Racial Quotas in Contemporary Brazil

Brazil's history is marked by profound social inequalities and the myth of democracy with equal opportunities. The discourse of meritocracy and equal opportunity is in the social imaginary, in the arts and in literature. After all, is there equal competition in the country? To illustrate the picture, one can see the discursive contradictions and social practices regarding the Afro-descendant, in Macunaíma, literary canon of Mário de Andrade, who, when working on the conception of the three races, describes: "And it was beautiful in Sol da lapa the three brothers one blond one red another black, standing upright and naked. All the creatures of the bush looked on in astonishment." At first glance, the description of the emergence of the Brazilian people adopted by the writer seems to encourage solidarity among Brazilians. However, the modernist work, between the lines, describes racism in Brazil: silent, subtle and almost harmless. It impedes the opportunities of certain racial groups to the detriment of others, it is confused with peniaphobia (irrational fear of poverty or being in such a situation).