Racial Quotas: A Lesson From Brazil

- Vanessa Johnston

Four years ago, in my final semester of high school, our English teacher assigned the class to read a book about affirmative action. Although the author, having spent a year inside a South Central Los Angeles gifted classroom, argued fervently in favor of it, our English class, almost unanimously, opposed it. Amid anxieties over being accepted to our top university choices, nobody wanted to consider that they may lose a place, regardless of performance, because a racial quota needed to be fulfilled. It was hard to deny that discrimination based on sex and race was still prevalent, but everybody had worked tirelessly to earn a high ACT score and to maintain stellar grades that would make them eligible for university. So wasn't assessing students based on these two things the most just way to fill America 's universities?

Four years later, this debate has still not subsided. Michigan will vote next month over the “Michigan Civil Rights Initiative”, which, if successful, would eradicate the state's current affirmative action policies. And the U.S. is not alone in this debate as countries around the world - from South Africa , to India , to Malaysia- have grappled with how to integrate marginalized groups of society discriminated against throughout history. Now Brazil is making headlines over its own battle, but the voices against affirmative action don't echo the same arguments heard elsewhere; rather they argue - in the words of Ali Kamel and also the title of his recently published book regarding racial quotas - “we're not racists”.

Along with its spirited carnival, sexy samba beats, and victorious football players, Brazil also boasts of its “racial democracy”. A country five hundred years old and encompassing a racially diverse populace has resulted in a modern day society of which 42% considers itself of mixed blood, or pardo . Furthermore, since the abolition of slavery in 1888, Brazil has never instituted legal segregation as the United States did in the 1960s, hence moving further away from racial separateness. However, a closer look at the economic disparity between white and non-white Brazilians suggests otherwise.

People of African heritage were found to be at the bottom of Brazil 's society by a large margin according to the UN Development Program. Furthermore, they are nearly completely absent from the upper echelons of society, be it in government, civil services or the armed forces. This isn't surprising since poverty runs rampant among the black population and therefore access to education is less. However, a recent study also concluded that black Brazilians earn on average 30% less than white Brazilians with comparable education levels.

What is a country to do about this blatant division, especially when its countrymen and women see themselves as “color-blind”? The move to expand racial quotas to include higher education institutions, civil service jobs, the private sector, and television suggests some are willing to finally shatter this fallacious image and work towards creating a truly racially democratic Brazil . Without such a radical measure, black leaders worry about what social unrest could generate.

And yet, there is defiant opposition to taking a U.S.-style approach to affirmative action and transforming its nation into one that highlights race. Racial quotas are problematic in a country such as Brazil for several reasons. First, it is difficult for many to define their race and if forced to decide, or worse yet, if this were to be decided by someone else, great conflict could arise. Furthermore, in Rio de Janeiro , racial quotas, active for the past few years, have been said to benefit only black Brazilians from privileged backgrounds. And due to the fierce competition in Brazil 's universities, some may claim African heritage to improve one's chances of admission, a statement that would be nearly impossible to disprove.

Suggested alternatives to racial quotas include the production of media campaigns designed to combat racism and the improvement of primary and secondary schools so that students of all backgrounds are prepared to compete for a spot in university. These two solutions would have certainly pleased my high school classmates, and would please me as well if executed as part of the solution. But if Brazil's image of itself as a country devoid of racism hasn't managed to change the hierarchical structure of society which sees white Brazilians dominating the wealth, then perhaps it is time to accept racial quotas, an integrationalist approach which stands a much greater chance of creating a true racial democracy.

Background & Research
American Association for Affirmative Action
Brazil Plans Affirmative Action (National Center for Policy Analysis) - Oct 2001
No Black and White Matter (The Economist) - Jul 13, 2006
An End to Racial Balancing (Time Magazine) - Dec 4, 2006
Affirmative Action debate forces Brazil to Look in the Mirror (Washington Post) - June, 2003
Should we Affirm Affirmative Action? (Project Syndicate) - Feb 2004