By JORGE PRADO TEIXEIRA*
The prejudice It is not manifested by a frank, sincere, clear attitude, but by inhibiting attitudes, or rather, by means of a skillful psychological game that leads the black man to feel embarrassed and “return to his place”
The law against racial and color prejudice has been approved and will come into effect within fifteen days. This fact reveals the recognition, on the part of the established powers, of the existence of this prejudice among us, despite many claiming that in Brazil there is only “economic prejudice.” [I]
In fact, color prejudice, much more than race prejudice, is felt mainly in São Paulo. However, it does not manifest itself through a frank, sincere, clear attitude, but through inhibiting attitudes, or rather, through a clever psychological game that makes the black man feel embarrassed and “go back to his place.” [ii]
Prejudice exists, regardless of the level of culture of individuals, and it is not manifested openly, but rather in disguise. The sanction of the law against prejudice led the JORNAL DE NOTÍCIAS reporter to interview Professor Jorge Prado Teixeira, member of the Research Commission on Race Relations for UNESCO. [iii]
Regarding the law in question, the interviewee stated:
The law is very timely, because it shows that the government itself recognizes the existence of a situation of inequality in the treatment given to black Brazilians. This law seeks to redeem part of the collective guilt that shames our hearts as Brazilians, lovers of freedom, equality and fraternity.
There is no declared racial hatred, as in the United States, but only a disguised prejudice, partly the result of the mania for imitation and the “snobbery” prevalent in the upper social classes, and partly motivated by the precarious economic situation of blacks who, with their morals weakened and a very low intellectual level, represent, within the Brazilian community, its outcast.
Laws do not change customs or vices. What is necessary is the introduction of laws that provide economic and cultural levels for these less favored classes, so that they can integrate perfectly into Brazilian society, forming a single and cohesive whole. [iv] What is needed is to guide black people and provide them with the means to become useful elements for themselves and for the community.
The law will benefit the minority
Each time we delve deeper into the study of the evidence of color prejudice in São Paulo, we become absolutely certain that this social phenomenon is deeply rooted in our society. It will not be with restrictive laws that we can find a solution to the problem.
This law will only benefit the minority of the black population in Brazil, which in this case is the target, that is, the law aims to benefit the members of the group who are in a privileged situation. The majority, almost absolute, will suffer all the hostile demonstrations directed at them.
Black Rehabilitation Plan
The State and the Union have given all possible support and assistance to the increase in immigration to the detriment of better care that they should provide to a significant portion of the Brazilian population in order to prevent the development of infant mortality and diseases resulting from sexual corruption that are currently killing thousands of unsuspecting Brazilians.
Proof of this is that not long ago the State and Union gave around one hundred Dutch families more than twenty million cruzeiros to establish themselves on a large livestock farm in the municipality of Mogi-Mirim. [v]
Twenty million cruzeiros in the hands of a group of educated and enlightened blacks, and above all, honest, would be enough to carry out a great plan to rebuild the Brazilian black population, covering the failure of abolition, which broke the shackles of physical torture but made these freedmen suffer the moral tortures of the race, because there was no transition period to prepare them properly to enjoy the condition of free men within a society of free men.
* Jorge Prado Teixeira studied social sciences at the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters (FFCL) at USP, was one of the speakers at the 1950st Congress of Black Brazilians (1951), directed the José do Patrocínio Association, was Secretary of the Commission for the Study of Racial Relations of the UNESCO Research, in São Paulo (XNUMX) and General Secretary of the Afro-Brazilian Movement for Education and Culture (MABEC). [vi]
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Notes
[I] Research, editing and notes by Diogo Valença de Azevedo Costa (UFRB) and Paulo Fernandes Silveira (FEUSP and GPDH-IEA). This interview with Jorge Prado Teixeira was published in Newspaper, on July 7, 1951. We would like to thank Renata de Goes Cordeiro Teixeira dos Reis, an employee of the University of São Paulo (USP), for the information about her father Jorge Teixeira.
