The term “colorism” was used for the first time in 1982. It means, in a simplified way, that discrimination can also vary according to the skin tone of black people. Despite being little talked about, it is the reality of many Brazilians.
“I am a light-skinned black woman. I’m brown. My mother was black, my father a white man,” says Amanda Ferreira, diversity and inclusion manager.
Due to her fair skin, Amanda took a while to understand her identity: “what we wanted was that characteristic we saw on TV. So the hair I straightened, I had this whole process like every girl in the 80s and 90s,” she explains.
Marcos Madeira, project manager, says he had difficulty understanding that he was discriminated against because of his color.
“I would go to the mall and security would follow me. My reason for that would be that I was poorly dressed or because I had flip-flops, never because I was a black person,” she says.
Less than 3% of black women and men reach management or board positions in Brazil. Number three times lower than that of white women and men.
Diversity consultant Liliane Rocha explains that there is visual racism in Brazil.
“The wider your nose, the curlier your hair, the darker your skin tone, the more you will pass this everyday prejudice”, he says.
Amanda explains that treatment in the corporate world changes when you have black characteristics.
“I obviously went through this throughout my life journey from adolescence to even today as a professional within a company,” he says.
Marcos, however, only managed to achieve the professional position he wanted when he understood that it was necessary to impose his own identity.
“At the end of last year I was hired as a project manager for a big brand, this is disruptive because Marcos 2019, who didn’t understand himself as black, didn’t think much further”, he says.
Source: CNN Brasil
