Electing a Black President in Brazil

Following the historic election of Barack Obama in the United States, Reuters reflected on the possibility of electing a black president in Brazil. Here's a bit of the article:

... latent discrimination is rampant, as illustrated in the scant presence of blacks in television and advertising. Blacks also fare among the worst in health and education indicators.

Infant mortality among blacks is 40 percent higher than among whites, and illiteracy rates among blacks are also much higher.

Brazil has only had seven black ministers since democracy was restored in 1985, according to a UFRJ study.

Five of them have been under the current leftist leader, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, but they still tend to be limited to certain policy areas such as culture, sports and racial equality.

Analysts say it will take years before blacks take on powerful positions, and that only then would the ground be laid for an eventual black president.

"For us to have a black president in Brazil, we would need to have (blacks) at the head of companies, universities, town halls," Paixao said.

...

"It's part of the vision of Brazilian elites to disguise racial inequalities," said Santos, the equality minister. "But it is obvious when you have access to our social pyramid and see that it is white at its top and black at the base."

For working-class blacks, the prospect of a black president seems distant.

"The same racism continues in the U.S. and in Brazil today," said a 45-year-old construction worker in the capital Brasilia who gave his name as Ze Luis.

Read the full article here.

Thanks to Tanja from Grupo Aprendendo Angola for the article link.