Afro Brazilians have had to deal with centuries of oppression. During these times, Afro-Brazilians have had to deal with various methods of oppression. Many of these methods have had effects so profound, they are still affecting many Brazilians till this day. Political oppression is one of the oldest methods known to man, along with forceful police force. Authoritarian rule also played a major role in the shaping of the country. Furthermore, an inept justice system will fail those who need justice the most. These four key modes will be objectively examined, as well as the efficacy of each of these repressive strategies, and the impact that they have had or still have in the Afro-Brazilian communities.
Political Oppression
In order to keep
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Over the past fifteen years, the percentage of violent deaths in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo has almost doubled. The increase of violent deaths does not just happen in Sao Paulo. In the 1980s, the killings in most Brazilian metropolitan areas increased significantly. However, the way the police have responded to this crisis indicates they may not have the Afro-Brazilians safety in mind. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Brazilian police have become known for their excessive use of violence. The number of civilians who died in confrontations with the military police in São Paulo increased considerably in the late 1980s: it surpassed 500 in 1989 and 1990, reached 1,171 in 1991, and 1,470 in 1992 (Caldeira, 703). This shows that the police reaction is still unable to take Afro-Brazilians into consideration. Furthermore, they continue to become further desensitized to human life. To make matters worse, the majority of the officers who commit egregious acts are never charged or punished. This still seems to be the case in brazil right now …show more content…
Instead authoritarian rule has played a major role in the countries development, and in rejecting the nations diverse cultural history. Brazil was under the rule of the armed forces for 21 years. In order to gain power, the commanders attempted to purge the country of communism, and to take action to obtain economic development. The military dictatorship increased its power and modified the constitution and laws by means of a series of institutional Acts. The Afro-Brazilians’ were effected negatively by this because the president was given greater powers, especially powers like purging congress. It wasn’t until 1968 that the Brazilian government began to see the rise of staged protest by students and civilians. This led to the government cracking down, and regaining the power they desired, by suspending congress indeterminately. This included music and media censorship, as well as the inserting armed forces into the police force. The downfall of congress negatively affected the Afro-Brazilians’ by stripping them of their political rights. In 1937, President Vargas overthrew the constitutional government. The government canceled the election originally scheduled for 1938. This led to a coup and created a new autocratic government, entitled "New State". The coup was greeted quietly, with no resistance (Reid, 78). The Estado Novo was the only unbridled personal dictatorship in Brazilian history. The
In Samba, Alma Guillermoprieto describes the Carnival celebrated every year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and explores the black cultural roots from which it takes its traditions as well as its social, economic, and political context in the 1980s. From her firsthand experience and investigation into favela life and the role of samba schools, specifically of Manguiera, Guillermoprieto illustrates a complex image of race relations in Brazil. The hegemonic character of samba culture in Brazil stands as a prevalent theme in numerous facets of favela life, samba schools, and racial interactions like the increasing involvement of white Brazilians in Carnival preparation and the popularity of mulatas with white Brazilians and tourists. Rio de Janeiro’s early development as a city was largely segregated after the practice of slavery ended. The centralization of Afro-Brazilians in favelas in the hills of the city strengthened their ties to black
Slavery as it existed in colonial Brazil contained interesting points of comparison and contrast with the slave system existing in British North America. The slaves in both areas had been left with very little opportunity in which he could develop as a person. The degree to which the individual rights of the slave were either protected or suppressed provides a clearer insight to the differences between North American and Brazilian slavery. The laws also differed greatly between the two areas and have been placed into three categories: term of servitude, police and disciplinary powers, and property and other civil rights.
The purpose of this paper is to recognize, study and analyze the race relations in Brazil. Race relations are relations between two groups of different races; it is how these two different races connect to each other in their environment. Since Brazil is racially diverse, this study is focused on how Brazilians relate to each other. Throughout the essay, it will become clear that there exists a conflict between two race groups. Afro-Brazilians and White-Brazilians are not connected and though these two groups converse with each other, discrimination still lies within the society. This discrimination has created inequality within the society for Afro-Brazilians. Thus, this paper will not only focus on racism and discrimination that Afro-Brazilians experience because of White-Brazilian, but also on the history of Brazil, the types if discrimination that Afro-Brazilian must endure today and how the media creates discrimination.
...gun to reach size able numbers in the 1880s. Italian immigration was especially important. Besides helping to restructure the labor system, these new immigrants viewed slavery as immoral. The many slaves freed since the 1850s also were another group which objected to slavery. So yes, slavery was a good idea for Brazil because they were making a lot of income. But slavery also, kinda in a way destroyed brazil, because when the whole "Golden Law" was signed slavery had just stopped and they didn't start getting as much of an income like they were getting in the beginning. According to many characteristics, Brazil is identified as a developing country, nevertheless is occupies a special place on the list of these countries. Having a huge potential and a high level of economic development, Brazil has found a place on the list of the highest slavery rates.
