Race/color self-declaration before the unified health SUS

conceptual reflections inspired in the campaign carried out by the state of Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

This thematic essay aims to discuss the conceptual perspective of the race/color category, which takes the phenotypic characteristic of the skin color as the main element for the self-declaration process of subjects. It also aims to subsidize a more complex conceptualization of that category regarding the African diasporic origin, offspring and ancestry, inspired in the experience of the campaign launched by the Health Department of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, by means of the State Coordination of the Black Population Health: "Declare your love to your Mother, Grandmother, Grandfather, Father, Ancestry. Declare your race/color!”. It is a thematic essay, whose reflections and discussions depart from the Afrocentricity epistemology and from some theorists debating the Post Colonialism. In the social psychology and public health fields, the challenge is to qualify the notification of race/color while launching a new discussion process of racial thematic and fight against also racism as institutional racism in the Unified Health System (SUS).