[ii] This report from Newspaper features two images of American artist and anthropologist Katherine Dunham (REERGUIMENTO, 1951). On July 8, 1950, while on tour in Brazil performing a music and dance show, Dunham was denied a room at the Esplanada Hotel because she was a black woman. A few days later, the artist denounced the case of racism in the press:
“About two months ago, my agents in São Paulo approached the management of the Esplanada Hotel and asked that they reserve rooms for me and my husband, and that they even set a date for my arrival. (…) The reason I sought out the Esplanada was, above all, due to the hotel’s proximity to the Municipal Theater.
Everything was perfectly understood until, last Saturday, my representative was contacted by the hotel's reception manager, who informed him that it was not possible to reserve a room for me, because the internal regulations prohibited black people from staying at the Esplanada. This information from the hotel's reception manager was confirmed by the manager.
This resolution and regulation surprised us, because nowhere in the world where I have been has an identical event occurred. In Rio de Janeiro, I stayed at the Copacabana Hotel, where I was always treated with the utmost deference. We are truly surprised by this fact because we never knew that in Brazil, a generous and good land, there was racial distinction and color prejudice” (REVOLTANTE, 1950, p. 12).
At the end of the tour, Katherine Dunham filed a lawsuit for criminal slander against the Companhia Brasileira de Grandes Hotéis, which managed the Hotel Esplanada (KATHERINE DUNHAM, 1950).
In the July 17th session of the Chamber, deputy Afonso Arinos presented bill nº 562, against racial or color prejudice (BRAZIL, 1950c). The following day, the Correio da Manhã published the project in full (LEGISLATIVE MEASURES, 1950). The bill had the support of deputy and sociologist Gilberto Freyre (TWO RACISMS, 1950).
On July 3, 1951, the Afonso Arinos Law was sanctioned (SANCIONADA, 1951). At that time, the UNESCO Research on Race Relations was being conducted. The case of racism against Katherine Dunham and the effectiveness of the law against prejudice were the subject of debate at round tables with intellectuals and activists of the black movement, promoted by Roger Bastide and Florestan Fernandes, coordinators of the research, in São Paulo. These themes were also analyzed by Bastide and Florestan (1955) in the texts that comprised the research.
Florestan cites this interview with Jorge Teixeira as one of the manifestations of reservations or restrictions regarding the Afonso Arinos law: “It seems that the law did not satisfy the desires for equal treatment that black people aspire to in their relations with white people” (1955, p. 215).
Afonso Arinos was not the first to propose an anti-discrimination law. In 1945, the first edition of the National Convention of Black Brazilians took place in São Paulo. At the convention, a manifesto was drafted with the support of several activists, including Abdias Nascimento (MEMÓRIA, 2021). This manifesto pointed to the need for the National Constituent Assembly, which would be formed the following year, to create an anti-discrimination law.
In the second edition of the Convention, held in May 1946, in Rio de Janeiro, the following were invited: Hamilton Nogueira, who presented himself as the senator of black people (PELOS NEGROS, 1946), and the deputies Gilberto Freyre, Benício Fontenelle and Claudino Silva (AS COMEMORAÇÔES, 1946).
Several intellectuals who collaborated with the UNESCO Research were part of the National Convention of the Brazilian Negro. In one of the round tables, journalist Geraldo Campos de Oliveira made some considerations about the Afonso Arinos law: “I just want to say that it is the logical result of a struggle developed by some black entities, which is not present, but has been going on for many years” (QUARTA MESA, 1951, p. 389).
In March 1946, Senator Hamilton Nogueira argued, in the Constituent Assembly, that it should be established by law: “the equality of all races and that the violation of this law should be considered a crime against humanity” (BRASIL, 1946a, p. 414).
Initially, Luís Carlos Prestes, senator and general secretary of the Communist Party of Brazil – PCB, supported the demands brought by the black movement (NASCIMENTO, 1978). In May 1946, Carlos Marighella and Claudino Silva, PCB deputies and the only black representatives in Congress, addressed the issue in a session of the Constituent Assembly. On that occasion, Silva suggested: “Gentlemen Constituents, in the text of the Charter that we are drafting, which deals with the rights of citizens, we could well include men of color” (BRASIL, 1946b, p. 33).
