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Conclusion: The Future of Afro-Brazilian Cultural Production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2012

Niyi Afolabi
Niyi Afolabi
Affiliation:
University of Texas at Austin
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Summary

In 1997, Spike Lee gave an exclusive interview to Raça (Race), an Afro-Brazilian magazine, in Brooklyn, New York, at his 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks studio. Lee provides his thoughts on his emergence as an American icon who influenced race relations in the film industry, as well as his views on Brazilian racial democracy, especially during his visit to Brazil with Michael Jackson:

Raça: What was your impression about the situation of blacks in Brazil?

Lee: Everyone tries to project the image that Brazilians are just one, same, and united people under one country but I don't think this is the truth. It is easy to see that blacks are in the lowest level in the society and white descendants are found on the top of the social pyramid. There is something faulty over there …

Raça: What about the issue of racism in Brazil?

Lee: I would say racism is prevalent but Brazilians act as though it does not exist. They are just deceiving themselves. (Raça 11 [July 1997]: 14)

This interview, while revealing views of Afro-Brazilians from an African American perspective, also proves the point that such North American–South American exchanges are fundamentally crucial in order to begin to move toward a transformative model for Brazil's dilemma. The African American experience may not make an ideal or perfect comparison to the Afro-Brazilian, but it does provide a case of generally successful struggle for racial equality.

Type
Chapter
Information
Afro-Brazilians
Cultural Production in a Racial Democracy
 , pp. 376 - 380
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2009

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