Billionaire's Star Rises as She Takes Bold Stance on Racism in Brazil

[Demovictory9]

Billionaire’s Star Rises as She Takes Bold Stance on Racism in Brazil
Luiza Trajano turned a small family store into a retail giant. Now, a company policy limiting its executive training program to Black applicants is drawing praise, outrage and much soul-searching.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/world/americas/luiza-trajano-brazil-magalu-racism.html



SÃO PAULO, Brazil — It was a casual conversation that led Luiza Trajano, one of Brazil’s wealthiest women, to ponder her country’s racism, to recognize her part in it — and to do something about it.

A few years back, she said, she had heard a young, accomplished Black businesswoman mention that she never attended happy hours with colleagues unless her boss explicitly asked her to join. Years of feeling the rejection that many Black Brazilians experience in predominantly white settings had taught her to seek clear invitations, the woman explained.

Ms. Trajano, who is white, felt a pang of sadness. Then an uncomfortable thought crossed her mind.

“At my birthday parties, there aren’t any Black women,” Ms. Trajano remembered thinking. “That’s structural racism that, in my case, is not born out of rejection, but out of failing to seek them out.”

That moment of introspection for Ms. Trajano, who had turned a small family business into a retail behemoth, helped plant the seeds for a bold corporate affirmative action initiative, which has drawn praise, outrage and plenty of soul searching in Brazil.

[Carlitos Brigante]

1. And of course, good ol' walking, talking fascist scrotum Jair has some

thoughts to offer:

There has been fervent speculation online that Ms. Trajano could be a wild card in this year’s presidential elections, perhaps as a running mate of Mr. da Silva, the front-runner in the race. While she has categorically ruled out playing such a role, it’s clear Mr. Bolsonaro has come to see her as a threat to his re-election prospects.

In November, he seemed to relish that the company’s stock price had fallen in recent months amid speculation of a political partnership between Mr. da Silva and Ms. Trajano, whom the president referred to as a “socialist.”

Later that day, when Ms. Trajano was asked about the president’s remark, she said she didn’t find the label offensive.

“I think social inequality must be confronted,” she said. “If that’s being a socialist, then I’m a socialist.”

[brush]

2. There are good people everywhere. She is one.