海角大神

Brazilian law takes racism seriously. Why does extreme racial inequality persist?

Jo茫o Gilberto Lima was in his fifth year studying at a prestigious private university in S茫o Paulo when he was shown a screenshot of a WhatsApp message calling him a 鈥渟lave.鈥� There was an accompanying photo of him, taken without his knowledge.

Mr. Lima, who is Black, reported the incident to the police. The classmate who sent the message is white, and was later convicted of racism and racial insult 鈥� two distinct offenses under Brazilian law 鈥� and given a two-year prison sentence, which was replaced with community service and financial reparations.

Brazil鈥檚 constitution recognizes racism as a crime without bail or statute of limitations, making it one of the toughest racism laws in the world. And Brazil gained global attention earlier this year when these laws were used to indict an Argentine tourist who made monkey gestures and used racial slurs toward waiters in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil鈥檚 tough anti-racism laws reflect the scars it bears as a majority-Black country built on slavery. Yet the strong laws also belie persistent and deep-rooted racism, visible in the under-representation of Black Brazilians in positions of power, and their overrepresentation in poverty and violence statistics.

鈥淒espite us having an advanced legal system, we coexist with social and institutional practices that continue to reproduce racial inequality,鈥� says Frederico Borges, a lawyer who works with the civil rights organization Black Coalition for Rights and serves as legal coordinator for the legal aid group the Institute for the Defense of Black People (IDPN).

The myth of a 鈥渞acial democracy鈥�

Brazil received the highest number of trafficked Africans between the 16th and 19th centuries 鈥� , compared to half a million in the United States. And it was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, 138 years ago today, May 13, 1888.

This isn鈥檛 a date marked by celebration for Afro-Brazilians, who have challenged the romanticization of Princess Isabel, the imperial regent who signed the decree ending slavery, as an abolitionist hero. Many here continue to fight to recover their long-silenced version of Brazil鈥檚 complex history.

Once Brazil put chattel slavery behind it, it chose to ignore that part of its past. No postabolition policies were created to integrate newly freed Black citizens. African cultural practices such as samba and capoeira, a Brazilian martial art mixed with dance, were criminalized, and the state encouraged European immigration in an attempt to whiten the population.

From the 1930s, Brazil embraced the idea that it had become a 鈥渞acial democracy鈥� 鈥� in other words, it had 鈥渙vercome racism鈥� through miscegenation, says 脡rika Fraz茫o, a history and ethno-racial relations professor at the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) in Rio state.

鈥淭his idea of racial democracy is a fallacy, it doesn鈥檛 exist. Black people continue to face racism,鈥� says Dr. Fraz茫o, who also leads the UFF鈥檚 equity and diversity office.

Still today, Black Brazilians than white Brazilians, and Black men face a . Afro-Brazilians make up 55% of the population but represent just and in Congress. In Mr. Lima鈥檚 private college, 鈥渢here were more Black exchange students than Black Brazilian students,鈥� he recalls.

The way Brazil sees itself as a post-racist nation has made the fight against the challenge of racism harder for the country鈥檚 Black rights movement, says Dr. Fraz茫o. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have this specific struggle, like against the end of segregation in the U.S.,鈥� she says.

Changing the legal system

The recognition of the crime of racism in the 1988 constitution was a major victory for the civil rights movement. Freshly out of a 20-year military dictatorship, the Brazilian state was seeking to present itself as a defender of human rights, Mr. Borges says.

Since then, a number of laws have sought to redress racial inequality. These include a 2003 law making Afro-Brazilian history and culture a compulsory part of school curriculums, and the introduction of racial quotas for university admissions in 2012 and for the federal civil service in 2014. In a landmark case last December, the Supreme Court recognized the existence of structural racism in Brazil.

鈥淏razilian legislation seeks to respond to the past and the present, in the hopes that we will have a different future,鈥� says Mr. Borges.

鈥淲hat might seem an exaggeration to some, in Brazil is understood as a form of violence that affects not just the victim, but my entire community,鈥� he says, referring to the case of Agostina P谩ez, the Argentine tourist who used racial slurs when on holiday in Rio earlier this year.

In Brazil, her arrest was considered a normal and just response, but the punishment was widely seen as excessive in Argentina, where people were advised to brush up on their understanding of Brazilian law before traveling there. In its 2026 travel advice for Brazil, the Argentine government warned its citizens that 鈥渪enophobic and racist gestures are considered a racial insult鈥� and can lead to arrest.

Ms. P谩ez had her passport seized and was ordered to wear an ankle monitor after being charged with racial insult, before eventually being allowed to return home after paying a bail fee. A judge is expected to decide on a sentence in the coming weeks.

A 2023 reform brought the crime of racial insult, understood as an offense against an individual, in line with that of racism. This is recognition of the historical weight behind an individual racial slur, Mr. Borges says, while it has also meant cases no longer get tossed out for being outside the statute of limitations. Last year, the national justice council recorded 9,279 new court cases for racism, compared with 2,904 in 2020.

For years, very few cases of racism made it to court, either because they were dropped on a technicality, or because victims did not feel comfortable reporting them.

Mr. Lima, who now works as a parliamentary assistant in the capital, Bras铆lia, remembers how the Black police officer who took his complaint in 2018 tried to dissuade him from reporting the incident, warning he risked being stigmatized by his classmates. 鈥淚 had an inner certainty, I knew I had to go through with it,鈥� he says. The case got a lot of media attention, but still took six years for a final sentence to be handed down.

Not all Brazilians see the laws as positive steps. Earlier this year in the state of Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil, local legislation banned racial quotas in state universities. Afro-Brazilian organizations protested the law, and in April, the Supreme Court suspended it for being unconstitutional.

鈥淲e have acquired rights guaranteed in law, but not in practice,鈥� says Dr. Fraz茫o. The fight now needs to focus on their application in day-to-day life, she says.