Brazil: Dispelling the myth of racial democracy

Translation of Interview with Abdias do Nascimento

Portal Afro: When did you first get involved with the black movement?

Abdias do Nascimento: I'd say I've been involved with the struggle of my people since the day I was born. Actually, the first big lesson I ever received on racial solidarity was when I watched my mother defend a little black orphan who was being brutally beaten by some white woman on the street.

“It is at this young age that I learned that one cannot just leave racism as an unanswered question or occurrence. This is a lesson I have put into practice throughout the course of my life. And since then, all 87 years of my life have been dedicated to this struggle.”

Portal Afro: Were you living in France at this time?

Abdias do Nascimento: Exactly. After spending some time in France I returned to São Paulo where I began to participate in the black social movement  going on there, and most importantly, I started my work with the Frente Negra Brasileira (The Brazilian Black Front).

Portal Afro:   How did the Teatro Experimental do Negro (TEN) begin?

Abdias do Nascimento:   While traveling to South America with a group of Brazilian and Argentine poets we made a quick stop to see a play in Lima, Peru. The play was entitled “Emperor Jones” and the lead role was supposed to be played by a black man but instead there was a white Argentine with his face painted black. I started thinking about plays I had seen in Brazil and it sort of dawned on me that aside from the few circus shows I had attended in my youth, I had never been to, nor actually seen a real theater play. I then started to think about theater in Brazil and the black man in Brazil, and in that moment I realized that the arts could be a mechanism, a powerful instrument of expression by which we could present our fight and our struggle against racism. And right then and there I decided that I was going to return to Brazil and recreate the Brazilian theater and performing arts but this time around in black .

“My experience with Brazilian theater had always been the same, there was this tendency to exclude all the black people, and only when the shows were over and the ground needed to be cleaned after all the white people had dirtied it, were blacks let in.”

“The black movement, in my opinion, is multi-faceted, but most importantly it is the continuous and never-ending struggle for liberation, and I think Zumbi is an excellent symbol and a manifestation of this struggle.”

Portal Afro: What is The Black Experimental Theater?

Abdias do Nascimento: The Black Experimental Theater was not at all created in response to the black man’s exclusion in the theater arts, but rather it was created as an expression of our fight. And I think it exists as a powerful mechanism by which we can transform our reality into something positive. Unlike the ideologies of the Black Front we weren’t looking for integration.

Portal Afro: What do you mean by this?

Abdias do Nascimento: From the beginning the goal of Black Experimental Theater was to rescue the values that we had lost and forgotten throughout the course of our history. Yes, it was created to combat racism, but more importantly it was so we ourselves could reaffirm our own values and beliefs. We didn’t just want integration, the right to walk into a barbershop, a casino or a restaurant, because we already knew those were our rights as citizens born in this country.

“Our goal was to revive our African values by making them a part of the cultural consciousness of every Brazilian institution.”

This was really why the idea of the Theater came about, so that blacks wouldn’t have to live for the sole entertainment of the white man. We didn’t want our black history, with all its suffering, with its moments of bitter joy to continue to resonate in Brazilian culture haphazardly. What we were looking for was an opportunity to create something big, something that would truly represent our dynamic and vivacious culture in an organized manner.

Portal Afro: The Theater must have shocked audiences everywhere

Abdias do Nascimento: The first time we appeared in the newspapers it was as if a revolution had occurred. The fact that blacks were being associated with something positive managed to shock audiences everywhere. The black man has always lived with this stigma of being characterized with everything that is negative. No one wanted to be black. When I was working on coming up with a name for the Theater, people told me that if I inserted the word “black” in the title, it would immediately be rejected and despised, but I insisted. I insisted because the objective was to demonstrate the importance and the significance of our African identity.

“ Brazil doesn’t necessarily reject the color of a man’s skin, but what it does reject is Africa and its identity. Brazil refuses to be African.”

Portal Afro: Why is this?

Abdias do Nascimento: Because according to them Africa is associated with everything that is negative. Take for instance the importance and goals of the Theater: rescue the values of the black man, exorcise all of the negative stereotypes that date back to colonization, which according to them, our skin color represented everything that was evil, ugly and negative. We didn’t see the color of our skin as the limit. Our main focal point was our African heritage; this is where we were looking to place our values. And the Theater managed to fulfill this role and it was faithful in doing so till the very end.

Portal Afro: Many of the plays take us back to the essence of African mythology, what kind of impact do you think this might have had?

Abdias do Nascimento: We have always been use to the typical Greco-Roman mythology, esteeming it as the sole references to universal mythology. So it was rather difficult to demonstrate and show audiences that the Greco-Roman myths themselves have some basis in African culture. It was in Africa where it all began and only later was it emulated by the Greeks.

Most of the studies that have been done on the origins of theater state that it all began in Greece, but this is false. Thousands of years before Greece, there were theaters in Black Egypt, one of the primary examples being the myth of Isis and Osiris , a play which essentially embodies all the definitions of the theater arts.

“It was very difficult to breakaway from the structural brainwashing that the community is still battling till this day. To have to show the other side of the coin and not the caricature-like, stereotypical version that personifies the black man was even harder.

Portal Afro: What is that other side of the coin?

Abdias do Nascimento: The goal of the Theater was to project the mythologies and philosophies of the black race, we wanted to start a revolution. What we did merely represents a droplet of water for what should be done to eliminate the 500 plus years of brainwashing and cultural distortion that blacks have undergone in this country.

This is our turf, because the whites that are in the Academies and Universities will not take on this burden. In fact they will continue to contest the uncomforting truths that we reveal. I think the key thing here is to rid the black man of those deeply embedded false notions of inferiority. Our academies are purely racist and ethnocentric, always in favor of European values. We have to combat this problem not only through rhetoric, but more importantly with our acts.

