With a majority black and brown population, Brazil still faces difficulties in racial education

Ívina Garcia – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The debate on racism has been growing in the Brazilian society over the years. The occupation of black people in political and prominent positions in society raises the discussion, even with the low representation.

Of the 212.7 million people who live in the country, 47% consider themselves brown and 9.1% black, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) for 2021. Racism and racial slurs are still very present, despite the existence of laws against the acts.

The racism present in Article 5, subsection XLII, of the Federal Constitution, states that the practice constitutes an imprescriptible crime, subject to imprisonment. Law 7.716 of 5 January 1989 says that crimes resulting from discrimination or prejudice based on race, colour, ethnicity, religion or national origin will be punished. In cases of racial insult, the law defines that insult consists of offending and/or insulting someone because of race, colour, ethnicity, religion, or origin.

With cases of racial insult in mind, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) launched the booklet “Racist Expressions: why avoid them”, which contains a series of phrases that refer to the slave trade period, attacks on the black community and reasons why these terms should be banned from the vocabulary.

The booklet brings a total of 40 racist expressions and words and the historical context in which they are inserted. Words used in daily life such as denegrir “denigrate”, esclarecer “clarify” or “inhaca” popular brazilian expression to describe smell are some of them. The booklet also brings suggestions of expressions to replace those considered racist.

For university professor, writer and anthropologist Paulo Queiroz, the primer is an important means of educating, but the publication must face challenges to be accepted. “They are challenges that we call Herculean, that is, those that have the opposing force of Hercules. It is an interesting idea of evolution in space and time, because the court adjusts to the evolving needs of society. What was, is no longer and what was not can be, depending on the social need”, he says.

Paulo points out that it is relevant to stand against exaggerations in the name of “freedom of expression”, he says that these movements [in favour of minorities] have gained body and power in legitimising the rights of black people, “I applaud this initiative and the initiative of the booklet”.

The professor alerts to the importance of not punishing accidental carelessness and to fight cases of misinformation with education. “I think that with time this education will emerge and we will absorb the proposals of the booklet in a rational and clear manner”, he says.

Tougher punishment

Brazil is in search of racial equity, a recent project in the House of Representatives approved the increase in the penalty for those who commit racial slurs. According to the new text, the penalty would be increased from 1 to 3 years to 2 to 5 years.

The increase in the penalty will be applied only in cases of insult related to race, colour, ethnicity or national origin, not being used in cases against elderly or disabled people. The penalty is further increased by 1/3 in contexts where insult is used for relaxation, amusement or recreation.

Bill 4566/21 (former PL 1749/15) was approved as a substitute text for the one authored by former MP Tia Eron and former MP Bebeto and now awaits the sanction of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).