Brasília — In a pivotal session of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) this Thursday, November 27, 2025, Justice Luiz Fux delivered one of the strongest institutional acknowledgment to date regarding the systemic barriers faced by Afro-Brazilians. During the judgment of ADPF 973 — a constitutional action addressing racial inequality and violations of rights — Fux stated that the near absence of Black Brazilians in high-level and strategic positions is not a coincidence but the direct result of historical and structural racism rooted in the country’s past and present.
Speaking as the rapporteur of the case, Fux affirmed that Afro-Brazilians “do not occupy strategic positions, they are not given that chance; the deprivation comes from far back, and it is the result of historical racism.” His remarks align with decades of research and data showing that although Black and brown Brazilians form the majority of the population, they remain significantly underrepresented in leadership roles. This reality is visible across multiple sectors of Brazilian society: in the federal public service, representation of Black workers declines sharply in senior posts; in major corporations, Afro-Brazilians are almost entirely absent from executive leadership; in the judiciary, few judges and prosecutors are Black; and in the political sphere, structural and financial barriers limit the election of Black candidates despite broad Black electoral participation.
ADPF 973, filed by political parties and Black rights organizations, presents extensive documentation of violations affecting the Black population, including unequal access to education, healthcare, employment, housing, public security, and basic infrastructure. The case argues that Brazil’s longstanding failure to address these disparities has allowed discrimination to become permanently embedded in state institutions. Justice Fux echoed these concerns, stating that Brazil is experiencing an “unconstitutional state of affairs” in which persistent racial inequality undermines constitutional guarantees of equality and dignity.
In his vote, Fux proposed that the federal government be required to develop a National Plan to Combat Structural and Institutional Racism within one year, outlining concrete and coordinated policies aimed at expanding educational opportunities, strengthening racial quotas, monitoring discrimination in hiring and promotion, investing in infrastructure in marginalized areas, protecting quilombola communities and Afro-Brazilian religious spaces, and reducing violence against Black youth. He stressed that the challenges faced by Afro-Brazilians are not due to individual shortcomings but the predictable outcome of centuries of exclusion — a cycle that begins with unequal access to early education, continues through economic barriers, and results in institutional invisibility.
The session marked an important moment in Brazil’s national debate on race, challenging the country’s long-standing myth of racial democracy. By identifying the structural roots of inequality and calling for decisive governmental action, Fux signaled that combating racism requires more than symbolic gestures. His message was clear: Brazil cannot claim to be a true democracy while structural racism continues to determine who has access to power and who remains excluded.
