Digital Equity and Black Brazilians

In this chapter, the author examines the history of the colonization of Brazil through the transatlantic Black slave trade and the effects this history had upon digital equity experienced by Black Brazilians in the information age. This examination is conducted using the philosophical lenses of critical theory and critical race theory (CRT). Coming from these perspectives, the author joins other scholars in the belief that racism does, in fact, exist in Brazilian societies and joins with those who aim to dispel ‘the myth of racial democracy’ and the myth of racial harmony in a country with roots in a race-based system of slavery and peonage. The author contends that issues of digital equity and equality of opportunity can only be effectively addressed if one has a deep understanding of the factors that led to inequities that preceded the information age. With this in mind, the author shares various culturally-based grass-roots efforts along with government initiatives she observed during a preliminary investigation of digital equity in this segment of the African Diaspora.