Rousseff urges need to advance anti-racist struggle
Brasília - President Dilma Rousseff meets Black Women's March leaders
Black Awareness Day is an opportunity to reaffirm the struggle for racial equality, President Dilma Rousseff wrote on her Twitter account Friday (Nov. 20). “It's crucial that we raise awareness of our rich diversity and advance the struggle against racism. It takes effort and determination,” the president said.
According to the president, affirmative action and equal opportunity initiatives including the 2012 Quota Act (which entitles students coming from public schools who self-identify as black, mixed race, and native Brazilian to 50% of seats at federal undergraduate and technical education institutes), the University for All Program (ProUni) (fee subsidies for tuition at private universities) and the government's student loan program (FIES) have all helped bridge the racial gap in the gateway to higher education, painting universities “with Brazil's colors”.
Black Awareness Day on November 20 was celebrated in over a thousand cities.
Rousseff also said that the Quota Act for Civil Service, enacted in 2014, is also making a difference. “Between September 2014 and April 2015, more than 600 black people have secured a position as federal government employees through the racial quotas.”
Black Awareness Day on November 20 was celebrated in over a thousand cities. Introduced into the national calendar in 2003, the date marks the death of Zumbi dos Palmares, the last leader of the largest maroon community of Brazil's colonial period, the quilombo of Palmares.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Rousseff urges need to advance anti-racist struggle
