President Launches Racial Equality Effort

Brazil’s president launched a national program to encourage racial equality, promising to grant land titles to descendants of runaway slaves and promote a system of quotas at the nation’s universities.

At a ceremony celebrating Black Consciousness Day, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said, “It’s time for the country to face the truth hidden over four centuries: Who pays the price of inequality in this country is the black woman, the black man, the black elderly, the black youth and the black children.”