Opinion – Cida Bento: They who are white understand each other?

In the presidential debate last Sunday, at the Band, the absence of racial issues was blatant. Which shows that candidates still do not understand that social inequalities in Brazil are structured by racism.

This omission is not exclusively related to the absence of the only two black candidates in the 2022 presidential race, who, because they did not register enough points in the opinion polls, were left out of the debate. Brazilian society has not yet managed to build a path in which we could have a black president or vice-president in these elections, like Francia Márquez, in Colombia.

The presidential candidates’ alienation from the issue of racial inequalities is also not due to the lack of black journalists, which is nonetheless regrettable, given the plurality of professionals who could add other perspectives to the debate, not only questions about racial inequalities. as well as economics, health, education and other topics.

The lack of racial themes in this debate can be understood as a result of the separation of political and economic elites from real Brazil. Throughout practically all of our history, blacks, the majority of the Brazilian population, are excluded from political participation and decisions that impact their lives. On the threshold of 200 years of Brazilian Independence, it is opportune to remember that this has been the way of doing politics in Brazil.

In Sunday’s debate, the dialogue with the candidates addressed the hunger that plagues the country, unemployment, security and problems in the areas of health and education, as if these issues affected the entire population in a similar way. But we know that it is black people, and particularly black women, who are most affected by the absence of public policies and neglect by the State.

When we see that in the presidential debate the candidates are all white, the journalists are all white and the issue of state policy to combat racial inequality does not arise, it is as if all this has nothing to do with us, the majority of the Brazilian population, which is black.

It is inconceivable that, after decades of struggle by the black movement, we have to follow with perplexity the absence of these issues in the first electoral debate on open television channel, one of the main instruments for the population to decide the course of the country in the coming years.

Although it is necessary to recognize and value important improvements with public policies aimed at the black population in progressive governments, we need to go even further.

On the eve of September 7, a date marked by the cry of “Independence or Death” attributed to D. Pedro I (whether it happened or not), it is essential to recognize the split between a portion of the Brazilian elite and its people. 200 years ago, the independence spoken of by the elite that governed the country meant a social emancipation that kept the privileges of whiteness and, at the same time, provided for the maintenance of “slave” property, the non-interference of the State in private relations and in the free trade, which represented the slave trade. In other words, the independence that the elite wanted did not include the majority of the population that was black.

This split between a portion of the elite that even in the pandemic manages to increase the concentration of income for a small group and the expansion of hunger and poverty for the vast majority needs to be changed, and elections can trigger this process. And to address inequalities not only with policies for the poor, but mainly with consistent programs that face racism, otherwise there will continue to be the logic and cry of “independence” for some and the cry of “death” for the majority of the population.