of African-Brazilians onto soccer teams became a requirement for the teams to be successful, because the teams that were not mixed race were simply not good enough to compete with those that
In the past years, Brazil has celebrated itself as a great economic performer with emerging markets and increasing influence on the international stage. However, in 2013, Brazil was paralyzed by huge demonstrations expressing deep discontent with their governments’ performance. In this paper, I look at the sudden onset of the protest and the absence of it in the previous years. I will argue that despite these protests, the government of Brazil maintains a hegemonic culture that propagates its own values and practices. Brazil experiences the process of modernization from the above, which does not quite reflect the demands of the lower class. Using Brazil as an example, I will expand on how the political leadership establishes and maintains its control.
In our class we learned a lot about the various military regimes that occurred throughout Latin America. However out of all the ones we discussed, Brazil’s dictatorship was never mentioned. I decided to write about it, but at the same time also compare it to the other military regimes in Latin America. Unlike most of the other governments, Brazil’s military one was not as brutal. It in no way measured up to the brutality of the Argentinian dictatorship or the ruthlessness of the dictatorship in Bolivia. However it was not an easy time either. Many Brazilians were exiled and many lost their lives because of this oppressive government.
...olitical game the courts can subliminally promote concerning lawyers and bail. We must turn to the police in bettering their interaction with citizens to promote voluntary cooperation, which can only be done by increasing its legitimacy. I turn to the police selection process in addressing the issue of legitimacy in choosing officers beyond for reason of “crime-fighters”. This, of course, is not an easy thing to do. Rectifying the police selection process to be more particular in choosing officers is difficult especially since, oftentimes, there are few exceptional worthy candidates to choose from. This sort of change would be a long-term aspiration that would take much time and effort in order to be accomplished. Until then, training on current officers should be changed where the Constitution and building community relationships should be of primary importance.
In conclusion, despite attempts to suppress the concept that racism exists from the public discourse, it is alive and flourishing in Brazil. Even though the persistence of inequalities between White and Black Brazilians can be attributed to a number of factors, the current status of Afro/ Black Brazilians can be seen as a by-product of its ancestry. Moreover, this racial democracy has had a negative impact to the extent that it has caused some Afro/ Black Brazilians to ignore their African heritage; this sense of denial continues to prevent them from identifying and embracing those belonging to the African community.
p. 50) observe that the lack of proper national statistic on the police use of excessive force is a hindering factor to the war against vice. Because so, it is critical for civilians to report all cases of police brutality and excessive force to the relevant authorities that include human rights groups for the sake of action. If we continue to keep quiet on the issue, the lack of information and the limited availability will lead to a wake of even extreme cases on the same. Gender also plays a role in the excessive use of force, according to the available statistics. From the observation of the officers on duty, a great percentage of offices that use excessive force on civilians are mostly males. (Harris, 2009, p. 39) Besides, most of the officers are also young, falling within the age bracket of twenty to thirty-five years and usually, inexperienced (Harris, 2009, p. 39). Here, it is clear that police offices should have specialized duties, and inexperienced officers should take care of other roles that do not include making arrests, until they are fully trained and ready to encounter
According to The Global Research News, in the last decade alone the number of people murdered by police has reached 5,000. This humanitarian crisis in the United States has become an alarming reality. Police officers have the capability to arrest, confiscate property, and use deadly force. Yet, many have abused their powers. Police brutality is on the rise whether society believes it or not because of the advancement in technology, low education and experience, racial profiling, and people’s refusal to obey.
This paper compares and contrasts popular opinions and professional assessment of police brutality and acceptable use of force. This is not only a sensitive subject, but one that proves hard to identify. The main takeaway is that each encounter is different. Within each situation, the details and contributing factors are also different. Police have to serve the public and are entrusted with an inherent amount of power. The line when that use of power becomes abuse of power is not always so easily defined. There are occasions where the evidence shows a clear abuse of power by the police. There are instances where the public opinion views a situation as excessive, however, the police are following acceptable practices and procedures.
The world of poverty is a complex one with similarities seen in every society. In Brazil, poverty has created an especially dark situation in which society's most vulnerable children are forced to live or work on the streets and fend for their lives on a daily basis. In many societies, poor children are exposed to street life, but Brazil is interesting in that many of its citizens have changed their mentalities from viewing street children as creative ?urchins? to viewing them as vermin that must be discarded, often through murder, all while blaming the victim. In the world of poverty, there is extreme competition for few resources, and it is other low-income people who often support wiping children off the streets, instead of sympathizing with them. It is a huge paradox that Brazil, with some of the world's most progressive legislation regarding children, encompassed in the Statute of the Child and Adolescent of 1990, also has some of the world?s most horrendous violations of human rights against the group. A combination of market forces, the state, and international organizations must fight poverty and societal structures that leave children susceptible to violence if they, and thus Brazil?s future, are to survive.
2. Burns, Bradford E. . A History of Brazil: Second Edition. New York: Cornell University Press, 1980.