Racial Discrimination in Access to Health: The Brazilian Experience

The Brazilian version of race is quite different from the American version. In Brazil, blacks account for almost half of the population, while they are only a little more than one tenth of the United States population. Racial discrimination in Brazil is based on phenotype and not on ancestry. De jure discrimination (although not de facto discrimination) has been banned in Brazil practically since the end of slavery in 1888. However, even among these differences, we do find some similarities between the two social constructions of racism. Both societies have supported slavery; both have discriminated against blacks and other colored people; and both have attempted to avoid guilt and