Three civil rights activists visited UF on Wednesday, telling a small crowd of about 25 a story of how a movement is rising up against systemic racism in Brazil.
The visitors, three black women who traveled from their South American home country, spoke of underrepresentation in Brazilian universities.
Ana Luiza Mahin, a Cuban studies scholar attending the Federal University Fluminese in Rio De Janerio, put the issue into numbers.
Just 6 percent of Brazil’s university students are black, she said.
But change is happening, she said. Some are organizing a movement called Black Occupation, a free space to discuss racism, sexuality and class.
“All over the country we are organizing ourselves and we are fighting against racism in universities in Brazil,” Mahin said.
The UF Center for Latin American Studies hosted Mahin and her fellow activists, Annie Gonzaga Lorde and Jessica Ipolito, at UF’s Ulster Hall. Tanya Saunders, a professor at the
center, said having the activists on campus was important because they’re key figures in Brazil’s social movements.
Ipolito — an Afro-Latin American woman and the author of the popular blog about beauty, racism and sexuality — said she was one of the first people in Brazil to speak openly on the internet about her struggles.
“I’m black, lesbian, fat and a writer,” the 25-year-old said as she introduced herself.
Lorde, 30, described herself as a black, lesbian activist, artist and mother. She grew up in a black slum in Brazil and said she recalls frequent police brutality.
“It is in this context that I started drawing,” Lorde said. “It was an expression of my reality.”
Stephanie Brook, a 20-year-old UF business sophomore, said she attended the event because after living in Brazil for eight years, she was aware of the country’s racism but thought it wasn’t as bad as in the U.S.
“This presentation really opened my eyes to a side of racism in Brazil that I haven’t re- ally experienced, and it made me sad to think that black students are struggling so much in a country that I hold so close to my heart,” she said.
