Just as in the rest of the world, there is also racism in Brazil; particularly racism against African-descendants. This is the shameful cultural heritage of our settlers who brought people from Africa to work as slaves on coffee and sugarcane plantations.
So, Black Awareness Day is celebrated on the 20th November to pay tribute to that population and to not forget about their suffering, strength and resilience. This date was also chosen to remember the death of Zumbi, who is regarded as a hero by Brazilians for his struggle against racism and slavery. In addition to this, he has also built a community called Palmares, the destination of many fugitive or free slaves who have looked for a new home to restart their lives.
Fortunately, living conditions have changed greatly. Currently, we can see black people as journalists who are broadcasting news on television and radio. Also, we can watch them as soap opera actors representing wealthy and successful characters, as well as in advertising campaigns for multinational corporations, besides being politicians, doctors, lawyers, professors and many other professions in real life. Despite this, according to research, the wages of most black workers are generally lower than those of white ones who have the same occupation in a business.
Therefore, several non-governmental organizations are struggling not only for equality of rights in the labour market, but also fighting to put an end to abuse of police authority over the black individuals and religious prejudice.
Awareness of racism has been growing in Brazil because everyone talks about it in schools, in groups of families or friends and in the media. Furthermore, anyone can record an act of racism on their cell phone and file a police report. Racism is a crime with no bail in our country.
By the way, racial diversity enriches us, as we can learn from cultural differences; and African descendants have a great influence on Brazilian culture with their vocabularies of African origin, delicious foods, awesome music, gorgeous fashion style and a religion in which they believe the gods are represented by nature like the sea, the river, the forest and so forth.
What a wonderful culture!