The Black-White Wage Gap In Brazil

The Economist: Brazil took more African slaves than any other country, and now has nearly three times as many people whose ancestors left Africa in the past few centuries as America does. Yet black faces seldom appear in Brazilian newspapers outside the sports section. Few firms have black bosses. The government has not a single black cabinet member; its predecessor, which called itself progressive, had one—for equality and rights. On average black and mixed-race Brazilians earn 58% as much as whites—a much bigger gap than in America (see chart).

The gap in Brazil, as in America, used to be even wider. Much progress has come from anti-poverty schemes, which, though colour-blind in design, benefit darker-skinned Brazilians more, since they are poorer. More recently, Brazil has started to try explicit racial preferences (known in America as “affirmative action”). But American ideas cannot simply be transplanted to Brazil. Differences in how the two countries were colonised, and how the slave economy operated, led to distinct ideas of what it means to be “black”—and different attitudes to compensatory policies and whom they should target.

Of the 12.5m Africans trafficked across the Atlantic between 1501 and 1866, only 300,000-400,000 disembarked in what is now the United States. They were quickly outnumbered by European settlers. Most whites arrived in families, so interracial relationships were rare. Though white masters fathered many slave children, miscegenation was frowned upon, and later criminalised in most American states.

As black Americans entered the labour market after emancipation, they threatened white incomes, says Avidit Acharya of Stanford University. “One drop” of black blood came to be seen as polluting; laws were passed defining mixed-race children as black and cutting them out of inheritance (though the palest sometimes “passed” as white). Racial resentment, as measured by negative feelings towards blacks, is still greater in areas where slavery was more common. After abolition, violence and racist legislation, such as segregation laws and literacy tests for voters, kept black Americans down.

But these also fostered solidarity among blacks, and mobilisation during the civil-rights era. The black middle class is now quite large. Ms Loras would not seem anomalous in any American city, as she did in São Paulo.

Colour card

In Brazil, unlike America, race has never been black and white. The Portuguese population—700,000 settlers had arrived at the start of the 19th century—was dwarfed by the number of slaves: a total of 4.9m arrived. Portuguese men were encouraged to consort with African women. Since most came without wives, such unions gained some legitimacy. Their offspring, referred to as mulatto, enjoyed a social status above that of pretos. They worked as overseers or artisans, but also doctors, accountants and lawyers. A mulatto, Machado de Assis, was regarded as Brazil’s greatest writer even during his lifetime in the 19th century.

Mixing led to a hotch-potch of racial categories. In 1976 the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) recorded 134 terms used by Brazilians to describe themselves, mostly by skin colour. Some were extremely specific, such as branca suja (literally “dirty white”) or morena castanha (nut-brown). The national census offers just a few broad categories—as in America, which offers five, though these days America’s also allows you to tick as many as you like and add a self-description. Tiger Woods, a golfer, calls himself “cablinasian” (a portmanteau of caucasian, black, American Indian and Asian).

Both black and white Brazilians have long considered “whiteness” something that can be striven towards. In 1912 João Baptista de Lacerda, a medic and advocate of “whitening” Brazil by encouraging European immigration, predicted that by 2012 the country would be 80% white, 3% mixed and 17% Amerindian; there would be no blacks. As Luciana Alves, who has researched race at the University of São Paulo, explains, an individual could “whiten his soul” by working hard or getting rich. Tomás Santa Rosa, a successful mid-20th-century painter, consoled a dark-skinned peer griping about discrimination, saying that he too “used to be black”.

Though only a few black and mixed-race Brazilians ever succeeded in “becoming white”, their existence, and the non-binary conception of race, allowed politicians to hold up Brazil as an exemplar of post-colonial harmony. It also made it harder to rally black Brazilians round a hyphenated identity of the sort that unites African-Americans. Brazil’s Unified Black Movement, founded in 1978 and inspired by militant American outfits such as the Black Panthers, failed to gain traction. Racism was left not only unchallenged but largely unarticulated.

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The Race for President is (Probably) Over

Scott Adams writes: If you are following breaking news, Hillary Clinton abruptly left the 9-11 memorial today because she was reportedly “overheated.” Her campaign says she is fine now.

