Note from BW of Brazil: The question of racial identity and classification are topics dealt with frequently on this blog. Brazil’s history and reputation has long been constructed upon the idea of miscegenation, the myth of a “racial democracy” and being the largest mixed race country in the world. These ideals have long covered up a the huge socio-economic disparities between Brazilians who consider themselves to be white and those who are non-white.  While there are those who argue make accusations of militants attempting to “racialize” or “Americanize” race in Brazil, the truth is that the preference for European features and the denigration of blackness has existed for centuries in Latin America’s largest country. In today’s post, Jarid Arraes discusses the “racist face” of century’s of miscegenation that has led the majority of persons of visible African ancestry to deny that they are black people. 

by Jarid Arraes

The issue of…