This is sort of why I started painting; it was an opportunity to use our ancient myths and the symbols of our legends, our religious values as a way of dispelling everything that the white man has taught us.  I believe in making a conscious effort to free our minds of the standard European way of looking at the world, while simultaneously embracing our own cultural values and truths. I’m not saying that we have to return to the past, but what I am advocating is an incorporation of our myths and legends with the more contemporary and modern movements so that we might be able to create our own version of the future.

Portal Afro: The Brazilian Black Front has sort of always been associated with a movement towards equality with the white man, but now a days it has reoriented itself towards diversity. How do you suppose this change came about?

Abdias do Nascimento: Initially the objective of the Brazilian Black Front was to have blacks break through the social barriers by integrating into white society. This was clearly demonstrated by the poet, Nilo Guedes in his efforts to try to teach the black man how to walk “uprightly” like the white man. My goal here is not at all to condemn the Black Front, because it is in my opinion that it served all its purposes given the historical context in which it was created. Today is a product of those previous struggles to organize and to raise social consciences.

In 1945 we established the Black National Convention, and almost immediately we began advocating changes in public policy to favor blacks. We wanted to have racism and discrimination considered as crimes against humanity. The battle was waged with an unprecedented amount of effort, struggles taken on by the community to assure that wherever there was a black community, there would be access to jobs and other social services that we had been denied for so long.

Portal Afro: Aside from all the progress, what do you think is missing?

Abdias do Nascimento: POWER! We have no concrete representation in the media; we have no television channels, no real thriving radio station, not even a newspaper that we can call our own.

Portal Afro: So in other words you are in favor of public television and radio for blacks?

Abdias do Nascimento: Of course! The television channels belong to the people, no one should be the sole proprietor, not even the government. Since we form part of this nation, we are a construct of this country, we, Africans and descendants of Africa deserve our own means of communication, it is not an absurd plea, the constitution itself recognizes the specificity of our culture and guarantees it. As long as equality is not met, particularly in regards to the media and education, Brazil has no right to declare itself a democratic nation, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES!

Portal Afro: Aside from the media, what other structural changes need to be implemented?

Abdias do Nascimento: I’d say in terms of public policy. Politicians need  to stimulate the progress of black entrepreneurs, there needs to be some sort of investment made here because as of now it has not happened. We have our National Bank of Social and Economic Development, a bank that finances countless, why not finance a black entrepreneur? This is a NECESSITY! We need our own black learning centers and institutions, so that we might teach our children the other version of history, the truth and reality of things.

Portal Afro: What kind of role does the black woman play in the Brazilian black movement?

Abdias do Nascimento: Black women are the heroines of this nation, and I’m not talking about the black woman who serves as a nanny or surrogate mother to white infants. I’m talking about her integral value. She is an admirable historical figure, to whom I render all of my homage and gratitude. To a certain extent all black women are warriors. It is essential that the Brazilian Black Movement recognize and honor the struggle and perseverance of all black women. It is our moral responsibility, as black men, to assure that this is realized.  

Portal Afro: What would be your message to the black youth of today?

Abdias do Nascimento: I’d tell them to be steadfast and true to our history, our past but most importantly our dignity. One of the many hindrances for social progression is that many of our children have been taught to think that they are somehow superior or better if the color of their skin is lighter. The white man has taught them to think that it is somehow better to associate oneself with being mulatto but never black.

The black community must remain true to herself, true to her ancestors and true to the history of our struggles. We must never lose sight of our force, energy and willingness to fight for our rights. It is essential to continue the fight, the struggle, that started with Zumbi of Palmares, because the right to do so is in our favor. The orixás are always sanctioning us and sustaining us. It is our beauty and our future.

Abdias do Nascimento's Artwork

NPR Explores the myth of racial democracy

More sites dispelling the myth...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/719134.stm

http://www.brazzillog.com/pages/p23nov99.htm

http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSFeatures0002/07_brazil.html

Listen to some awesome Música brasileira

 

 

 

Possemente Zulu - Sou Negrão
by Happin Hood
Lyrics

 

 

Commentator Kimberle Williams Crenshaw recently spent time in Brazil, home to 80 million people of African descent. She marveled at the nation's rich cultural tapestry, but she also observed much of the color-based discrimination that people tend to overlook. Listen, as she explores the myth of racial democracy in Brazil.

Feijoada Recipe . . .

From its humble beginnings as a meal made by Brazilian slaves, feijoada (fay-zhwahdah) has evolved into a party food popular throughout Brazil. It is a delicious stew of meats and black beans, loved by all!. The feijoada is typically prepared a day or two ahead and is oftentimes accompanied with rice, kale, orange slices, chili salsa and a crisp-soft topping called farofa--toasted dry manioc with onions and bananas.

For dessert, Brazilians prepare an intense, rich coconut custard, quindin, with pineapple.

 

Prepare:

Feijoada is made with black beans and pork meats. You can use a can of beans already cooked. Add black beans to a medium-sized pot with 2 tbs oil, salt, garlic, chopped onions and about 6 bay leaves.

Cook for about 15 minutes in med heat and set aside. In a separated panfry, cook cubes of pork tenderloin and slices of bacon with salt, garlic.

Add all the sausages sliced and stir medium-heat until dry all the water.

Add the cooked meat to the pan with the black beans and your feijoada is ready!

Cook your feijoada more 10 minutes to meat soak in the black beans. You can add some pepper sauce to your feijoada at this point.

Hint: to make the feijoada creamy, liquefy 1/2 cup of black beans in the blender and add to the feijoada.

Enjoy!