In June 1946, Carlos Marighella, Claudino Silva and other PCB deputies proposed anti-discrimination amendment No. 3600, which was not approved: “Any direct or indirect restriction of the rights contained in this Constitution or, conversely, the establishment of direct or indirect privileges based on race, religion, philosophical or political creed, as well as any propaganda of racial exclusivity or religious struggle will be punished by law” (BRASIL, 1948, p. 215).
In August 1946, another anti-discrimination amendment was presented. To the surprise of the leaders of the black movement, the PCB was the first party to vote against this amendment: “We declare that we voted against amendment no. 1089, by the honorable Deputy Benício Fontenelle, which grants all Brazilians equality before the law, without distinction of race or color. We prefer the wording of the bill that declares: all Brazilians are equal before the law. This wording evidently better serves the objectives in question, while the amendment by the honorable Deputy is restrictive” (BRASIL, 1950a, p. 419).
According to Abdias Nascimento, some time later, Claudino Silva would confess, “in a public session of the Convention, in Rio, that he had merely followed the party's guidance to vote against an aspiration that came from a purely black movement” (1978, p. 33).
On the other hand, the 5th paragraph of article 141, which contains the only mention of racial prejudice in the 1946 Constitution, had the collaboration of Jorge Amado and other PCB deputies: “However, propaganda for war, violent processes to subvert the political and social order, or racial or class prejudices will not be tolerated” (BRASIL, 1950b, p. 239).
[iii] Intellectual and activist of the black movement, Jorge Teixeira He was secretary of the Commission for the Study of Racial Relations of the UNESCO Research, in São Paulo. In the first round table organized by the research, held at the Municipal Library, on May 8, 1951, Jorge Teixeira claims that he was chosen to be secretary of the commission because he was studying sociology (PRIMEIRA MESA REDONDA, 1951).
When presenting the research objectives, Roger Bastide argues: “Talking about this subject with my friend Jorge Teixeira, he had the very happy idea of holding a round table to discuss this color prejudice, or the existence of Asian racial miscegenation, among us. That was why I asked for the presence of some black intellectuals and colored leaders, as well as some white students who are interested in the racial problem” (PRIMEIRA MESA, 1951, p. 1).
In addition to chairing and coordinating some of the round tables, Jorge Teixeira was responsible for contacting the black leaders who collaborated with the research. He also prepared the report: Marriage of qualified blacks in the upper class of the black community (CAMPOS, 2014).
Like Jorge Teixeira, other black leaders who collaborated with the UNESCO Research participated in the 2015st Brazilian Black Congress a year earlier. At the round tables, some claimed to be friends of Roger Bastide. Another important link between USP professors and militant intellectuals of the black movement was Professor Antonio Candido de Mello e Souza, who was part of a socialist group that included Luiz Lobato, Geraldo Campos Teixeira and Sofia de Campos Teixeira, black leaders who collaborated with the UNESCO Research (SOTERO, XNUMX).
Em The integration of black people into class society, Florestan Fernandes revisits the transcripts of the UNESCO Research round tables. In the introduction, the sociologist states: “We would like to pay tribute to Jorge Prado Teixeira, an invaluable collaborator and tireless fighter for the cause of black people, who was unfortunately stolen from the circle of the living” (2008, p. 26-27).
In a footnote, Florestan refers to Jorge Teixeira as a: “promising young intellectual from the 'black milieu', who died prematurely and who provided constructive collaboration to our research” (2008, p. 109, n. 114).
[iv] In this passage, Jorge Teixeira highlights a central issue in the debate about the content and scope of the Afonso Arinos law. As Florestan points out, it was “a bill presented by a conservative congressman, Mr. Afonso Arinos de Mello Franco, representative of the National Democratic Union for Minas Gerais” (1955, p. 211). Although it could have been a relevant instrument against some forms of color prejudice or racism, the Afonso Arinos law ignored all the economic and cultural injustices to which the black population was subjected.
This issue was also formulated in the opinion of deputy Plínio Barreto for Afonso Arinos' bill: “As long as whites maintain the economic supremacy that came to them from former slave owners, and blacks continue, due to the scarcity of resources, to constitute the poorest classes, prejudices will persist. There will be no laws that can destroy them. But that does not prevent them from eliminating some of the public manifestations of this prejudice” (O ORGULHO, 1950, p. 1; PRECONCEITOS, 1950, p. 3).
