Sophisticated Violence Against Blacks in an Era of Affirmative Action Policies: A Predictor of Violent Racial Conflict or a Case of Academic Terror?

The quota system for Black students to be admitted in public universities was implemented in Brazil in the early 2000s. Throughout this decade, there were hotly contested debates among intellectuals, with arguments for and against this system. This chapter examines the validity of one of the arguments against quotas. The argument in opposition to quotas was that that the quota system for Blacks would promote violent racial conflicts in public universities. Relying on published research that include dissertations, theses, and published articles, as well as surveys carried out at federal universities, the authors found that violent racial conflicts in Brazil did not materialize as a result of the implementation of quota programs.