Brazil Enforces Tough Anti-Racism Laws Amid Persistent Racial Inequality

Brazil's constitution recognizes racism as a crime without bail or statute of limitations, making its anti-racism laws among the strictest in the world. The country received global attention earlier this year when the laws were used to indict an Argentine tourist who made monkey gestures and used racial slurs toward waiters in Rio de Janeiro.

A judge is expected to decide on a sentence in the coming weeks. João Gilberto Lima was in his fifth year at a prestigious private university in São Paulo when a white classmate sent a WhatsApp message calling him a "slave" along with a photo taken without his knowledge.

Mr. Lima, who is Black, reported the incident to police. The classmate was convicted of racism and racial insult and received a two-year sentence that was converted to community service and financial reparations. Brazil received an estimated 5.5 million trafficked Africans between the 16th and 19th centuries, more than any other country in the Americas.

It was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery on May 13, 1888. No post-abolition policies were created to integrate newly freed Black citizens, African cultural practices such as samba and capoeira were criminalized, and the state encouraged European immigration to whiten the population.

From the 1930s, Brazil promoted the idea that it had become a "racial democracy" through miscegenation. Érika Frazão, a history and ethno-racial relations professor at the Universidade Federal Fluminense, said this idea is a fallacy. Black Brazilians earn 65 percent less per hour than white Brazilians, Black men face a 49 percent higher risk of being murdered, and Afro-Brazilians make up 55 percent of the population but hold just 15 percent of judgeships and one quarter of seats in Congress.

Mr. Lima recalled that in his private university there were more Black exchange students than Black Brazilian students. Frederico Borges, a lawyer with the Black Coalition for Rights and legal coordinator for the Institute for the Defense of Black People, said that despite an advanced legal system, social and institutional practices continue to reproduce racial inequality.

Since 1988 The 1988 constitution's recognition of racism as a crime was a major victory for the civil rights movement after two decades of military dictatorship. Subsequent measures included a 2003 law requiring Afro-Brazilian history and culture in school curriculums and racial quotas for university admissions in 2012 and federal civil service positions in 2014.

A 2023 reform aligned the crime of racial insult with that of racism, recognizing the historical weight of individual slurs and preventing cases from being dismissed on statute of limitations grounds. The national justice council recorded 9,279 new racism cases last year, up from 2,904 in 2020.

Mr. Lima's case, which drew media attention, took six years to reach a final sentence. Agostina Páez, an Argentine lawyer, had her passport seized and was ordered to wear an ankle monitor after her arrest. She was later allowed to return home after paying bail.

In its 2026 travel advice, the Argentine government warned citizens that xenophobic and racist gestures are considered a racial insult and can lead to arrest. In the state of Santa Catarina, local legislation banning racial quotas in state universities was suspended by the Supreme Court in April after protests by Afro-Brazilian organizations.

Dr. Frazão said acquired rights are guaranteed in law but not always in practice, and the focus now needs to be on their application in daily life.