Those years were marked by the Cold War. In October 1949, Chinese communists took over Beijing. Between 1950 and 1953, Brazilian newspapers covered daily the conflicts between North and South Korea, which had direct interference from China and the United States. On July 3, 1951, the day the Afonso Arinos law was sanctioned, the headline of the São Paulo newspaper The Tribune was: “The Communists accepted the UN proposal to negotiate peace” (1951, p. 1).
Considering that communist Russia sought to abolish racial prejudice, soon after Congressman Afonso Arinos presented the bill in the Chamber, Gilberto Freyre gave an interview expressing his concern about the repercussions of the racism faced by Katherine Dunham. According to Freyre, there was a danger that the case would be used by Russian agents “to excite class or group hatred against groups” (DOIS RACISMOS, 1950, p. 3).
In an article published in the heat of the debate on racial prejudice in Brazil, Freyre argues that the grotesque racism of whites should not motivate the development of an inverse racism: “That is, a racism of people of color, against whites, and that makes the black or brown skin a kind of insignia of a brotherhood, as if religious or even political. A melanist racism that intends to run in elections with exclusively black and brown candidates” (1950, p. 1).
Deputy Hermes Lima tried to include in Afonso Arinos' bill the “prohibition of the formation of 'black fronts' or any type of association with political purposes based on color” (BRASIL, 1950d, p. 5844).
On August 26, 1950, one month after presenting the bill, Afonso Arinos participated in the opening panel of the 1950st Brazilian Negro Congress, organized by the Teatro Experimental do Negro – TEN, which was sponsored by the Chamber of Deputies (INSTALADO, XNUMX). The opening panel of the Congress approved a motion highlighting the danger of exploiting prejudices for political purposes.
Apparently, some white and conservative politicians feared that black people would stop voting for those who claimed to represent them, and start voting for black candidates who were actually concerned with the economic and cultural reality of the black Brazilian population.
[v] This is a reference to the Brazilian government's subsidies to Dutch families who immigrated to the interior of São Paulo in the 1940s and 1950s, helping to create the city of Holambra (PERRIN, 1958). In the conference “The Negro – Prejudice – Means of its Extinction”, presented at the 1950st Brazilian Negro Congress in 1982, Jorge Teixeira and Rubens Gordo (XNUMX) develop this same argument.
In 1951, Murilo Marroquim, political columnist for the Rio de Janeiro newspaper The newspaper, covered Vice President Café Filho's trip to Europe. In an article written in The Hague, Marroquim defends Dutch immigration as a political strategy to build a: “racial and social dike against the conquests of communism” (1951, p. 1).
[vi] Despite having died at only 35 years old, Jorge Teixeira's short life (1925-1960) was full of actions in the fight for the rights of the black community. In the book Who's who in Brazilian blackness, the poet Eduardo de Oliveira (1998) highlights some important achievements of his fellow activist.
Among the documents that guided the UNESCO Research in São Paulo are short autobiographies of intellectuals and activists of the black movement. The autobiography written by Jorge Teixeira (1951) is the longest and most detailed. Several other records of Teixeira's political and academic activities were reported in newspapers of the time.
In his autobiographical account, Jorge Teixeira (1951) analyzes a series of racist acts of violence that he suffered since childhood, in Ribeirão Preto, the city where he was born and completed his primary education, before moving to the city of São Paulo. Raised by a white family with a good economic and cultural background, Teixeira completed seven years of secondary education. After finishing high school, convinced by a white friend, Teixeira enrolled in a preparatory course for a diplomatic career:
“I already had some knowledge of English and I excelled in that language, as well as in French. At the end of two years of study, I knew the entire syllabus required for the exams to be taken at the Rio Branco Institute. I also had a good understanding of what they asked me about International Law, etc. However, during this preparation, I became aware that blacks could not pursue a diplomatic career, and so I decided not to attempt a formal refusal in Rio de Janeiro” (1951, p. 15).
In São Paulo, even though he came in second place in a public exam, Jorge Teixeira faced difficulties in taking up the position, since the department's management did not want to hire a young black man: “I believe that color greatly limits job opportunities for black people. I know of several cases in which this limitation was evident. As for me, I have to say that I suffered prejudice when I entered the public service” (1951, p. 2).