Crime is a part of society encompases the news and the public. A variety of studies of media content have estimated that as much as 25 percent of the daily news is devoted to crime (Surette 1992) and that crime is the largest major category of stories in the print and electronic media (Chermak 1994, 103). (Lawrence 18). With crime at an all time high, police are constantly having to deal with more and more issues. This can lead to stressed out and fed up officers, which can lead to poor decisions by an officer. The use of force by police is a highly controversial topic as it raises questions about a government’s ability to use force against its citizens (Lawrence 19). Today’s society is caught up on the ideals of civility and equality before the law, making police use of force a touchy
Police brutality is a very real problem that many Americans face today. The police carry an enormous burden each day. Police work is very stressful and involves many violent and dangerous situations. In many confrontations the police are put in a position in which they may have to use force to control the situation. There are different levels of force and the situation dictates the level use most of the time. The police have very strict rules about police use force and the manner in which they use it. In this paper I will try to explain the many different reason the police cross the line, and the many different people that this type of behavior effects. There are thousands of reports each year of assaults and ill treatment against officers who use excessive force and violate the human rights of their victims. In some cases the police have injured and even killed people through the use of excessive force and brutal treatment. The use of excessive force is a criminal act and I will try and explore the many different factors involved in these situations.
After gaining independence, Latin American countries had difficulty in how to govern the newly instated states. In the chaos, people took advantage of this and instated themselves as dictators. They had simply took the position from the Spanish that they tried to vanquish (class notes). The power structure remained and the people who fought for independence were largely ignored and continuously oppressed. These dictatorships had remained in power until very recently. Paraguay was finally freed from the dictatorship in 1989 (Chapter
The study of the “expressive culture” of African descended peoples in Latin America can reveal quite a lot about their history and their contributions to the historical formation of peoples and nations in modern Latin America. Their expressive culture in both Cuba and Brazil, and in much of Latin America, was initially shunned and viewed as something barbaric and distinctly ‘other.’ Cuba and Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were focused on protecting, preserving, and promoting whiteness and a culture almost entirely derived from European tradition. This changed in the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s, as Afro-Latin American culture and tradition gained acceptance and national publicity as something uniquely their own. As part of a larger
While the Brazilian Revolution emerged largely from the influence of the American Revolution, some variation remains between those two revolutions in exactly how those revolutions were executed and what the reasons for them were.
Authors of this document had written an evidence that proves the tensions between the minorities and the police. In their article, there were unanswered questions of the behavior of the police. Statistics were involved explaining how characteristics of police and communities affect the incidence of filed complaints on police violence. There were two hypotheses on threatening minorities made relatively to complaints. These authors had made analytical theories behind
According to “thinkprogress.org”, the police force in Brazil had killed the same amount of civilians that the United States had, despite its population being 50% of the United States. The high amount of deaths is also hard to comprehend, as guns are illegal to own in Brazil for the public. The high rate of people being shot to death by police in Brazil is because of how they are trained. They are trained to shoot first no matter the situation. Ignacio Cano, who is a respected Sociologist, had told Bloomberg in an interview that there is basically a Ferguson like shooting everyday in Brazil. Cano also stated that “Faced with high levels of violent crime, some Brazilian police units engage in abusive practices with impunity. In recent years, the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro state governments have implemented measures aimed at improving police performance and curbing abuses, yet police misreporting and other forms of cover-up persist”.
...tem. These traits are typical of what has happened throughout history when normal people become subordinate to new and oppressive bureaucracies. It seems that all a treacherous government needs in order to normalize the most disgusting violations of basic human rights is a convincing façade of efficiency. It could be said that the American Dream plays that role in current American society, that it is purely a façade to blind our eyes to the larger system. If the system succeeds in preventing people from gaining awareness of the larger picture, and indeed further compartmentalizes every aspect of life, the line between just and false laws become blurred. Gilliam uses “Brazil” to bring these often overlooked problems with government to the forefront of his viewer’s mind, making apparent that no element of human life is safe from this type of unconscious degeneration.
“A formal public commitment to legal racial equality, for example, had been the price of mass support for Latin American’s independence movements. In the generation following independence, the various mixed-race classifications typical of the caste system were optimistically banished from census forms and parish record keeping.” This was meant to make all slaves citizens, equal to all other citizens. Slavery receded in Latin America, except in non-republican Brazil, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. However, Brazil’s pursuit of independence was the least violent and provoked the least amount of change. The case of Brazil suggests that retention of colonial institutions such as monarchies lent to stability. “Brazil had retained a European dynasty; a nobility of dukes, counts, and barons sporting coats of arms; a tight relationship between church and state; and a full commitment to the institution of chattel slavery, in which some people worked others to death.”
Pinheiro P. S., 2002, The Paradox of Democracy in Brazil vol. III, issue 1, University of Sao Paulo
The world of poverty is a complex one with similarities seen in every society. In Brazil, poverty has created an especially dark situation in which society's most vulnerable children are forced to live or work on the streets and fend for their lives on a daily basis. In many societies, poor children are exposed to street life, but Brazil is interesting in that many of its citizens have changed their mentalities from viewing street children as creative ?urchins? to viewing them as vermin that must be discarded, often through murder, all while blaming the victim. In the world of poverty, there is extreme competition for few resources, and it is other low-income people who often support wiping children off the streets, instead of sympathizing with them. It is a huge paradox that Brazil, with some of the world's most progressive legislation regarding children, encompassed in the Statute of the Child and Adolescent of 1990, also has some of the world?s most horrendous violations of human rights against the group. A combination of market forces, the state, and international organizations must fight poverty and societal structures that leave children susceptible to violence if they, and thus Brazil?s future, are to survive.