What is racial democracy?
Racial democracy is related to an ideal social structure in which all citizens, regardless of their race or ethnicity, have the same rights and are treated equally.
The term democracy has its origins in ancient Greece and its form of socio-political organization. Thus, a restricted class of citizens was supported by the principles of isonomy (equality before the law) and isegoria (equality of political participation).
In this way, racial democracy is an abstraction based on the Greek ideal. It assumes two modes of interpretation: a goal to be achieved or a myth that masks the contradictions and injustices present in society.
In Brazil, the term is used as opposition to the idea of racial discrimination that institutes blacks and whites to play different roles within the social structure.
The Myth of Racial Democracy in Brazil
The term "myth" alludes to a fable or fantasy. So, the myth of racial democracy in Brazil is based on a false idea of miscegenation and racial integration, taken as an unmistakable sign of harmony and equality between different ethnic groups.
Therefore, Brazil would contrast with other places like the United States and South Africa, which for a long time had racial segregation policies.
In Brazil, since the abolition of slavery in 1888, it was assumed that everyone, regardless of their race or origin, should be treated equally, in complete equality before the law.
In this way, the idea was developed that the existing inequalities are based on strictly social conditions, not racial ones.
According to authors who pay attention to racial democracy as a myth in Brazil, isonomy is not the only factor that guarantees racial democracy.
Historical reparation policies are needed, which seek to bring racial issues closer to the objective of social justice and true racial democracy.
On the issue of social democracy in Brazil, Adilson Moreira, specialist in anti-discrimination law, draws attention to the fact that the miscegenation of the Brazilian people is not present in the power layers of the State.
For the author, political decisions remain under the control of an economic and racial (white) elite. Thus, laws need to consider the racial inequalities existing in the social structure so that they can effectively guarantee equity and democracy.
Gilberto Freyre and the Formation of the Brazilian People
The socio-historical formation of Western societies is based on a Eurocentric vision. European technical development enabled its maritime expansion and the conquest of territories in Africa and the Americas.
The colonization processes formed the American continent which, from the European point of view, assume a character of progress and benefit to humanity as a whole.
However, there is the perspective that the colonies were formed from the subjugation of the original peoples of the Americas (indigenous) and African blacks.
After the abolition of slavery in 1888, a period of marginalization of a large portion of the black population began. This segregation was followed by several eugenics projects, which aimed to whiten the Brazilian population.
In this context, the sociologist Gilberto Freyre he called attention to the mixed character of the formation of Brazil. He opposed eugenic doctrines and extolled the uniqueness of the formation of the people and their national identity.
The author stated that this new form of organization inaugurated a perspective of social construction in modernity.
in your book Casa Grande & Senzala (1933), he seeks to portray the particularities that founded the formation of the Brazilian people.
However, there are differences of interpretation about the work of Gilberto Freyre regarding the idea of racial democracy.
On the one hand, scholars point to the idea of a racial democracy as an interaction between races that led to a multiraciality and multiculturality distinct from other places.
On the other hand, there is the criticism that the author would romanticize the violent structure of the Brazilian colonial period and attenuate what was slavery.
This idea will be an essential feature of the thought that there is no racial discrimination in the country. And that all races are guaranteed their space, rights and conditions of existence.
However, for sociologists like Florestan Fernandes, Gilberto Freyre cannot be held responsible for the dissemination of the myth of racial democracy in the country. Freyre's work points to a pre-scientific proposal for the analysis of Brazilian social and cultural formation.
See too: Formation of the Brazilian People: history and miscegenation.
Structural racism and social inequalities
Due to the historical past and the formation of Brazil, the racial issue and the social issue are directly related, making it difficult to perceive their limits.
The unequal starting point between whites, Indians and blacks in the construction of Brazilian society creates a common identity between the two issues (racial and social).
Associated with the idea of the possibility of social transition, which under the law, does not discriminate against blacks or whites, a model for the dissemination of inequalities that goes beyond the racial issue is created.
Therefore, the large portion of the white population that lives in conditions of vulnerability sublimates the so-called structural racism, which marginalizes the black population.
Thus, it is necessary to understand that Brazil, within all its socio-cultural particularity, needs to combine issues of class and race to achieve an ideal of social justice.
Here is a video in which experts discuss the myth of democracy in Brazil:
Interested? See too:
- Democracy in Brazil
- Miscegenation
- slavery in Brazil
- black movement
- Types of Democracy
- Questions about social inequality
Bibliographic references
Freyre, Gilberto. Big house & slave quarters. Global Editora e Distribuidora Ltda, 2019.
Moreira, Adilson José. "Racial Citizenship/Racial citizenship." Magazine Quaestio Iuris 10.2 (2017): 1052-1089.
Fernandes, Florestan. The integration of black people into class society. Vol. 1. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of the University of São Paulo, 1964.
