Talk:Nilo Peçanha

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Brazil: History Mid‑importance

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"Only mulatto President"[edit]

I've removed from the intro the claim that Peçanha was the only 'mulatto' President of Brazil for a number of reasons:

The definition of mulatto is highly fungible.
Mulato, in Portuguese, can be deemed an offensive term. It should be noted that the etymological origin of the term is mula (mule).
Peçanha was not the only President to conceal his racial ancestry. Campos Sales, Rodrigues Alves and Washington Luis also reportedly worked to hide their African heritage.
His ethnicity is only relevant in how it shaped his political career and how it was shamefully used as fuel for smear campaigns by his rivals. It is not a mere statistical element, nor is it a landmark in Brazilian political history akin to Obama's election in the US.

I therefore object to his ethnicity being mentioned in the intro section with such nonchalance. I believe it is dealt with more coherently in the body of the article, and perhaps the intro should reflect that. Zelani (talk) 16:25, 16 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]