Brazil’s African-descended citizens now stand at 49.6 percent of the population, edging out their European-descended brethren by .2 percent, but lacking proportional access to education and food.

Twenty percent of Brazilian blacks are more likely to be illiterate, and have to work as much as 76 hours for their “basic food basket,” compared to a 6 percent illiteracy rate and 54 hours of work for basic food needs for Caucasians, reports Merco Press.

In 1888 Brazil became the last country in South America to abolish slavery.

President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has proposed new quotas for blacks in universities, in an effort to drive social and economic integration.

–Brittany Owens/Newsdesk.org

Source:

“Black population becomes the majority in Brazil”
MercoPress, April 25, 2009