Affirmative Actions

answers to frequently asked questions

Abstract

In the heated debate which is going on in Brazilian society, recurrent questions against affirmative actions to black people have been set. This article aims to demonstrate the failure in five positions frequently put forward in the debate: 1) “We are all mestizo, we don’t have black people in Brazil”; 2) “Who are the black people?”; 3) “The question isn’t a race issue, but a class issue”; 4) “Affirmative action policies jeopardize universities’ academic excellence” , and 5) Affirmative actions reinforce prejudice and discrimination against black people”.