To: AFROLAT/JALAS&L Internet Forum
From: Rosangela Maria Vieira, Editor of JALAS&L--ISSN 1051 1865
Subject: Open letter to Michael Mitchell, AFROLAT moderator: a report
on Uruguay and Brazil.
Copyright @ 1995 by The Journal of Afro-Latin American Studies and
Literatures--JALAS&L, and the AFROLAT Academic Forum.
Caro Michael:
It was quite an experience going to Montevideo and most major
cities of Brazil to meet with leaders of the Black movement, Black writers,
rap artists, visual artists, musicians, actors and actresses, academicians,
jornalists, film makers, publishers, and other intellectuals as well as with
many community leaders in less than a month. I am still quite surprised that
we were fortunate enough to accomplish all of this.
The trip was made possible by a small grant I received and its
purpose was to further develop my research. I paused for the Christmas
holiday in Belo Horizonte, my home. I wanted to stay longer, but couldn't.
I came back on the 5th of January, since our semester at Howard University
started on the 10th.
About Uruguay:
My assessment of race issues in this country derives from personal
observations. As I saw it, racism in this society is strongly expressed,
to the same degree as it exists in the US and South Africa. They do not
have signs saying Blacks cannot enter here or there, but Blacks know they
are not allowed in these spaces--it's an unspoken system which determines
who goes where and when. In Uruguay, as in other Latin American countries,
Blacks are not even called Blacks, they are referred to as 'morenos,' and
there, especially, Blacks are treated with great indifference and disdain.
Their destinies are determined by racist whites who make evident that their
purpose is to keep them subjugated. It is quite an unfortunate situation.
As it also happens in Brazil, in Uruguay Blacks live at the
periphery of the city, though many poor whites can be seen there also--the
Black population of Uruguay (3,000,000 people) is much much smaller than
that of Brazil, as you know. Delegates from the US and other Latin American
coutries, like myself and Dr. Effie Boldridge (also from H.U.'s Department
of Modern Languages and Literatures) who attended the "1er Seminario
Continental Racismo y Xenofobia," when going out on the streets, for
instance, would be constantly starred at, as if Blacks were alien beings
from a distant galaxy, beings who, in their view, certainly did not
belong there. I and my companion, for instance, were grossly mistreated
in our hotels, restaurants, money exchange houses (casas de cambio),
banks, and airport.
As for the "1er Seminario Continental Racismo y Xenofobia,"
organized by Mundo Afro, which we attended in Uruguay, the final
declaration coming out of it can be subdivided into the following:
1) The grave situation involving racism and racial discrimination and
the lack of attention (on the part of all Latin American governments
and multilateral bodies or institutions) to Black peoples and to their
high levels of unfulfilled basic human needs, and to their aspiration
for personal development, cannot remain unchallenged and must be
reversed.
2) By necessity we have to develop international means to address human
rights issues, especially in fora like the International Convention for
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (promoted by the
United Nations). This is quite urgent.
3) It is imperative that we consolidate the process of organizing
ourselves as peoples of African ancestry in the Americas (at a regional
and continental level) which we have initiated in this Symposium.
4) The condition of the African-American women, as victim of racism and
Latin American 'machismo,' the lack of attention to their gender needs,
the discrepancies in job opportunities and wages between men and women,
likewise, cannot be ignored and must be changed.
Some of the resolutions:
* To constitute and implement a Continental Network of Africans in the
Americas in order to seek solutions to the many issues addressed in the
Symposium.
* To establish the following nuclii for this CNAA network: the
'Cono Sur,' 'Pacto Andino,' 'Centro America,' 'Norte America,' and
'las Antillas.'
* To call for a partnership among all Black organizations in the
Americas.
* To demand support, opportunities, and inclusion/representation in/from
all multilateral bodies or institutions, international NGOs, and Latin
American governments.
In the last plennary of the Symposium, 2 (two) delegates were chosen
as representatives, or executives, of the North American delegation.
A follow up meeting, to be held in Brazil, was planned for December of
1995.
About Brazil:
What can I say? In Brazil we had a very positive experience.
We walked along the many many streets of that beautiful country without
having people stare at us; there we were just one more face in the
crowd. We were treated fairly, and in many instances, extremely well,
everywhere we went--in restaurants, banks, churches, hotels, and in the
'pagodes' where we went with our friends to dance the samba.
This, however, is not to say that my country is not one of the
most racist societies in the world and, in my opinion, the one place which
has mastered the techniques of racial discrimination and impositions. How
do I explain this? I can't; not in a short letter, anyway.
Perhaps I could suggest the notion that in Brazil Blacks are long
suffering. They have endured close to 500 years of a racism that has
suffocated them into invisibility. But it is also important to state that
Black Brazilians have not taken this treatment without fighting it to the
death. And the long tradition and existence of such discriminatory
practices only speak of the cruelty and effectiveness of a racism that
knows no limits. Also, Brazilians of African ancestry, an overwhelming
75% of the population, now more than ever, are organizing themselves to
continue their struggle against a tiny white and racist minority which
for so long has kept them at the margin of the system, a place from
which they are denied access to financial, educational, and political
institutions.
As discussed in conversations with my friends Helena Theodoro Lopes,
in Rio de Janeiro, and with Leda Maria Martins, in Belo Horizonte, 2 (two)
of the only 5 (five) Black women in Brazil with a Ph.D., and teaching in
Brazilian universities, having had our newly elected President, Fernando
Henrique Cardoso, nominate Pele' for the Ministry of Sports means nothing
for Black Brazilians; that fact alone will have no positive impact in their
lives. It will not change their plight. In fact, that 'goodwill gesture,'
coming from a man who initiated his academic career *using* Blacks as
subject of his scholarly research and publications, only proves that he
has no genuine concern for Afro-Brazilians. Neither does he have plans
to address their condition in a manner to make a difference and to reverse
the racist parameters in which Brazilian society was founded.
In closing, I would like to call your attention to the Fall 1995
issue of JALAS&L. Dr. Manuel Garcia-Castellon, <MXGFL@jazz.ucc.uno.edu>,
our Associated Editor, is dedicating it to the memory of the Brazilian
Warrior Zumbi, hero and the ultimate symbol of resistance and struggle for
all Blacks and oppressed peoples of the world. In 1995 we will be
celebrating the tri-centennial of his death. The theme for this
particular issue of JALAS&L will be "Black Resistance and Accomplishments
in the Americas." We cannot promise, but hope to publish the entire issue
in English. A call for paper will be announced in the Internet as well.
Um abraco amigo, Rosangela. <rmvieira@cldc.howard.edu>