Court upholds affirmative action in universities

Brazil’s Supreme Court has confirmed the nation’s establishment of university quotas to promote educational opportunities for Afro Brazilians, writes Karen Juanita Carrillo for AmNews.

The decision came on 26 April and serves as a victory for Afro Brazilian civil rights groups, which have been challenging the longstanding delusion that because of its tradition of ‘miscigenação’ or racial mixing, Brazil had established a racial democracy where everyone was equal.

Back in 2004, the Universidade de Brasilia (UnB) created a quota programme designed to reserve 20% of its admission slots for Afro Brazilians, mixed-race and indigenous students. However, Senator Demosthenes Torres and his right-wing Democratas Party, who argue that quotas violate the nation’s principle of racial equality, challenged the UnB quota system.
Full report on the New York Amsterdam News site