You probably wonder if the “overheated” explanation is true – and a non-issue as reported – or an indication of a larger medical condition. I’m blogging to tell you it doesn’t matter. The result is the same.

Here’s why.

If humans were rational creatures, the time and place of Clinton’s “overheating” wouldn’t matter at all. But when it comes to American psychology, there is no more powerful symbol of terrorism and fear than 9-11 . When a would-be Commander-in-Chief withers – literally – in front of our most emotional reminder of an attack on the homeland, we feel unsafe. And safety is our first priority.

Hillary Clinton just became unelectable.

The mainstream media might not interpret today’s events as a big deal. After all, it was only a little episode of overheating. And they will continue covering the play-by-play action until election day. But unless Trump actually does shoot someone on 5th Avenue, he’s running unopposed.

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WP: Hillary Clinton’s health just became a real issue in the presidential campaign

Chris Cillizza writes this morning: Hillary Clinton falling ill at a memorial service on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks Sunday morning will catapult questions about her health from the ranks of conservative conspiracy theory to perhaps the central debate in the presidential race over the coming days.

“Secretary Clinton attended the September 11th Commemoration Ceremony for just an hour and thirty minutes this morning to pay her respects and greet some of the families of the fallen,” spokesman Nick Merrill said. “During the ceremony, she felt overheated, so departed to go to her daughter’s apartment and is feeling much better.”

What that statement leaves out is that a) it came 90 minutes after Clinton left the ceremony b) reporters — or even a reporter — were not allowed to follow her and c) the temperature in New York City at the time of Clinton’s overheating was in the low 80s. (A heat wave over the eastern United States broke last night/this morning.)

Whether Clinton likes it or not, her “overheating” comes at a very bad time for her campaign. Thanks to the likes of Rudy Giuliani and a small but vocal element of the Republican base, talk of Clinton’s health had been bubbling over the past week — triggered by a coughing episode she experienced during a Labor Day rally.

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Hillary Clinton Leaves Daughter’s Apartment After Medical Episode

Hillary forced to leave 9/11 ceremony early:

From the National Enquirer—

Hillary Clinton has tried to cover up her health problems — but even her lapdog reporters in the national media have been forced to confront the medical issues that have clearly plagued her public appearances. Now the new issue of The National ENQUIRER — on newsstands now — reveals the full scope of the candidate’s multiple maladies in a bombshell exclusive report!

enquirer-hillary-health

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What Happened To Hillary?

Comments at Vox Day:

* It’s tempting to say that this episode happened too soon to keep Hillary in the race to November but this whole election cycle has had a kind of divine quality to it. Like it was all planned out somehow.

Don’t give up Hillary, you can make it!

* Hmm…must not have happened. My MSM newsfeed only has some stories about some brave female F-16 pilot who was willing to give up her life on 9/11….and some black dude who was murdered by whites in the UK 23 years ago.

* Watching the Daily Mail version, they have a blown-up, slowed-down view of her. It’s clear that even when the film starts, she can’t stand up, and when they’re getting her to the van, her legs from the knees down are dragging straight out behind her on the pavement.

* MSNBC (the only MSM besides Fox that I could find with the story) had this comment about the video:

“A video posted to Twitter showed Clinton getting into a vehicle looking unsteady and requiring support from an aide.”

“Unsteady” – LMFAO. She had to be dragged into the van as if she were barely conscious.

* First thing that struck me was the number of female SS agents. Or, to be more specific, the percentage of people standing around in blazers looking like traditional Secret Service security who were apparently female was much higher than I’ve ever noted before. Second was the number of people who gathered around the van door… wait, VAN? Looked like the SS version of an ambulance, not the normal armored SUV… (back to the crowd of folks at the door) swarming around to help / assist / block the view. A regular jam-pack of suits.

* “From NBC Pool Report: “We are told by the campaign that we are no longer allowed to shoot anything from the ceremony.””

Let’s wrap our heads around that. A major network news organization is told to stop shooting, not just Hillary stroking out and attempting a face plant, but the 15 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and they immediately comply. This kind of shit is what’s been so amazing about the Trump campaign. He’s single handedly ripped off the mask, they’re not even pretending to pretend anymore.

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