17-year old Rio student wins neuroscience competition; will represent Brazil in Denmark – Why did Ministry of Education whiten her image as an homage?

Note from BW of Brazil: A question that may come to mind if one read any number of articles on this blog might be, “why doesn’t Brazil like its black population?” It would be a legitimate question. After all, this group has been absent or vastly under-represented in the media for decades. It is this group, particularly young males, that is most often murdered and have the most likelihood of being murdered. It is the population that receives the worst medical treatment during pregnancy and childbirth. And it is the population of which Brazilians like to paint their faces with ghoulish black makeup to imitate. Some may look at these reports and simply say, “you’re exaggerating!” But when things happen time and time again, at what point does one conclude, I don’t think this group is very well-liked by its country?

We’ve long featured material on this blog that shows that more than a century ago, Brazil decided that the best way to eliminate this unwanted parcel of the population was through the encouragement of interracial relations that would eventually vastly diminish the representation of very dark skin, very tightly coiled hair, wide noses and thick lips. This policy is known as embranquecimento, or whitening, and it has been ongoing since the end of the 19th century. In fact, the whitening ideal is so deeply rooted, famous Brazilian figures of African descent such as the country’s greatest writer, Machado de Assis, and former President Nilo Peçanha have been depicted as white men in famous paintings, the former also in a recent television commercial. 

But surely this discomfort with blackness is passe and has been long forgotten, right? Well, to be bluntly honest, this ideology has gone nowhere and we continue to see evidence of it in so many ways. Take today’s story for example.

A black teenager proves once again that Afro-Brazilians are every bit as capable as any other race of people in Brazil, but after her accomplishment, her image, that of an unquestionably black girl, was altered to the point that it looks nothing like her. Now, with the history of anti-black sentiments amongst elites as well as the general population, what conclusion would you come to?

Ministry of Education is criticized for ‘whitenening’ student prodigy in cartoon

Ministry published illustration of student classified for neuroscience Olympiad

The Ministry of Education (MEC) is receiving criticism from social networking users after posting on Facebook a picture representing a Pedro II high school student who qualified for the Neuroscience Olympiad in Denmark. Web users say that the illustration in question shows the student, who is black, with much lighter skin than reality.

Post is being criticized

In a statement, the Ministry of Education, who made the post to honor the girl, refutes the accusations. According to the Ministry, the illustration “is a complement of the material and had the sole purpose of making a representation of the student from the same photo posted on MEC radio site, so that the image of the setting is the same.”

Lorrayne Isidoro, 17, studies at the unit of Engenho Novo do Pedro II, in Rio’s North Zone. As Globo (news) revealed, the student won the IV Olimpíada Brasileira de Neurociências (Brazilian Brain Bee) (Fourth Olympiad of Neurosciences or Brazilian Brain Bee), in São Paulo, after studying very much, on her own and with the help of teachers.

With the victory, Lorrayne won the only seat to represent Brazil at the 16th Olimpíada Internacional  (2016 Brain Bee World Championship) in Denmark. With no money and with costs of the trip estimated at R$15,000, Lorrayne created an online pool, with which she managed nearly four times more than what was necessary in just five days.

The MEC made a post on its official Facebook page, as well as an article on its website, to honor the student. But in the post, instead of a photo of the teen, it used an illustration. A storm of criticism of the post followed soonafter.

The student depicted in the cartoon appears to have lighter skin, straight hair and thinner facial characteristics.

Criticism

“The cartoon doesn’t look anything like her. She’s afrodescendente (of African descent) and the cartoon,  in my view, is more Asiatic”, “Stop embranquecer (whitening) the girl and removing the merits of the public school where she studies” and “Horrible art, bad taste, did they hire a disgusted communications advisor online?” are just some of the criticisms of the illustration.

The “Socializa o designer” page, which speaks of similar cases, was the first to compare the images. Its posting highlights that is “basically another person, uma pessoa menos negra (a less black person)” and also questioned the choice of Lorrayne’s phrase, as if supporting meritocracy (1).

“Sometimes the design and illustration can be very powerful tools in favor of oppression. Often this is visible, other times it is subtle.

The photo of the girl on the left is Lorrayne Isidoro, a Colégio Pedro II student of Rio de Janeiro who was ranked first in the IV Brazilia Olympiad of Neuroscience and will go – if she manages the R$15,000 needed – to represent Brazil in the International Olympiad. On the right we have a publication made by MEC on Saturday celebrating the feat. We can see that they chose to use an illustration rather than a picture, the only thing is: why did they change Lorrayne’s face?

The illustrator or designer who made the image not only drew her thinner, they also made her lighter skin, her nose narrower and hair straighter; basically another person, a less black person.

Besides this, the communication team also chose use a single sentence of the narrative to make it appear that the girl is a winner of meritocracy. Ignoring the support of the teacher and the structure of the federal public school in which she studies, ignoring the “access” that the young student lacked was the responsibility of the MEC itself (1).

This is the MEC of DEM and the PMDB (2), MEC that receives Frota, MEC that receives disciples of the Escola Sem Partidos (School Without Parties) program.

Hang on, from here on out it will only get worse.”

Beside the illustration, the MEC highlighted a phrase said by the student: “As I had no access, I decided to study on my own.” But many web users criticized the measure, saying that instead of exalting the girl because of this, the department should provide aid so that students achieve goals.

According to the ministry, the department “maintains actions like the Olympics of Mathematics and Portuguese, deployed last manage implemented in the management since 2004. The MEC repudiates any attempt to create false controversy in social networks over this beautiful life story.”

Source: Gazeta Online

Note

1. The issue here is the ongoing debate about race-based quotas in universities. One of the principle arguments of those who reject affirmative action policies is the idea of merit. They believe that quotas will destroy the standard of higher education and that candidates for universities should gain entry based solely on merit. Those in support of race and class-based quotas point out the fact that students with parents of higher economic means are able to send their children to private elementary and high schools which better prepare their children for the vestibular (college entrance exam). Study after study have shown that, given the opportunity, students from poorer backgrounds perform as well and in some cases better than their non-quota colleagues. Those who reject affirmative action always use students such as Lorrayne to argue that any student compete regardless of social and racial background.
2. Political parties with more conservative leanings.