Public Note #26 – In support of affirmative policies

The Arns Commission publicly expresses its emphatic support for the measures recently taken by the business sector and public administration, in the sense of strengthening affirmative action policies aimed at historically discriminated minorities, such as the Black population, Indigenous peoples, women, and individuals with physical disabilities. The Commission considers that such policies are essential for the realization of the fundamental right to equality, one of the pillars of democracy.

This is a long-term progress. Since 1971, when a group of Black activists raised the flag to commemorate November 20 (the date of death of Zumbi dos Palmares, in 1695) as National Black Awareness (or Black Consciousness) Day, and also with the creation of the Unified Black Movement, in 1978, in the context of the fight against the military dictatorship, the claims of Afro-descendants have been impacting the process of consolidation of Brazilian democracy.

In 2012, in a historic session, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) unanimously decided on the constitutionality of affirmative action for Blacks, Indigenous people, and low-income students in federal universities. Soon after, Congress passed the quota law on federal universities and education institutes. State universities followed suit.

A study published last year by the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira – Inep, in Portuguese), which is an agency linked to the Ministry of Education, ascertained that the quota law increased the presence of Black, Pardo, and Indigenous students from public schools by 39%. in federal institutions of higher education, between 2012 and 2016. The debate and the transforming effect promoted by this law stimulated other institutions to follow suit. Thus, in 2014, Congress extended the quota system to federal public tenders (public job selections for permanent positions), reserving 20% ​​of vacancies to Afro-descendants.

Today we welcome the fact that several large companies, law firms, and civil society organizations in the country have also adopted ambitious programs, with vacancies reserved for Black people.

Despite their evident success, affirmative policies continue to be questioned by socially conservative sectors of society and by the current government. Before being dismissed, in June of this year, the former Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub, revoked the ordinance that stipulated the reservation of vacancies for Black and Indigenous people, and persons with disabilities in graduate programs of federal institutions of higher education. Faced with the suits against this measure, which were filed in the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and in the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) by opposition parties and organizations of the Black movement, the Ministry reversed its decision and re-established the ordinance.

Such facts prove that the affirmative actions announced recently, which guarantee job opportunities to those who have always been discriminated against and devalued due to racism and classism, still need to advance further in order to reach new spaces. And thus we will move forward together, as a society.

Photo: UOL