Mindfullness
Novembro de 2008, By Luiza Corrêa (Design) “True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity. False charity constrains the fearful and subdued, the “rejects of life,” to extend their trembling hands. True generosity lies in striving so that these hands - whether of individuals or entire peoples - need be extended less and less in supplication, so that more and more they become human hands which work and, working, transform the world.”
Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Opressed
I managed to get my acceptance letter at the only Public Relations College in Rio de Janeiro. It was exciting to think I was able to make it. I never thought I could reach this far. Enrolling in a public institution was my mom’s (and at least two of my uncles) longtime dream. Unfortunately, she was not able to make it herself for many different reasons, and all of them due to the invisible obstacles poor colored people go through. The history behind these obstacles you might have already heard as it includes low investments in K-12 public education, hostile neighborhoods, urgency of making money to pay bills and their nutrition, and violence in and out of the household. This is not just a Usonian phenomenon, but a neoliberal consequence. Public colleges in Brasil are respected in the country. They are the best higher education institutions one can have and it is entirely free. The best History College and the second-best Medicine College in Latin America are located in terras tupiniquins. In spite of the political chaos the country has been brought into, our colleges are still known by their critical and political reflections about society. However, despite being public, these colleges were also known as being an elite (and white) space. The poor were never welcome into these spaces for similar reasons. Nontraditional students from the U.S. pursue for-profit institutions and often ended up with an insane amount of debt. It was after a radical change in Brazilian Higher Education conception (2002-2003) that I was able to enroll in the State University of Rio de Janeiro. For the first time, a mass of black and brown students walked into the public university and took seats in classes that were white dominated. We were one step closer to breaking up with the poverty line. The process of putting forward a racial equity plan favorable to enroll disadvantaged people in public colleges was built in partnership with society. That effort was the result of an extensive pressure by the black, feminist and syndicalist movements, progressive political parties and international commitments. That plan would consider the holistic story black people went through: both the years Back to Contenido
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