Despite the enormous differences between the study and work opportunities of white people and black people, Florestan Fernandes' biography has some similarities with Jorge Teixeira's biography. The son of a maid, Florestan (1977) lived in a family with a good economic and cultural background as a child, which allowed him to dream. However, due to his financial situation, his study and work opportunities were restricted.
At the age of fifteen, Jorge Teixeira began to be active in black associations in Ribeirão Preto (TEIXEIRA, 1951). In early 1950, black activist Oswaldo Conceição took copies of the newspaper Quilombo for activists from black associations in Ribeirão Preto, and invited them to participate in the 1950st Brazilian Black Congress, which would be held that year in Rio de Janeiro (REPERCUTE, XNUMX).
The representatives from the interior of São Paulo at the 1st Black Congress were the young Jorge Teixeira and Rubens Gordo. In the delegation of intellectuals and activists from São Paulo who took part in the congress were Roger Bastide and Florestan Fernandes.
When he participated in the UNESCO Research, Jorge Teixeira was the director of the José do Patrocínio Association. According to Eduardo de Oliveira, this and other Afro-black institutions: “had the ultimate purpose of teaching literacy, instructing and ensuring that black Brazilians in São Paulo qualified as readers and full citizens” (1998, p. 152).
Advertisements from the 1950s report that José do Patrocínio offered free courses in adult literacy, dressmaking, English, Portuguese and mathematics extension, mechanical drawing and preparation for the high school entrance exam, a precursor course to community college preparatory courses (ADMISSÃO, 1954; ASSOCIAÇÃO, 1956).
UNESCO Research promoted weekly seminars with black intellectuals and activists at the headquarters of José do Patrocínio (FERNANDES, 2017).
In October 1941, while Lourival Fontes, director of the Press and Propaganda Department – DIP, was staying at the Esplanada Hotel, directors of José do Patrocínio sought him out to complain about job advertisements that indicated a preference for white people (NOGUEIRA, 1942). The headquarters of José do Patrocínio were located at Rua Formosa, no. 433, a few meters from the Esplanada Hotel. This meeting was reported by Night Diary. The directors of José do Patrocínio also sent letters to President Getúlio Vargas (ANDREWS, 1998).
On May 1, 1943, Vargas announced the Consolidation of Labor Laws – CLT. The demand of José do Patrocínio and the black movement was met, article 373-A determines: “With the exception of the legal provisions intended to correct the distortions that affect women’s access to the labor market and certain specificities in labor agreements, it is prohibited: I- to publish a job advertisement in which there is a reference to sex, age, color or family situation, except when the nature of the activity to be performed, publicly and notoriously, so requires” (Decree-Law No. 5.452, 1943).
Even after coming into force, the CLT did not prevent major newspapers from continuing to publish job advertisements with the same racist provisions (COPEIRA-ARRUMADEIRA, 1947; EMPREGADA DOMÉSTICA, 1951).
Racism in job advertisements was studied almost ten years earlier by Oracy Nogueira (1942), one of the sociologists who participated in the UNESCO Research (CAMPOS, 2014). This topic was debated in round tables with intellectuals from the black movement and, later, analyzed by Bastide and Florestan (1955) in the texts that present the final results of the research.
Jorge Teixeira's main struggle was for the recruitment of blacks. In the paper they presented at the 1982st Brazilian Black Congress, Teixeira and Rubens Gordo stated: “We therefore recommend that this distinguished Congress appoint a permanent committee to study the organization of a nationwide entity, with the purposes set forth in the statutes, to develop activities in the area of recruitment of Brazilian blacks, with plans for complete social assistance, intensive and methodical practice of all sports, moderate and well-guided recreation, a directed economy, within a well-planned financial orientation, increase in credit associations, consumer and production cooperatives, daycare centers, school and professional guidance, literacy, and to collect data regarding the activities of black associations of all types existing throughout the country, for statistical and mutual guidance purposes” (80, p. XNUMX).
