'Salvador is the blackest city in Brazil. It's where I was born, in 1976. Salvador is about seventy per cent black and thirty per cent white. I would compare it to a southern state in the United States — Mississippi, perhaps — because the thirty per cent run everything. They own all the businesses and have all the power. My father was in the air force. His position shielded me from a lot of racism, but 'shielded from' doesn't mean eliminated: I suffered from it throughout my childhood.' (Introduction)