Affirmative Action is NOT dead in Brazil

Tell the world that affirmative action is alive and thriving in Brazil. I wrote a profile of the Black priest who spent the last thirty years working to make this a reality - Frei David.

Aug 11

Before moving to Brazil eight years ago, I embarked upon a series of interviews to understand Black Brazil. I asked every person I interviewed (academics, Brazilians, expats) one question:

Who or what has done the most to help Afro-Brazilians advance in the last 50 years?

The most cited thing was quotas—affirmative action for Afro-Brazilians to attend public universities. The most cited person was Frei David, who many said was the most responsible for the widespread Brazilian adoption of quotas (or affirmative action as we call it in the US) for admittance to universities and coveted government jobs. Frei David Raimundo dos Santos is a Black Catholic priest in Brazil who has spend the last 45 years fighting against racism and working to expand higher education for Black people in Brazil.

I just published profile of Frei David and this paragraph from my article best sums up his work:

When Frei David and several volunteers launched Pré-Vestibular Para Negros e Carentes (PVNC) and subsequently Educafro, the work not only helped Black and poor students access college but also introduced the question of race into their lives. Over time, a simple education project became a grassroots social phenomenon that expanded the reach of Brazil's Black Movement. Santos’s incessant and singular desire to eradicate structural racism has resulted in some of Brazil's most successful public policies regarding education and income disparity—including a rigorous quota system that has broken historically insurmountable barriers for Black Brazilians to higher education and public sector employment. This quota system—Brazil's version of affirmative action—sets aside university spots for Afro-Brazilian, underprivileged, indigenous, and disabled students, as well as public high school graduates.

But very few people outside of Brazil know about his work.

So I set out to write an English profile of him. Thanks to the good people at the USC Center for Civic and Religion, I received a fellowship to write about Frei David for the Black Catholic Messenger.

THE PROFILE IS HERE AND NOW I NEED YOUR HELP.

Here is what I need you to do to get the word out about Frei David, and affirmative action in Brazil.

Read the darn profile. Yeah it's 8,000 words. When I embarked upon this journey, I debated the length of the profile, but when will I have the next opportunity to write as long as I want about this man?
Share the profile. Facebook the profile. Tweet the profile. Put it on LinkedIN. Every share counts. When people google Frei David, I want this article to be on TOP!
Send me contacts of people actively working to rebuild affirmative action in the U.S. I want to send them my article. As we work to rebuild affirmative action in the U.S. we need to look to Brazil for ideas on how to build a better system.
Send me your thoughts on the article. I love hearing people's reactions to my articles. It helps keep me going because you all know this stuff doesn't pay well!