海角大神

The official jingle for Marina Silva's presidential campaign discreetly refers to the candidate's skin color:聽鈥淪he鈥檚 going to come with her tan skin and popular appeal.... She鈥檚 going to be so different, and for that reason, so similar to all of us.鈥�

The brief line 鈥� among diverse references to how she appeals to all Brazilians of all creeds聽鈥� is symbolic. After her years in the public eye as a politician and activist, Brazilians know well the personal story of Ms. Silva: She hails from an impoverished family of 11 children in a remote corner of the Amazon, worked as a housemaid, and was illiterate until the age of 16. She鈥檚 a devout Pentecostal 海角大神 and an outspoken environmentalist.

But in one of the most diverse nations in the world, few are talking about the fact that, if victorious, Ms. Silva would be Brazil鈥檚 first president who identifies as black. It鈥檚 put a spotlight on how race is 鈥� and isn鈥檛 鈥� discussed here, and what that means for a nation that often describes itself as a 鈥渞acial democracy鈥� but still suffers from deep inequality and discrimination that fall along racial lines.

鈥淚f you look closely, people don鈥檛 speak about racial issues. It鈥檚 so complicated,鈥� says Rodrigo Ledo, a press manager for the Brazilian Socialist Party, for which Silva became the presidential candidate after her running mate died in an August plane crash. 鈥淲e have the aura of living in harmony, despite there being so much prejudice. It鈥檚 part of our education as Brazilians,鈥� Mr. Ledo says.聽

'Racial democracy'?

Brazil is the second-largest country of afro-descendants in the world, behind Nigeria. Some estimates say Brazil accounted for 30 to 40 percent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade during its colonial period, a higher percentage than the United States. And according to the 2010 census, Brazil is now a 鈥渕ajority minority鈥� nation, where more than half the population does not identify as white.

But the economic disparity of white and black Brazilians is still readily apparent here, where race and class are deeply intertwined. It鈥檚 routine for employers to speak about their workers needing to have 鈥済ood appearance,鈥� an oblique reference to not looking "low-class," or black. While Brazilians of all colors are increasingly going to college, the percentage of whites who go on to higher education in Brazil is still nearly double that of blacks and mixed-race Brazilians.聽In Brazil, already the country with the highest absolute number of annual homicides worldwide, two of every three homicide victims are black.

Unlike the United States, which hailed the election of its first black president as a milestone in the fight for a more equal and just society, many Brazilians don't see the context of Silva's campaign in the same light. For starters, the nations' histories are very different: Brazil never had overtly racist segregationist laws like the US, and many say that the attention paid to race relations in the US isn't relevant here.

It鈥檚 common to hear Brazil referred to as a 鈥渞acial democracy,鈥� a phrase put forth by 20th century anthropologist Gilberto Freyre. His views 鈥� as controversial as they are widely accepted 鈥� painted a picture of a less morally repugnant institution of slavery in Brazil than elsewhere. He praised racial mixing as enriching Brazilian culture. 聽

鈥淗ere there is the myth of racial democracy, that we are all equal, so we don鈥檛 need to speak about racism and we don鈥檛 need to speak about race,鈥� says Tha铆s Santos, a social science student at the University of S茫o Paulo and member of the university鈥檚 black student association.

Ms. Santos says that if Silva emphasized her race in the campaign, she would be asked delicate questions on issues affecting black Brazilians, such as quotas for black students in public universities and the racial tensions sparked by heavy-handed police policies. That鈥檚 why for some, like Santos, Silva鈥檚 campaign feels like a missed opportunity. 鈥淲hy does she speak about social inequality but not want to speak about blackness?鈥� Santos asks.

It鈥檚 not that Silva ignores the topic: Occasionally on the campaign trail, she has referred to her desire to become 鈥渢he first black woman elected president." But emphasizing her race, as Santos points out, could alienate her from more conservative sectors of Brazilian society. Those sectors see Silva as the most viable opponent to the dynastic Workers Party (PT), which could now win its fourth term in office.聽Silva聽is expected to face President Dilma Rousseff in a runoff after聽Sunday鈥檚聽first round of voting.

Understanding diversity

Ana Paula Silva, an anthropologist who has written about race in Brazil, says that Brazilians traditionally identify by appearance, which leads to a variety of terms like 鈥渕oreninho鈥� (a little tan) or 鈥渕esti莽o鈥� (mixed race). This is in contrast to the historic use of a so-called 鈥渙ne-drop鈥� mantra in the United States, which largely defined someone as black if they had a black ancestor. That cultural practice, Ms. Silva says, is changing here as black Brazilian activists adopt an outlook that encourages Brazilians with African descent to identify more broadly as black.

Some say even if Silva is victorious this month, she won鈥檛 actually be the first black president 鈥� only the first to identify herself publicly as black. Nilo Pe莽anha, who served as president for just over a year between 1909 and 1910, is widely believed to have been mixed race. Rodrigues Alves (1902-06) and Washington Luis (1926-30) are also said to have had mixed racial backgrounds, though neither are known to have identified their black heritage.

Perhaps more salient to voters than race, Silva鈥檚 personal story points to another way that Brazilians understand diversity in their country. Silva, the anthropologist, says that Marina Silva鈥檚 origins in the Amazon resonate strongly with Brazilians because that goes against another sort of prejudice: that if you鈥檙e from the vast rural interior of the country, away from its megalopolises, you鈥檙e considered less educated, less developed, and generally believed to be 鈥渂ehind."

Silva's association with this geographic region puts her at odds with the ruling PT. Critics say the PT thinks reducing inequality means making consumers out of the poor 鈥� rather than, say, citizens with rights. The "Brazilian dream" under the PT is often depicted, ironically,聽as a聽favela聽resident who has a flat screen TV. Silva鈥檚 ascent challenges that story, painting a picture of a Brazilian entering modernity while still deeply identifying with the remote and 鈥渂ackward鈥� area she came from.