NILSSON OLIVEIRA
BLACK BRAZILIAN
AGE 21
Nilsson Oliveira is a linguistics student at the Federal University of Bahia, who speaks fluently: English, French and German, as well as his native Portuguese.  He is one of those fortunate few blacks in Bahia who passed the entrance test into the Federal University, which in Brazil means a free education.

He attended the Afro-Brazilian Congress.

He says he began wearing exclusively African clothes about 8 months earlier after the conservative look did not get him a job in any of Salvador's tourist agencies.  Below are quotations from him on some of his views about race and life as a black man in Brazil:

                      SPEAKING TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

PERSONAL DISCRIMINATION:
"People here know I speak English and French.  If I were white I would be middle class.  I would have all the opportunity.  People don't give me a chance because I'm black."
"Who wants an African-conscious person?  Nobody.  But I don't care. I really don't want to work for white people.  I want to work with my  people."

 
ON BEING BLACK IN BRAZIL:
"The less black your skin is, the less discrimination you suffer.  I suffer much more discrimination than a person who's lighter-skinned than I am. I am  black.  I am proud to be black.  But there are many people who believe the word "black" is very ugly and they get offended.  Because "black"is considered ugly, many people will say, no you're not black you're mulato or moreno or  "escurinho"(a little on the dark side)."

THE CONCERT:

"Yes, I think the black people should get a discount because we are poorer than whites.  Not many of us get the opportunity to go to concerts or enjoy the arts.  And I think I should get an additional discount because I'm a student."

Nilsson's father is a Salvador bus driver, his mother is a tailor.  He still lives at home in his predominately black barrio called "Northeast."  His goal he says it to start a school to teach foreign languages to the poor kids of Salvador.

One interesting final note.  To the ear of this writer, his accent of English,  like that of other inner city black Salvadors who speak the language fluently,  is not a Brazilian accent.  It is a West African accent.