Language, Literature, and culture- English studies

Academic Writing
Prof: Jacira Monteiro

Discrimination in Cape Verde

Elaborated by:
Jesuvino Rafael Costa Santos
 Discrimination in Cape Verde

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept
and celebrate those differences” by Audre Lorde.

Discrimination is a problem that are being spoiling the world by the time, and
according to APA, it is the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and group based on
characteristics such as race, gender, age, or sexual orientation. We are being
discriminate each other for things that does not matter, just for feeling superior of
another. However, we wonder, why this? Why we want to see others down if we are all
equal? Unfortunately, we cannot answer this because we all do that, and sometimes we
use to say that is all plays, but deeply we are doing something that can put others down.
In this paper I will talk about the discrimination in Cape Verde in kind of race, social
condition, using of piercing, tattoos, dread, and smoke, social orientation, health,
education, and religion.

We can see this here in Cape Verde, we are racist, limited. We used to
discriminate the people from other African countries just because the way they are, their
cultures, view of life, colour, and other things, while the people from another continent,
mostly people from Europe- Portugal, we use to treats them as princess and prince. The
question is, why? What they have more than another people? Just because they are
white? What matter? Colour do not define any human, only the character, humility, and
honesty, etc. Therefore, we can see as stated by Buala that ‘‘Cape Verde is not Africa,
Cape Verdeans are ‘special blacks’ and the closest to Portugal. Cape Verde is the
country of miscegenation, the ‘proof’ of ‘racial harmony’ of Luso-Tropicalism.’’ In this
quote, we could see that have an overvaluation of the white race and downgrading of the
black race, and a negation of the origin itself.

Cape Verdeans discriminate even each other, because if we look around us, we
use to discriminate people from here just because they are poor, just because they do not
have many clothes, just because they speak a dialect different from us. We see this for
example, people from Sao Vicente islands use to joke with all the people who speak a
dialect from the other islands, however, the other islands use to do almost the same. We
both uses to do that, and this is wrong because we are one country divided into 10
islands with different accents but the same native language (crioulo). Being a single
people, but with so much regional/cultural rivalry between us that only make us divide
and not the otherwise, to unite.

Living in a sexist society, in which they saw the men as kings, and the women
cannot do anything except take care of the children, and the house, where the parents let
the boys freer than the girls. Men hitting the women as were their father, all that because
we are in a society with gender inequality, for instance men could stay with many girls
only for sex, however seen as stallions, while women could stay with many boys,
without relationships, and seen as ‘‘prostitutes’’. According to ‘‘UN Women’’,
proportion of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 years experiencing intimate partner
physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. Women are privatised to
make part of the important places on the Cape Verdean Podio, judged for their physical
body, and harassed.

Therefore, people who use piercing, dread, tattoo, we feel in the right of
discriminate this people just because they are using something that they like, not
because there are thieves, bandits or they use drugs. Sometimes is just because they feel
comfortable with them or because they want to, it may be that some use drugs, but
nevertheless, use drug do not define the character of people, they use because they want,
not because they are bandits, also because life is theirs.

Other way that we use to discriminate people is about the sexual orientation.
Society command us, we were teaching to say that the pattern is woman with man, but
the question is, do we have the same taste? If we are human, equal, and different at the
same time, why we must do the same thing, same tastes? Have a sexual orientation
different from the society looks, does not mean they are “axis” or “anomalies”, they are
humans, all they have is different sexual orientation.

Another stuff is in kind of health. It is hard to believe, unfortunately we use to

discriminate Cape Verdeans people in the field of health attendance, in which who have
money for pay, are the 1st of list, whereas, who have no money even if they were with
 much pain, are the last of the list of attendance. Furthermore, those who
have such a

chronic disease such as HIV or cancer, they are seeing as someone those who we cannot
involve or convive.

Moreover, in kind of education. A system in those who have the best grate are
considering the best, they evaluate the knowledge of people in the grates. Also, a
country in where those who are from Praia have major opportunity for those who are
from another part of the country, where even they do not have the good, or best grates
as the others, by the fact that they are from Praia, they have more opportunity to take the
scholarship for abroad or into the country, to get a job, etc.

Finally, in kind of religion. They believe that we all are Catholics, religion this
inherited by colonization (slavery heritage), in which they were kind of obliged to
baptize to be respected and viewed as decent, forgetting that we have are choices and
have other religions whose we can follow, also whether we do not follow none of them,
does not means that we do not believe in something, or we are not decent as a human
citizen. Also, we have the branch of those who is not religious that judge the one who
follow the religion, as into the country as well as abroad the country.

The main purpose of this paper was to make a short approach of discrimination
in Cape Verde showing up some field in which Cape Verdeans people are racist or
preconceptions such as in the field of race, social condition, using of tattoos, piercing,
dread, and smoke, therefore, in the field of sexual orientation.

I conclude that Cape Verdeans are all racist but unfortunately, have no concrete
studies yet, that prove this by the fact that we are hiding our reality just for pass a good
image of our country, but we could see this in our day to day, judging people just from
the way they look/appearance, or they have/social status, their choices, etc. Because we
think that racism is all about race, sexual orientation and/or social condition, but no,
have other factors that into in game such as religion, gender, etc. It is time to stop! Stop
following the old society, time to clear and open our minds. Time to let anyone do what
they want, what they feel comfortable, even if we do not like, no one must glad anyone,
 we only must accept choices of others. We must think that we do not
command life, taste, etc. of anyone, see that using tattoo, piercing, making part of
LGBT or being black or

pauper does not matter, the character of people come from within. Therefore, think as
stated by Nelson Mandela:

‘No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or
religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for
love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite”.
 References:
APA. (2019). What is discrimination. Retrieved from:
https://www.apa.org/topics/racism-bias-discrimination/types-stress
Buala. (2016). To be an African in Cape Verde is a Taboo. Retrieved from:
https://www.buala.org/en/to-read/to-be-african-in-cape-verde-is-a-taboo.
Shutterstock. (2021). Discrimination images. [jpg]. Shutterstock.
UN Women. (2016). Global database on violence against women. Retrieved from:
https://evaw-global-database.unwomen.org/en/countries/africa/cabo-verde.