Comparing, Side by Side, Race Relations in US and Brazil

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Race relations | Slavery's Legacies; American thinking about race is starting to influence Brazil, the country whose population was shaped more than any other's by the Atlantic slave trade. Economist, Sept 10, 2016.
http://www.economist.com/news/in ... ry-whose-population

Quote:

"Brazil took more African slaves than any other country, and now has nearly three times as many people whose ancestors left Africa in the past few centuries as America does.

"Of the 12.5m Africans trafficked across the Atlantic between 1501 and 1866, only 300,000-400,000 disembarked in what is now the United States. They were quickly outnumbered by European settlers. Most whites arrived in families, so interracial relationships were rare. Though white masters fathered many slave children, miscegenation was frowned upon, and later criminalised in most American states.  As black Americans entered the labour market after emancipation, they threatened white incomes, says Avidit Acharya of Stanford University. 'One drop' of black blood came to be seen as polluting; laws were passed defining mixed-race children as black and cutting them out of inheritance (though the palest sometimes 'passed' as white).

"In Brazil, unlike America, race has never been black and white. The Portuguese population—700,000 settlers had arrived at the start of the 19th century—was dwarfed by the number of slaves: a total of 4.9m arrived. Portuguese men were encouraged to consort with African women. Since most came without wives, such unions gained some legitimacy. * * * Both black and white Brazilians have long considered “whiteness” something that can be striven towards * * * by working hard or getting rich. * * * Though only a few black and mixed-race Brazilians ever succeeded in 'becoming white'

"The test that American students take to enter university is a good predictor of academic success, and American colleges typically admit black and Hispanic students with much lower scores than whites or Asians. This sets them [blacks and Hispanics] up to fail, argue Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor in their [2012] book, 'Mismatch.' They think that under race-neutral policies more would graduate. Though narrowly approved by the Supreme Court, affirmative-action policies are unpopular in America. Two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the use of race as a factor in college admissions, according to Gallup.  In Brazil, the picture is different. * * * Entrance exams were poorly designed * * * they are still a crude measure of ability. * * * The first universities to adopt quotas have found that cotistas had lower grades on entry but graduated with degrees similar to those of their classmates. * * * two-thirds of Brazilians approved [quota in college admission.]