In a text that was shared in the black movement (SOTERO, 2016), probably written by Jorge Teixeira, recruitment is defended as a way of politicizing black people to vote for black candidates who defend their rights: “The day when we can elevate in the National Parliament and in the State and Municipal Chambers, blacks who came from the struggle and are aware of their duty to the race, then we will be able to prepare ourselves for greater achievements, with the help of the governmental powers” (TEIXEIRA, 1950, p. 15).
The text suggests a set of educational and political objectives: “a) recruitment of black voters, and white voters who want to follow their postulates; b) intense work towards the formation of voters; c) intensive literacy for the formation of voters; d) educational and professional guidance; e) politicization of the masses; f) social assistance” (TEIXEIRA, 1950, p. 27).
Attached to the text are leaflets from the campaign of Raul Joviano Amaral, lawyer, professor and civil servant, who participated in the UNESCO Research round tables, for state deputy of São Paulo, in 1950. He was not elected, but had a good vote (SOTERO, 2016).
In 1947, Geraldo Campos Teixeira, who also participated in the UNESCO Research round tables, was a candidate for city councilor in São Paulo. In a report in the newspaper The New Horizon, Geraldo Teixeira presented the guidelines of his political platform:
“If black people are subject to the same contingencies to which the majority of the Brazilian people are subjected, if black people fight against the same lack of housing. They fight against the same lack of food, against the lack of meat, milk and all basic necessities. They fight against expensive education. Against deficient and expensive transportation. They fight, it is true, against certain specific factors, such as racial intolerance and color prejudice. But the greatest fight must be for the solution of the general problems of our people” (A LUTA, 1947, p. 1).
The teacher and socialist activist Sofia de Campos Teixeira, who took part in the UNESCO Research round tables and seminars, was a candidate for city councilor of São Paulo in 1947 (SOTERO, 2015). In 1950, Sofia de Campos was a candidate for federal deputy. In defense of her candidacy, the editors of the newspaper New world wrote: “Sofia Campos Teixeira has participated in all emancipation movements not only of black people but of workers in general, being part of several black entities and has never failed to highlight the situation of working women, urging the fight in defense of their most sacred rights” (SOFIA CAMPOS, 1950, p. 5).
In an article published in Senzala Magazine, the dentist and journalist Francisco Lucrécio, who also participated in the UNESCO Research round tables and was a candidate for state deputy in 1947, defends the foundation of a political party led by a group of black people: “this would avoid the exploitation of individuals and small groups that emerge on these occasions, insisting on representing the thoughts and electoral strength of black people within the parties, for their own benefit” (1946, p. 14).
The candidacies of black people were defended by TEN and the newspaper Quilombo. In 1950, Abdias Nascimento ran for federal deputy for Rio de Janeiro. In an argument similar to that of the activists from São Paulo, Nascimento states: “Our candidate needs to know all this misery that befouls and ruins us, so that he can have the audacity to raise with us the banner of tangible equality of opportunities, since our civil rights are assured only by the letter of the Constitution that governs our destinies” (1949, p. 4).
Between 1948 and 1950, the 10 issues of Quilombo, directed by Abdias Nascimento, analyzed several problems related to the black population: the prohibition of black male and female students from entering some private schools; child labor among black children; the precariousness of life in the hills and favelas of Rio de Janeiro; the lack of rights for domestic workers; the lack of opportunities for vocational training.
In mid-1954, Jorge Teixeira helped to create the Afro-Brazilian Movement for Education and Culture – MABEC, which promoted a recruitment with the objective of “making black people an active political force” (ARREGIMENTATION, 1954, p. 2). MABEC emerged linked to the directors and other activists of the José do Patrocínio Association.
MABEC's main task was to select and nominate black people who could be strong candidates in each election. In 1954, the first candidates launched by MABEC were Raul Joviano Amaral and Aurino dos Santos, for state deputy, and Jorge Teixeira himself, for federal deputy (NEGROS, 1954).
During his campaign, Jorge Teixeira published a beautiful article on the specific problems of the black population in Brazil. In an analysis that evokes some of the ideas developed in the UNESCO Research round tables, Teixeira invites us to reflect on the condition of black people after abolition: “those who, in the face of everything, swarm the favelas and slums; those who are part of the legions of the undernourished; those who do not live; those who, lacking opportunities, resources, and means, enlist in the majority in the armies of misery” (1954, p. 5).
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