In America, a person of mixed race decent, particularly Black and White, faces a confluence of socially constructed racial boundaries. One might assume that these racial lines are drawn around the world. This assumption is as mythical as the illusion of race itself. There are similar histories in regions where the slave trade existed, however, after the trade was abolished, each country assimilated it’s own unique racial system.
For example, Stanley R. Bailey recognizes that the United States and Brazil were the largest slave trading societies of the New World. Here, however, is where the similarities end. Author of Legacies of Race: Identities, Attitudes and Politics in Brazil, Bailey reveals that Brazilians are more fluid in their racial attitudes. To the casual observer, this liberty may appear as a bright example for the world. Yet, how does this flexibility translate in terms of racial equality?
Bailey states that in Brazil, the notion of racial group identification is avoided. Further, “in stark contrast to U.S. experience, attitudes about racial inequality, African-derived culture, and antiracism strategies are not deeply divided along racial lines.” In this way, it could be argued that Brazilians are more advanced than the U.S. when it comes to fully embracing all parts of their racial heritage, something that, until very recently, has been both a divisive policy issue and a confusing personal dilemma in the States.
Brazil is a good stage from which to view the US racial classification system, if only to witness the vast expanse of possibilities along the Black-White continuum. After talking with “moreno” Brazilians, Brian Yoshio Laing found that “racial ambiguity is not questioned as is it is in the States.” Despite the relief of such inquiries, Brazil cannot be held up as the pinnacle of racial equality, or as a true “racial democracy,” a term that has been misapplied to Brazil.
Though the expanded racial spectrum has led to more relaxed boundaries confining racial groups in Brazil, greater privileges and freedoms are as disproportionately assigned to those on the lighter side in Brazil as they are in America. Whether conscious or unconscious, recognized or not, disparities exist between the shades in both countries. Brazil may be more amenable to less rigid stratifications, but the underlying issue of true equality goes beyond the question of what mixed people of any mixture call themselves.
It was a commendable achievement to successfully change the American racial classification system. Yet academics say the rationale justifying the need for change may be setting the country up for a flawed sense of progress. The primary argument behind creating a multi-racial category was to give all Americans the opportunity to self-identify and include all parts of their heritage. A secondary hope was that in creating a new category, the notion of race would be challenged to such a degree as to abolish the use of racial categorization altogether. As noted by several racial historians, “it may be a false hope”, however, based on logic alone: how do we abolish racial categories by creating new ones?
Though Brazil has utilized a more democratic system of racial cataloguing than America, according to contemporary research, and contrary to popular myth, both classism and to a lesser degree racism still do exist. If Brazil can teach America anything, it may be this: more racial categories do not necessarily lead to greater racial equality, something that continues to be a major obstacle in this nation.