Brazilians May Elect Their First Black President — A Woman Named Marina Silva

“She’s going to come with her tan skin and popular appeal.... She’s going to be so different, and for that reason, so similar to all of us.”—Marina Silva campaign song.

Photo provided by edu2424.

By Taylor Barnes
The official jingle for Marina Silva's presidential campaign discreetly refers to the candidate's skin color: “She’s going to come with her tan skin and popular appeal.... She’s going to be so different, and for that reason, so similar to all of us.”

The brief line – among diverse references to how she appeals to all Brazilians of all creeds – is symbolic. After her years in the public eye as a politician and activist, Brazilians know well the personal story of Ms. Silva: She hails from an impoverished family of 11 children in a remote corner of the Amazon, worked as a housemaid, and was illiterate until the age of 16. She’s a devout Pentecostal Christian and an outspoken environmentalist.

But in one of the most diverse nations in the world, few are talking about the fact that, if victorious, Ms. Silva would be Brazil’s first president who identifies as black. It’s put a spotlight on how race is – and isn’t – discussed here, and what that means for a nation that often describes itself as a “racial democracy” but still suffers from deep inequality and discrimination that fall along racial lines.

“If you look closely, people don’t speak about racial issues. It’s so complicated,” says Rodrigo Ledo, a press manager for the Brazilian Socialist Party, for which Silva became the presidential candidate after her running mate died in an August plane crash. “We have the aura of living in harmony, despite there being so much prejudice. It’s part of our education as Brazilians,” Mr. Ledo says.

Brazil is the second-largest country of afro-descendants in the world, behind Nigeria. Some estimates say Brazil accounted for 30 to 40 percent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade during its colonial period, a higher percentage than the United States. And according to the 2010 census, Brazil is now a “majority minority” nation, where more than half the population does not identify as white.

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