海角大神

As scores gathered in downtown Rio for the public wake for Abdias do Nascimento, Brazil鈥檚 鈥済reatest black activist," the crowd was a reminder that alongside Brazil鈥檚 stubborn legacy of racial inequality, there鈥檚 a diversity of actors fighting for change.

Among those gathered to pay their respects to Mr. do Nascimento, I spotted Brazilian families of all shades 鈥� a monk, men in prayer caps, representatives from quilomobos (historic runaway slave colonies), and women dressed in the breezy white dresses and turbans characteristic of afro-Brazilians in the country鈥檚 arid northeast. The crowd pressed in most excitedly for the two political guests, Rio de Janeiro Gov. S茅rgio Cabral and iconic ex-President Luiz In谩cio 鈥楲ula鈥� da Silva, neither of whom are black. Do Nascimento鈥檚 widow, who led the procession and shouted 鈥淎x茅!鈥� 鈥� an exclamation in the afro-Brazilian religion Candombl茅 鈥� is a white American.

The artist, professor, and former senator do Nascimento passed away Tuesday after leading black rights movements for three-quarters of a century. He was 鈥淏razil鈥檚 greatest black activist and intellectual,鈥� in the words of the recent PBS production 鈥淏lack in Latin America鈥� by Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates. (Watch the interview of do Nascimento , beginning at 44 minutes.)

When Mr. Gates asked during the interview about the popular idea that Brazil is a 鈥渞acial democracy鈥� that does not experience discrimination based on color lines, do Nascimento dismissed the concept. 鈥淭his is a joke that has been built up since Brazil was discovered. And Brazil likes to spread this around the world,鈥� the activist said. 鈥淵ou just have to look at a black family. Where do they live? The black children, where are they educated?鈥� do Nascimento added.

There are many reasons to agree with him. Look at Brazil鈥檚 day-to-day realities, at the gradual change in skin color when walking from posh Ipanema up to its hillside favela (shantytown) Cantagalo; at the near-homogeneity in of current President Dilma Rousseff鈥檚 cabinet during her January inauguration; at the absence of dark skinned actors in popular Brazilian novelas (evening soap operas). One study estimated that no novela in the half century of the genre had more than 10 percent of its cast black.

Far more slaves went to Brazil than US

Brazilians hardly agree on how and to what degree racism plays out in their country, home to the largest black population outside Nigeria. But they鈥檙e nearly unanimous on one point 鈥� that race relations can鈥檛 be read through the same lens as the US.

Brazil and the US often compare their populations, as both were formed by indigenous peoples that mixed with European colonizers and imported African slaves. But a key difference is that Brazil exploited far more slaves than even the US, accounting for more than 40 percent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade during the 17th century. While Brazil is famous for its apparent comfort with interracial couples and esteem for a 鈥渕oreninho鈥� beach tan, skeptical historians theorize that Brazil encouraged intermarriage in the colonial era to 鈥渨hiten鈥� a largely black population.

Gates claims in 鈥淏lack in Latin America鈥� that Brazil never saw a large-scale civil rights movement like the US, which he says could be a result of the 鈥渞acial democracy鈥� ideology, even if that ideology doesn't square with the facts on the ground.

Whites now a minority in Brazil

But Brazil is changing. A famous recent survey by Brazil鈥檚 Funda莽茫o Get煤lio Vargas reported that about half of blacks and mesti莽os ("mixed" in Portuguese) now belong to the middle class. Brazil鈥檚 2010 census showed that for the first time . Activists and analysts attributed the change to a growing comfort in not calling oneself white.

I agree with Gates that the idea of a Brazilian 鈥渞acial democracy鈥� is willfully blind. But I was encouraged by something similar yet more subtle seen at the Thursday鈥檚 wake: that is, the diversity of sectors of Brazilian society that come together to take hold of its rich and uniquely deep African heritage.

It reminded me of with a musician from one of Rio鈥檚 famous samba schools (which produce Carnaval鈥檚 thousands-strong elaborate dance shows and are usually affiliated with a favela) about his school's selection to travel to Senegal to represent Brazil in the World Festival of Black Arts and Cultures. The largest gathering of its kind, the festival had selected Brazil as the country of focus last year.

鈥淔or us sambistas, it's very much, deeply, a return,'' Ricardo Duraes told me glowingly on the eve of his first trip to Africa. It made me smile, since he was as fair-skinned as any Brazilian I鈥檝e seen.