As recently as 2006, the country finally outlawed job advertisements from describing potential employees with "good appearance," which often meant more "white" features. As a result, many Black Brazilians faced job discrimination, especially regarding Black women's hairstyles in Brazil.
During my time in Brazil, people are often staring at me wondering why I'm in certain spaces, like universities, libraries, historical archives, and even nice restaurants. With my natural hairstyle in a curly afro and my skin being the darkest in the room, people have behaved in racist and disrespectful ways. Drivers have refused to drive me to destinations, archives have denied me public access, and servers have told me I need to sit outside the restaurant to receive service, despite there being plenty of open tables available. I've even had people call me derogatory names when walking on the sidewalk. While I've experienced racism in the United States, it feels stronger here. However, once people learn I'm from the United States, their attitudes tend to change. Some people refuse to believe I'm from the U.S. because they believe only white U.S. citizens can come visit Brazil. Others will then treat me with a bit more respect and try to explain their previous rude behavior.
For years, there was a popular expression in Brazil that said "Blacks know their place." This implied that there was not much resistance to the racist treatment Black people receive. In fact, until recent decades, Brazil was known as a "racial democracy" because of the seemingly peaceful state of multi-racial populations. However, there is still a lot of progress to be made. Social media has been a huge influence in fighting back against the anti-Black culture here in Brazil.
