An oppressed majority: The need for reparative policies to address the imbalances and minorization process faced by Black Brazilians

Abstract

This thesis addresses the under-researched dynamic in Brazil where black Brazilians despite being the demographic majority in the country are oppressed, facing systemic human rights violation and disproportional imbalances. This study aims to fill this gap in two parts. The first is by exploring the Brazilian history since the slavery period, identifying the historical violations endured by the black population in the country and how the State, through the abolition process and post-emancipation period, had a discriminatory agenda towards black Brazilians. Through its laws and population-whitening strategies, instead of creating reparative policies to integrate the former enslaves in the new society, the State created obstacles to their access to fundamental human rights. To explain how this cycle of violations cascaded into a current reality where black Brazilians are the majority but the oppressed, I employ the minorization process theory alongside with the structural racism and intersectionality theory. After this analysis, I conclude that the State's discriminatory agenda and omissions in creating reparative policies to integrate Black people into society have perpetuated a cycle of structural racism rooted in the slavery era. This cycle is powerful enough to minorize a demographic majority in terms of accessing their fundamental rights. In the second part, I explore how the legal framework in the country and the transitional justice framework support the implementation of reparative measures to address the disproportionate imbalances faced by black Brazilians as a slavery legacy. I conclude arguing that the Brazilian State has the legal obligation in implementing reparative policies to guarantee the fundamental rights of black Brazilians. As well, I argue that the mechanisms of the transitional justice model can help the Brazilian State to create policies that address the imbalances in a holistic way and focusing on the root causes of the structural racism and minorization process.