April 2010
8 posts
Regulating the Bedroom?
By Lincoln
April 3, 2010
Many of us in GAAPP have an instinctive aversion to state involvement in romantic relationships between consenting adults. But we also know from the feminist movement that “the personal is political”. Meetings with former Sao Paolo City Councilwoman Claudete Alves and others have given me reason to consider ways that the state could discourage racism in people’s...
Slavery Reparations?
By Lincoln Ellis (April 2, 2010)
On Wednesday we met with Claudete Alves, former City Councilwoman for the PT (Worker’s Party) and author of this book: http://www.scortecci.com.br/lermais_materias.php?cd_materias=4669. She has argued persuasively that the Brazilian Government should pay reparations to decedents of slaves (not to Afro-Brazilians, which she says is a misleading term that could...
Reclaiming Education (Ayanna London, 4.2.10)
On Wednesday, we visited the first and only Afro-Brazilian university in the country, Faculdade Zumbi Dos Palmates. Our visited is recounted on the school’s website here. We first met with administrators and then had a chance to meet with a large group of law students at the university.
The university admins seemed quite in tuned to the longevity of the university. They are very focused on...
Visibility and Accountability (Ayanna London,...
(Kimberlé Crenshaw, Oscar Vilhena Vieira, Julia Mello Neiva)
One of the premier human rights organizations in Brazil, Conectas, is buzzing with the energy that shapes lasting reform. On Tuesday, we met with one of the founding directors, Oscar, and today we met with the second founding director, Julia along with five other members. Their two main umbrella programs are Global South and Justice...
Asian-Brazilians in Japan and Brazil
By Lincoln Ellis
April 2 2010
Most people outside of Brazil don’t realize that Sao Paulo is home to the largest concentration of diasporic Japanese outside of Japan. In researching areas of the law that affect Asian-Brazilians, I found out that one of the most important legal developments comes from Japan, not Brazil. Japan has opened up temporary migration visas for Japanese-Brazilians,...
Power & Majorities (by Dania 4/1)
What does being of the majority in a country mean? There is a symbolic significance with being part of the majority. At times it can mean power, yet for black Brazilians this is not the case. In our various meetings, organizations make sure to note that black Brazilians are the majority and yet they do not have access to the power being in the majority can imply. Most of the times when I have...
Capturing Race in Brazil (Ayanna London, 3.29.10)
We met with the CEO and other members of a São Paulo group focused on law and racial relations today, CEERT, http://www.ceert.org.br/. They deploy legal initiatives in a variety of areas, including, labor and employment, unreasonable use of police force, and education. This group is incredibly active in pursuing real strategies for change in Brazil. Their discussion about some recent research...
University Entrance Exams
By Lincoln Ellis - April 1, 2010
During our trip to Brazil, we have met with two groups (one in Salvador: www.stevebiko.org.br and one in Sao Paulo: www.educafro.org.br) that provide free prep-courses for Black students who are planning to take the “vestibular”, the college entrance exam. Each college or university has its own entrance exam, but the exams are fairly similar. Wealthy families...
March 2010
14 posts
Employment Discrimination in Brazil
By Lincoln Ellis 3/31/10
As more Afro-Brazilians benefit from affirmative action programs and graduate from universities, activists are concerned that skilled black applicants will be turned away by employers who favor white employees. Employment discrimination has been shown to exist at the macro level, but it is difficult to prove in any individual case. We met with a group in Sao Paulo:...
Hospitality and Resistance (Ayanna London,...
After exchanging our research presentations with an auditorium of activist groups and participants, our group grabbed some snacks with university students involved with an exchange program for Washington, DC internships. I spent most of my time speaking with a young Afro-Brazilian woman, a student of the program whose focus is on Hospitality and Tourism.
She spoke about the difficulty of getting...
The Theory of Equality in a Reality of Inequality...
This Sunday we arrived in Sao Paulo and met up with some activists to visit the museum of Afro-Brazilian history. Coming across this pretty recent picture at the museum was shocking.
I was not shocked not because I thought racism does not exist - but rather I was shocked to think of how pervasive a rhetoric of equality, as has been the history of “racial democracy” in Brazil and...
Media, Identity, & Empowerment (by: Dania 03/26)
Today we met with a variety of representatives from various social justice groups in Salvador.
Our first stop was at a Afro-Brazilian cultural organization that also doubles as a music school for youth in Salvador. The president of the organization informed us that he was currently running for a senate seat under the green party in Bahia. It was interesting to note that currently in all Brazil...
Rising Tides Often Don’t Lift All Boats (Ayanna...
The 25th was our last day in Rio. We met with a trade union official and professor and director of a university Affirmative Action program before flying to Salvador to join Professor Crenshaw for the International Conference on the Health of Black and Indigenous Populations.
Professor Crenshaw had just also arrived for the conference that day and was thereupon asked to deliver the keynote...
The Feminization of AIDS (by Dania 3/25)
Today is the second day of a conference on the health of black and indigenous women in Brazil. I chose to participate in one of the round-tables regarding the feminization of AIDS in Brazil. I was aware of some of the general issues regarding AIDS in Brazil but I had never thought how AIDS could affect women in different ways. I was somewhat ashamed that I had not thought of some of the different...
Race, Class, & Voting (by Dania 03/24)
Yesterday we met with a group of graduate students during one of their classes. Lincoln, Ayanna and myself presented on our research projects and asked for feedback/insight from the students. The majority of the students seemed hesitant to engage in a discussion on racial issues in Brazil and many tried to re-frame the discussion to one solely focused on class. To better understand their response...
Trade Union efforts for racial equality in Brazil
By Lincoln Ellis - UCLA Law Class of 2011
On Wednesday (March 24th), we met with a trade union leader from the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (Unitary Workers Federation, CUT: www.cut.org.br) who works on racial equality in the work place.
In her analysis, black workers benefit from leadership skills that help build self-esteem and confidence to stand up to discrimination. Too often, black...
Let Us Hope (Ayanna London, 3.23.10)
Our morning meeting was with Justiça Global, a human rights organization that litigates both in local and international courts. The attorney we met with spoke for a bit about the work they were doing with favela communities under siege by Pacifying Police Units. These units were created in anticipation of the Pan-American Games and have remained in force. Forces of about 500 soldiers were...
Arrival in Rio (Ayanna London, 3.22.10)
Our group of four arrived elated to finally be in Rio. As we ambled through the customs line, we exchanged questions like why Brazil decided to require a Visa from American passport holders and what the name of the pastry dish of cheese and chicken stuffed dough balls was called. I noticed that we were the only group being quite so vibrantly vocal. A gentleman a few beats ahead had also noticed...
Grassroots Organizing in Brazil (by Dania Lopez...
Yesterday we attended the opening sessions of the Urban Social Forum that was created partially in response to the inaccessible UN Conference on urban planning and partially as a medium for activists to organize. I was pleasantly surprised to see how committed and involved the various organizers were at the Social Forum. The speakers chosen in the opening session spoke with a sense of urgency that...
“What an important piece of work we have begun here. This is the boost we all...”
– Quote from a student at the groundbreaking June 7-16, 2009 GAAPP conference in Los Angeles.
Archived GAAPP Brazil Blog →