About 20 years of Law 10.639 and beyond – 08/01/2023 – Policies and Justice

How could the expectations, life projects, aspirations and very existence of a black person, born in Brazil in 2003, that is, aged 20, be positively or negatively marked by the existence of policies and actions aimed at equity? racial?

This is a question that provokes us and needs to connect us to a deep reflection on the processes of racial exclusion and how we can fight them to create a fairer project for society.

Today, it is worrying to think that such a person had to face the manifestation of structural racism: escaping violence, since black people are 2.6 times more likely to be murdered than non-black people, according to data from the 2021 Atlas of Violence; circumventing the challenges in Education that only 58.3% of young blacks have the possibility of completing high school and keeps so many others out of school: 70.8% of people aged 4 to 17 in this situation are black, according to PNAD data, in 2019; reaching the university as part of the 38% enrolled in higher education (having reached this stage of education through racial quotas or not) and, even after that, facing much more difficulties than a white person to access, remain and ascend in the world of work, which has only 23% (IBGE, 2019) of black people in leadership positions, and which is still in its infancy in diversity and inclusion policies.

The last 20 years have seen milestones in public policies and laws aimed at tackling racial inequalities, there is no doubt about that. And this happened because of the historic struggle of people, organizations and, above all, black movements. These are advances that should indeed be celebrated, but also discussed from a critical perspective with regard to their effective implementation.

One of these milestones that turns exactly 20 years old is Law 10.639/03, which amended the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (LDB) and established the obligation of teaching African and Afro-Brazilian history and culture in public and private basic education. . Five years later, Law 11.645/08 made it mandatory to teach indigenous history and culture.

These are laws that sought to reduce the impact of a curriculum traversed by structural racism on the permanence, school success and emotional and cognitive development of black, indigenous and quilombola children and adolescents.

It is important to emphasize that, despite the importance of this public policy, unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to perceive its real implementation in most Brazilian schools. Research published this year by Geledés —Instituto da Mulher Negra— and by Instituto Alana, with data referring to 21% of municipal education networks in the country, found that 71% of them take little or no action to put the aforementioned laws into effect.

This black person born in 2003 then had to deal with the challenges of a country that did not prepare itself effectively to face racial inequalities and, therefore, did not include it in its project for society in the past, present and future. .

And, even if that person has been successful in this trajectory, their next steps are not assured because the country seems not to be prepared to deal with their desires, their needs and their will to fulfill themselves as a person, student, citizen and professional in a dignified manner. .

The numbers presented here, more than illustrating, help to translate the dimension of this person’s challenges and our challenge as a society. Bringing out information of this type is important so that they can be the basis for confronting racism.

When we talk about data against racism, one dimension is to look for what evidences the existence of racism and which needs to be part of the decision-making tables so that effective and specific policies are created and implemented with a focus on overcoming inequalities.

Another important dimension that should also be taken to the decision-making tables concerns the evidence of good practices, examples, actions and systemic policies that effectively make it possible to combat racism.

Building, raising, monitoring and disseminating knowledge about what opposes the perpetuation and deepening of inequalities is information that will be able to tell and teach us how this black person, born in Brazil in 2003, was able to face these challenges of existence and development described above and orient oneself in building a path fuller of opportunities that create gaps, break down walls and make believe that there are, yes, real illusions (and utopias) of power without it being necessary to fear for the future.

The editor, Michael França, asks each participant of the space “Politics and Justice” of the Sheet suggest a song to the readers. In this text, the one chosen by Helton Souto Lima was “Extra”, by Gilberto Gil. In the recording, live with Baiana System.

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