The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Building Partnerships between Civil Rights Communities in the United States and Brazil

The United States and Brazil are the two largest multiethnic nations in the Western Hemisphere with a diverse population composed of European, African, Asian and indigenous populations. Together, they have the largest population of African descendents, with African-Americans making up more than 14% of the United States population and Afro-Brazilians making up approximately 45% of the Brazilian population. Though great strides have been made in both countries to integrate and recognize the contributions of their minority groups, African-Americans still experience discrimination in education, employment, housing, voting, and the criminal justice system, while Afro-Brazilians continue to lag behind in all leading indicators in Brazil, and are among the country's poorest and most disenfranchised people, victims of overwhelming levels of systemic discrimination.

In March 2008, the United States and Brazil signed the historic Joint Action Plan Against Racial Discrimination, in which both nations pledged to deepen their cooperation and develop a series of initiatives to promote equal opportunity and counter racial and ethnic discrimination in both countries.  Visionary and holistic in its approach, the Joint Action Plan called for the engagement of the public, civil society and private sectors of both countries. In April 2009 the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) collaborated with the Department of State in hosting a half day event for Brazilian NGO leaders.  Building off both JAPARD and the convening in April, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) see an opportunity to contribute their respective expertise and engage a diverse set of stakeholders toward combating discrimination on all levels by using the collective experience of history and lessons learned about ways to promote racial equality in both the United States and Latin America.

LCCREF and CSIS will spearhead a pilot project consisting of two day-long interactive seminars that would identify the needs and challenges of the Brazilian civil rights movement while offering the lessons learned in advancing racial equality across different sectors in the United States and Latin America. The first seminar will focus on the importance of coalition building; the second will address the three-pronged strategy for effective and enduring change: advocacy from the streets, litigation in the courts, and legislation on the federal level. The expertise of partners in Brazil, local leaders, organizations, respective government offices, and the legal community will be brought to bear on all activities. 

Beyond the pilot dialogue, outcomes that can be presumed as part of the plan for the comprehensive, long-term goal of advancing racial equality include the:

• development of a joint set of analyses and strategies that address shared concerns around specific problems and opportunities that exist for all of our communities;
• creation of planning groups comprised of key leaders from different sectors of minority communities to expand the initial group and to develop regional planning groups; 
• cooperation with other countries in the region to create a model for programs and advocacy that is easily replicable; and
• drafting of training material based on experiences from LCCREF and others on advancing the principles of anti-discrimination laws and ways to begin the implementation of a legal regime that supports the long-term objectives identified in the U.S. Brazil accord.