Black People : Black Identity and Racism Collide in Brazil

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a picture of young Neymar with his family.) But for Brazilians, being black is very different from what it is in the United States.

That complexity can perhaps best be illustrated by the fact that many black Brazilians don’t think of themselves as black. Brazilian soccer star Neymar is a great example. Asked during an interview in 2010 if he had ever experienced racism, his response was, “Never.” He added, “Not inside nor outside of the soccer field. Even more because I'm not black, right?”

“The darker a person is in Brazil, the more racism she or he is going to suffer. Light-skinned black people don’t identify as black most of the time,” says Daniela Gomes, a black Brazilian activist who is currently pursuing a doctorate in African Diaspora studies at the University of Texas. “A lot of people choose to deny their blackness. They don’t believe they are black, but they suffer racism without knowing why.”

This reads similar to what I have heard growing up. How some light skinned blacks would not identify themselves as being black.
I recall there are a few threads here where this was discussed in some detail.

Integration and miscegenation were actually government policy in Brazil. Around the time that slaves were freed, in 1888, the government sought to whiten its population through the importation of European immigrants. This idea was made law by Decree 528 in 1890 and opened the country’s borders to foreign immigrants, except for those from Africa and Asia.

The goal of this immigration effort was depicted in an 1895 painting by Brazilian artist Modesto Brocos known as The Redemption of Ham, which features a black grandmother, mixed-race mother, white father and white baby. The grandmother stands to the left with her hands raised in prayer, praising God that her grandson is white. This, says Brazilian entrepreneur and activist Carlos Alberto David, is the “final point” of racism in Brazil.

“Racism in Brazil is very sophisticated and structured,” says David. “The racism here is not physical. It works on people psychologically.”
 
Two of my sisters would watch this movie every year and I sat a few times and watched with them. I was the tissue runner, they went thru a few boxes of Kleenex's. It was about a light skinned black girl that grew up and denied her mother, and her blackness until it broke her mothers heart.

I may have teared up.. I don't recall.. huummm.. :cry: I was providing tissue and when Mahalia Jackson started singing...moister was every where.
Imitation of Life (1959) - Trailer
 

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