In this, he's not unlike his counterparts in the United States, where black people also have an extensive vocabulary to describe variations in skin tone. In the United States, one can be "high yellow" (i.e., of very light skin); one can be "red" (i.e., with a reddish tint; one of Malcolm X's early nicknames was "Detroit Red"); or one can be any of a number of synonyms for dark. Like, for instance, "Smokey." In fact, the famous (and "high yellow") Motown singer William Robinson was given that nickname in affectionate irony by one of his father's friends - sort of like calling a fat guy Tiny. The same is not true in Brazil. And if the United States is a country where black people with light skin used to sometimes "pass," i.e., pretend to be white, well, in this country "passing is a national institution." So says Elisa Nascimento with a laugh. She is white, American-born and the wife of Abdias do Nascimento, a 90-year-old black Brazilian artist and political icon. And the insistence of some Brazilian blacks on "passing," she says, has political consequences in that it tends to distort statistics on black life. "The way racism works in Brazil . . . there is a hierarchy, and so people tend to identify themselves lighter than they necessarily would be." "It was a rough time," she says in her imperfect English. "For me, was impossible to live there. We could not be married. Why I married with a black guy, you know? So when I say to you that Brazil was different . . . even my first husband didn't think of himself as black. In Brazil, he was a Brazilian, even though he was black. He never thought of himself as someone different from me because he was another color."
Princeton University Library Latin American microfilm collection (Author)
Format:
Microfilm
Language:
Spanish
Publication Date:
2009
Published:
Woodbridge, CT: GALE, Cengage Learning
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
From the holdings of the Firestone Library, Princeton University, based on the original inventory prepared by the library staff., 2 microfilm reels., Collection of Peruvian ephemera contains flyers, pamphlets, and reports, as well as magazines and serials. The publications reflect the cultural reality of Peru's ethnic minority groups in the years between 1982 and 2008 and address a variety of subjects from indigenous rights movements and local handicrafts to everyday discriminatory practices. Contents include: Part 1. Afro-Peruvian peoples -- pt. 2. Amazonian peoples -- pt. 3. Andean peoples -- pt. 4. Arts and crafts -- pt. 5. Legal rights and reforms -- pt. 6. Pan-ethnic and indigenista issues -- pt. 7. Racism and discrimination.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
39 p., On 23 May 2010, the Governor-General of Jamaica declared a State of Public Emergency in the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew. Within two days, at least 74 people, including one member of the security forces, had been killed in Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston, and at least 54 others, more than half of them members of the security forces, were injured during police operations. Despite the loss of life and compelling testimonies of grave human rights violations -- including possible extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests -- investigations into the violence have yet to establish the facts and the responsibilities conclusively.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
Index number: AMR 38/004/2011, 14 pp., Amnesty International is submitting this briefing to the Human Rights Committee ahead of its examination of Jamaica's third periodic report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The document briefly highlights main aspects of Amnesty International's on-going human rights concerns in Jamaica as well as human rights violations which occurred in the context of the state of emergency between 23 May and 22 July 2010.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
10 p., In analyzing Jamaica's Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review, Amnesty International raises concerns about the new Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, a series of "anti-crime" bills, the death penalty, the restrictive definition of "rape" in the new Sexual Offences Act, legislation which criminalizes sexual acts in private between consenting male adults, and outstanding ratifications. The organization also describes concerns in relation to human rights violations by the police; violence against women and girls; attacks against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons; children in custody; and violence in inner-city communities.
Focuses on calls by the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network (LACWHN) for the full exercise of human rights regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Highlights the discrimination facing lesbian women in the field of healthcare services.
México, D.F: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
217 p., Includes Gudrun Lenkersdorf's "La defensa de los derechos de los pueblos originarios, afroamericanos y migrantes" and Luz María Martínez Montiel's "Afroamérica criso centenario,"
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
156 p., The reconstruction of Haiti following the earthquake of January 12, 2010 was institutionalized through the creation of the Commission Interimaire pour la reconstruction d'Haiti (Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti, CIRH). More than a year later, the outlook for human rights in Haiti has not changed despite the great promise and strong rhetoric of change. This study seeks to provide evidence for understanding the many facets of extreme poverty in Haiti from a human rights perspective.
United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. (Author)
Format:
Book, Whole
Publication Date:
1998
Published:
Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O., Superintendent of Documents
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
59 p., Examines policy and progress in the Western Hemisphere, focusing on the second Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile, as a reflection of US government policy toward Latin America, and economic conditions, migrant rights, prison conditions, education, and other human rights issues; 1990s. Some focus on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR), and the US International Development Agency (USAID).
