While watching the video, I was impressed by the fact that the saying of being “racism free” was spelled by a white man. Kind of makes the phrase irrelevant. I was also intrigued in the magazines with white women on the front page. I wonder if this has changed in the last decade, since the video was made in 2010. 

It is desolating to find out that Brazil is said to be a racial democracy, when their people don´t people don’t really believe it. Even the actress who portrayed Chica da Silva was later discriminated, but still used as a 🤬 symbol. It makes me sad because I see that type of things on too many occasions in our own country. 

Christian E. Ortiz Aceves

Dominican Republic’s history is told by the white, because Dominicans identify as white even if their skin tells otherwise – they even have standing statues of some American Presidents as part of their national treasures (something that would be unconceivable in Haiti). Their national heroes and culture are completely “white-washed” as we would so-call now. Adding to this, their identity and national culture is built on repelling anything African-related: Haitians whom are mostly black have been brutally attacked in several occasions, Dominicans consider Spain as their motherland, and they own only a handful of African traditions in their country (some of these practices are even endangered). 

On the other hand, Haitians are fully proud of their African roots. With conserved practices such as Voodoo, African music, and even some traces of their language mixed with French, are a living proof that Haiti has a strong connection with its African background, repelling anything from its conquerors and oppressors. Being the first black country to own its independence, Haiti has had its own hardships that have not only been caused by corruption, natural disasters or even lack of talent (teachers, writers and many other artists have fled from the country); but also because of foreign intervention.

What was surprising to me, is how two countries that have “similar” history and ethnical backgrounds can feel so different from each other – these contrasts are not only reflected in their perspective about themselves and their skin color (which has little differentiation), but also these racial conflicts lead to a political partition in the island. I can link this documentary to language itself – the way schools and even people refer to historical moments in these two countries may be a factor that made people take a side: to feel either Spanish or African. What even does national identity mean? We may look similar, live not so far from each other but we still perceive ourselves as different because of the way we were raised, the way we were taught at school, because of our religion, traditions, community, language, and so on. I think neither of these sides are “wrong” – Dominicans feel Spanish because of their culture, political affairs, language, and shared traditions; Haitians feel African because of certain words they use, because of their traditions and religion. The only thing these communities (and politicians) ought to do is to respect and accept one another – at the end of the day, they have suffered together. 

One final thought that caught my attention is how racism exists in a country where the people are mostly black or mulattos – this is definitely a trace that the European conquest and foreign intervention left in Latin America. Nevertheless, these ideas are no longer imposed by the white: black people themselves have embraced them, and the world (countries such as the United States) politically accept black countries only if they seem “white enough”. 

-Saraí López

The first thing from the video which I was really interested in was that people from various races in Cuba did not see each other as the enemy since they were different, but as fellow Cubans. They were fighting against Spain, not against themselves. 

The Cuban nationalistic version of war says how with the intervention of the Unites States, the beginning of an independent republic was prevented. Even though they were allowed to elect their first president, the U.S. still was playing a big role. 

This interested me, because the U.S. seem like they always want to intervene and be a part of other countries´ politics and with Cuba they tried to enforce their segregation culture, when most Cubans saw each other as fellow patriots and not as people from different races. And the Cubans who were racists were the descendants of the owners of slaves, so I find interesting how it all makes sense. 

But this was changing, and with the government allowing racism, even though there were not specific laws against black people, discrimination was rising because of the U.S. manipulation. But after the revolution and with Fidel Castro cutting relations with them, Cuba was evolving. 

In this video we can see how Cuba´s society and culture after the revolution was a collectivist one. We can take the example of teenagers being sent to the poorer areas of Cuba to educate its people and the interesting part is that these teenagers were excited to do this, as Professor Graciela Chailloux says in the video, rather than seeing it as boring. 

From watching this video, I really think that if the U.S. didn´t interfere in Cuba´s independence, there would be less racism today, maybe it wouldn´t be completely gone since the descendants of Cubans elitists and the owners of slaves could still have their ancestors ideologies, but I think it would be much less. 

- Omar Herrera 

The multifarious expressions of racism can affect health via several recognised direct and indirect pathways. Indirect pathways include differential access to societal resources and health determinants by race/ethnicity, as evidenced by long-standing ethnic inequities in income, education, employment and living standards, with subsequent impacts on living environments and exposure to risk and protective factors. At the individual level, experience of racism can affect health directly through physical violence and stress pathways, with negative psychological and physiological impacts leading to subsequent mental and physical health consequences. In addition, racism influences healthcare via institutions and individual health providers, leading to ethnic inequities in access to and quality of care. For example, ethnic disparities in socioeconomic status can indirectly result in differential access to care, while health provider ethnic bias can influence the quality and outcomes of healthcare interactions.

