With Olympics Comes Lessons on Race in Brazil: To Dr. Vania Penha-Lopes, the selection of Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the first in South America, is a teachable moment.
“I feel great that the International Olympic Committee recognized that the continent of America has a South,” said Penha-Lopes, a sociology professor at Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, N.J., who was born and raised in Brazil.
“In terms of the United States, it will educate more people that there is a huge country south of the equator. Maybe [Americans] will learn we speak Portuguese and not Spanish.”
However, she’s concerned that the millions spent to host the major sporting events will not benefit all Brazilians.
