American and Brazilian courts are traveling quite different paths regarding the question of racial justice. Race neutrality has become an influential interpretive approach in both jurisdictions, a perspective that articulates a depiction of these nations as culturally homogenous societies with the defense of liberal principles as a necessary requirement for social cohesion. Because of the representation of Brazil and the United States as democracies that facilitate integration of all racial groups, courts in these countries have developed an equal protection approach that combines the rhetoric of assimilation and formal equality. However, while the discourse of race neutrality gains continuous political force in the United States, race consciousness is acquiring increasing persuasive power in Brazil. As the implementation of affirmative action programs has expanded into different sectors, various social actors have questioned their constitutionality. Although state and federal courts in Brazil have condemned affirmative action because it supposedly subverts liberal principles and moral consensus about equal racial treatment, the Brazilian Supreme Court has recently classified race neutrality as a strategy of racial domination. Differently from American affirmative action cases, this decision formulated a notion of citizenship that functions as a counterhegemonic narrative. In articulating progressive constitutional principles and a group-oriented equal protection perspective, the Brazilian Supreme Court has significantly contributed to the deconstruction of the traditional discourse of race transcendence. The Court’s decisions may serve as an interesting point of comparison for the debate about affirmative action in the United States, since Brazilian history shows very clearly how race neutrality allows majoritarian groups to defend racial privilege while advocating formal equality as a way to promote social inclusion.

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美国和巴西平权诉讼法院判决中的公民权话语

美国和巴西法院在种族正义问题上走的是截然不同的道路。种族中立已成为这两个司法管辖区的一种有影响力的解释方法，这种观点将这些国家描述为文化同质化的社会，并将捍卫自由原则作为社会凝聚力的必要要求。由于巴西和美国代表了促进所有种族群体融合的民主国家，这些国家的法院制定了一种平等保护方法，将同化和形式平等相结合。然而，虽然种族中立的话语在美国获得持续的政治力量，但种族意识在巴西获得越来越大的说服力。随着平权行动计划的实施扩展到不同部门，各种社会行为者质疑其合宪性。尽管巴西的州和联邦法院谴责平权行动，因为它据称颠覆了关于平等种族待遇的自由原则和道德共识，但巴西最高法院最近将种族中立列为种族统治策略。与美国的平权行动案例不同，该决定制定了一种公民概念，作为一种反霸权叙事。在阐明进步的宪法原则和以群体为导向的平等保护观点时，巴西最高法院为解构种族超越的传统话语做出了重大贡献。