The racial equality agenda has little mobilization, according to a survey that evaluated more than 37 thousand legislative actions involving 571 parliamentarians who are or have already passed through.
The study, by the Peregum Institute with the Tide Setubal Foundation, scanned the data available at the House on the topic, covering fronts such as education, health and the fight against racism. Actions that emerged or had repercussions in the current legislature (2023-2027) were evaluated.
Carried out for the first time, with researchers from OLB (Brazilian Legislative Observatory) and Gemaa (Multidisciplinary Affirmative Action Study Group), both linked to Uerj (Rio de Janeiro State University), the ranking classified parliamentarians in relation to their level of engagement in the agenda.
Scholars selected legislative actions related to racial equality. 37,089 activities were found, with 34,141 individual roll-call votes referring to 98 plenary votes, 2,406 plenary speeches, 384 amendments and substitutes and 158 opinions (through which the rapporteur expresses whether or not he approves a proposal, for example).
Each category of activity had a different weight in the preparation of a final grade attributed to the parliamentarians’ performance, following this hierarchy: opinion, amendment, vote and speech in plenary.
“This hierarchy has to do with the concreteness of the activities, as a speech may not have any consequences on the concrete result of the process. The opinions guide the entire discussion around the project, including the decisions that are taken by committees and plenary sessions”, explains João Feres Júnior, professor of political science at Uerj and one of the study’s coordinators.
Legislative activities were coded into an index, for each deputy, ranging from -10, when there is engagement that harms racial equality, to +10, when the deputy’s performance is favorable to the topic, such as support for affirmative actions. Scores close to the ends of the scale (-10 or +10) indicate high engagement.
The House’s average was +0.58, which indicates that the House mobilizes little to address the issue, interprets Ingrid Sampaio, advocacy coordinator at Instituto Peregum, a non-profit organization focused on racial justice.
For Feres Júnior, another possible reading of the Chamber’s general average is that, despite the conservatism in the House, the racial equality agenda remains reasonably protected, since the index is slightly positive.
“If we take into account that this is probably the most conservative Congress that Brazil has ever had, the fact that the general index does not lean towards negative may show that the agenda is considerably protected.”
Of the ten deputies with the highest scores, which are relative and not absolute, all are from left-wing parties: PT, PCdoB, PSOL and PSB. At the other end, those with the worst indices are concentrated in PL and Novo. This polarization is reflected in the analysis by ideological spectrum: the general average for the right is -0.54, against +4.26 for the center-left.
By ideological spectrum, the general average for the right is -0.54, against +4.26 for the center-left.
Of the 10 most positively engaged parliamentarians, 8 are women. The opposite appears among the 10 worst placed: women are only 2 of the total.
Among those with the best performance, Erika Kokay (PT-DF), in her fourth term as federal deputy and pre-candidate for the Senate, wins. She was rapporteur and recommended the approval of a bill that prohibits alternative measures, such as non-criminal prosecution agreements, for those accused of racism. The text that is still being processed in the House is based on a project by (PT-RJ) and other authors.
Unlike Kokay, half of the parliamentarians mentioned in the best positions are in their first term in the House.
For scholars, this may indicate that the inclusion of more plural profiles in politics helps to energize the debate, with greater engagement. They are women in their first term in the Chamber and who make up the list Daiane Santos (PCdoB-RS), Célia Xakriabá (PSOL-MG), Carol Dartora (PT-PR) and Dandara (PT-MG).
Of these women with the most positive engagement, five declared themselves to the (Superior Electoral Court) as black and one as indigenous.
For deputy Daiane Santos, “there is no full democracy without racial equality, and there is no racial equality without a political decision to invest, monitor and ensure that the State reaches where it has historically been absent”.
At the other end, with the worst rates, 8 of the 10 parliamentarians declare themselves white, one black and one mixed race.
Junio Amaral (PL-MG) says he thinks it’s “total nonsense to classify people by color” and that he doesn’t agree with “the policy of separation by race.”
Marcel van Hattem (Novo-RS) questions the ranking, which he calls “fake and politically addicted”. He says that well-placed parliamentarians, such as Talíria Petrone (PSOL -RJ), Benedita da Silva (PT-RJ) and Carol Dartora (PT-PR), have already allocated amendments to the Peregum Institute, which also received an appeal from the Federal Executive.
He argues that “he presented a proposal to extinguish the so-called ‘racial courts’ in universities, which function as true mechanisms of discrimination, incompatible with a nation that must respect racial diversity and completely reject racism.”
The Peregum Institute confirms that it received parliamentary amendments, but says that they do not reflect the best placed in the survey and that the methodology was carried out independently, with the support of researchers from Uerj.
“Amendments are public and transparent processes, directed at other processes that have no relation whatsoever [com o levantamento]”, says Ingrid Sampaio.