Many parents use different statements in order to reflect the bad influence of gypsies in white’s world. Statements like: Do not spit like gypsies., Those moneys were touched by gypsies and you stick them into your mouth! What disgusting! or even worse If you’re not good I’ll sell you to gypsies are used in everyday life in order to break children of a bad habit and with or without intention, parents also promote and approve racism, by teaching those that gypsies are bad. By this, the bases of racism are well constructed by parents and since children are taught racism before getting to school, parents should be more careful on what they say and what they do and ask themselves if racism is the best solution in learning their children basics and behavior.

 

I thought it was interesting how in the Dominican Republic they call each other “indio”, which, from what I understood, is not an offensive term. However, in Mexico, using this word is insulting and disrespectful in terms of race, especially towards the indigenous population. Nevertheless, not everything in the Dominican Republic is different than in Mexico. It caught my attention the way in which they look down on Hatians, thinking of themselves as superior, especially because Haiti is a low-income country. This reminded me of the relationship between the US and Mexico. Speaking from a wide point of view (I am not implying that this is the case for all US citizens), Americans look down on us in different ways and due to diverse reasons; our lack of technology and infrastructure in comparison to theirs, our skin colors, our religion (Catholic) and specially, due to the fact that so many of us migrate to their country in search of a better life. However, Mexico and the US are not that different from each other; we are both nations that were colonized by Europeans but had native people living in it, in terms of race we are both diverse and, geographically, we are surrounded by the same bodies of water (we even both take sports seriously too!). 

 

Therefore, I think that the relationship between the US and Mexico, and the Dominican Republic are a reminder that our culture is shaped not only by what happens inside our border, but also by external influences and the way in which we respond to such.

 

The documentary shows that the racism is present  in different ways across the country and how it was incentivized.  For  example Rio  de Janeiro is split  in two areas: In the touristic one, where  you will find almost only white people ; and the  second one , the Favelas: where you will see a great concentration of black people living in poverty. 

 

The government several years ago had a whitening program, where the goal was to avoid having only black citizens. The government paid European immigrants to live in the country and mix with the locals.   The catholic churches prohibited the existence of wealthy black people.  Also, the country national culture was majorly racist, many black women used to   feel ashamed of their black ethnic characteristics: they used to iron their afro hair and use a very white make up. 

 

Over the past century, brazil had several activist and intellectual figures, who pursue the equality and the respect for black people in the country. They had estimated that this problem still will last more decades, since the government claims that the country is a racial paradise, the black people do not require to do anything.

 

Regards, 

Diego Charles Suarez.

Brazil racial mixed comes from slavery 

Portuguese people bought African slaves to work on the sugar plantation 

Capoeira started as a way for African people to strength and defend themselves , is a form of training design for self-defense 

Th majority of black people that live in Brazil have the religion of Candomblé that is a mixture of cultures and ethnicities that so defines Brazil 

All the different tones of brown come from the time of slavery, there was a shortage of white women and “🤬 is colorblind”; an example of this is Chica Da Silva who was a salve in Brazil and ended up being on the most wealthiest woman on town 

Many activist used to and some of them are still trying to perpetuate their costumes like capoeira, the religion and even the hair styles 

The black presence in Brazil was fundamental to its culture and societal identity 

The multicultural heritage of Carnaval became Brazil’s new metaphor for racial democracy 

Brazil has never had a massive civil rights movement which maybe why there is still racism and a form of segregation 

Racial democracy also might be a lie, to keep the black people on “their place”, to avoid any major movement 

Affirmative action is what brazil needs to achieve racial democracy 
Maria Andrea Zulbaran Pacheco

However I am really angry with how even after all the efforts cubans made for their freedom there were still so many ways that people from other countries suppressed them. I am not surprised that there was a time when even cubans didn’t want to relate themselves to their origines. I mean I can’t blame them, I have lived the pressure and constant display of how to be european it’s supposed to be better. 

It is with great pleasure that I find that in time their own culture started to emerge again. The fact that music was always very present talks a lot about how identity will always stay.

Carlos Arturo Vélez López