Racism and xenophobia in Brazil

I know it's a very sentitive topic, but I believe this issue should be more exposed, especially as Brazil has been receiving more and more migrants recently.

Hi João,

There is a lot of racism here in Brazil, but I can state with extreme certainty that it is almost exclusively directed towards other Brazilians. This observation comes from my personal experience of more than ten years living in various parts of Brazil.

Sadly, there is still a lot of prejudice against afro-brazilians. This is something I have never been able to understand since fully 75 percent of the Brazilian population can trace their blood line back to a negro ancestor and also that it is not only whites discriminating against blacks, but blacks against blacks as well.

Xenophobia, while it does exist in  a small way, is largely directed toward immigrants from other Latin American countries. I can say from experience that immigrants from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia/New Zealand are welcomed with open arms and treated like visiting royalty in most cases.

One thing that I would point out is that the average Brazilian is hypersensative to any kind of criticism of the country, government, etc. They tend to hold the attitude that we foreigners are mere visitors here and have no right to form or express any negative opinion about the country. If we have a positive and glowing opinion that somehow is perfectly acceptable.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog

I see most discrimination in Brazil being leveled against the poor and against women in the workplace.  These forms are held not just in Brazil, but in much of the world.

Thanks for your message, William.

I agree with you that most of the foreigners in Brazil are not discriminated at all. However, some stories recently published in the Brazilian media show that some foreigners are facing  prejudice, and not only foreigners from other Latin American countries.

There's a story about a Nigerian student who was heaveily harassed in a university in Maranhao last month. And a group of African students in Araraquara (SP) was recently targeted by a very offensive message on the university's wall. Not to mention the recent attack against 5 Angolans in Sao Paulo, in which an Angolan girl was killed. In all these cases (the last is still under investigation), it seems they were targeted not only because of their color, but also because of their origins.

I think such cases are rare, but there may be other types of discrimination against foreigners (mainly Africans or from neighbouring countries) in Brazil, sometimes more subtle, but also very harmful.

Cheers,

Joao

A boy came from South Asia, here to Sao Paulo as a student. He was directed to Rio Preto Campus of university. Having no knowledge of portuguese, he used a google map to arrive Rio Preto. After his arrival, he tried to learn Portuguese. it was said that Brazilian are very friendly, open and receptives. He spent here almost 4 months, tried to conversate with Brazilian students to learn portuguese. No male/female student is ready to conversate with him. Two or three (normal) black students sometimes exchange some words with him. He tried to participate in their welcome party but they made negative comments about him as told by an other foreigner student.
As a Muslim/Islamic, he does not drink wine, cerveja etc. Once he went to bar to see how people treat him. He was sitting alone among other students and no one paid attention. He discussed his case with some bulivian students. They reiterated the same phenomenon.
One brazilian student of German-lineage told him that here, in Rio Preto, only foreigner female students are accepted. He explained, he belongs to North Brazil and people treat him as foreigner. Next time, he met a married woman in a seminar. She was belonging to Menas Gerais. She used the same words that Rio Preto is not for foreigner.
One of other foreigner explained that brazilian are considered open and friendly because many European tourists come here for sexual tour. They stay in big hotel and meet prostitutes. The hotel-owners and prostitutes are friendly!!!!! Is it true????

From my experience here thus far, I have to say that most of the Brazilians I've met have been more then nice.  This is more so after I told them I'm on a long term assignment here in Rio.

Don't get me wrong, there are always bad apples in any barrels.  In fact the first time I encountered racism was in London by a couple of teenage boys (lol).

As a bit of background, I'm a Singaporean chinese.  So as you can imagine, there's almost no way to disguise the fact that I'm not a local.  Also my statement above stands dispute having been robbed once over here.

Please explain `racism`. For what purpose do you meet Brazilian people? Meeting with Brazilioan shop-keeper for business/purchasing purpose is different issue. When you become a consumer, the conversant change his/her behavior. Just like European tourists and prostitutes/hotel managers.
Racism also depends on locality and you are in another city. may be!!!!

Well I've met normal folks in bars, on the street, etc.  Not only in shops or places of business transaction.

In fact there was once about two months ago, when I was out with some of my friends from Japan and we got really pissed drunk.  I got to know these local guys at the bar while having a smoke.  We had a great talk over drinks (which they bought for us!), and after that one of them commented that it's quite dangerous for my friends to walk back home by themselves (as they were really drunk).  So they walk us back to their apartment (which is nearby), after that as I was staying further off and planned to grab a cab.  But they insisted to walk me back as well!!! I was staying about 2~3km away.

We became great friends till today.  The only complain I have with them, is that they really kicked my ass in our sparring sessions!

Hello sakraan,

I find it strange that a boy from southern Asia would experience much in the way of racism or xenophobia in Brazil since the country has a very large population of Asians (Chinese, Japanese and Koreans) who are accepted just fine in every walk of society here. If your friend did have any problems I would suggest that it was more out of a lack of ability to speak Portuguese than anything else.

Brazilians are extremely and quite openly prejudiced against immigrants from other Latin-American countries and against Brazilians from the north and northeast. I've heard from several negro expats that Brazilians can be prejudiced against Afro-Brazilians (other negro Brazilians) but generally are quite accepting of those from African nations. Anyone from North America, the UK and British Commonwealth Countries, and Europe is welcomed here with open arms and it's not just because of prostitution or because they are good customers. It is because they are seen to be well educated and cultured.

I really think you have the wrong impression about the way immigrants are accepted and treated in this country. I certainly haven't seen it myself in the way you describe and I've been living here for almost 13 years now, in several different cities in 5 states.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

Lack of language/portuguese ability is a great problem. But the their xenophobia is confirmed by many other students.