Carnival display sparks racism debate
BRAZIL: A top samba school’s use of blackface in a Carnival parade has sparked debate about depictions of race in Brazil, which is still grappling with a fraught racial legacy.
The Salgueiro school’s performance yesterday featured two groups in blackface, in a parade that paid tribute to African culture and black women in particular.
Many took to Twitter to express shock that the school relied on a trope that has historically been used to depict black people in demeaning ways.
‘‘Shoot, Salgueiro! Blackface? In this day and age 2018?’' tweeted Renan Wilbert, who is from Rio de Janeiro.
Though Brazil was the world’s largest slave market and also the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, modern Brazil has often perpetuated a myth of a colour-blind, harmonious society. For decades, discussing racism was taboo, but Brazilians are slowly beginning to talk about prejudice and the way the country’s searing inequality is racially tinged.
People of colour, despite making up more than half of Brazil’s population, have only recently begun to gain access in significant numbers to areas that traditionally excluded them, like universities, prominent acting roles and senior political positions.
Dark-skinned Brazilians are more likely to be poor or suffer violence than their white counterparts. Salgueiro’s performance referred to that reality, ending by honouring black mothers who have lost their children to violence on Brazil’s streets.
Many Brazilians thought the use of black face paint detracted from the school’s message of celebration and tolerance. Lucia Xavier, the coordinator for Criola, a group that promotes the rights of black women in Brazil, said she thought it was distasteful.
Members of the school told the O Globo newspaper that the subject never came up during rehearsals, despite the fact that many performers were black.
‘‘The plot was Afro. It was a more historic Afro, so we needed these darker features. The makeup was the only way to achieve the right tone,’’ said Helio Bejani, a choreographer for the school.
–AP