The article analyses the importance of the role of the State for the implementation of public policies of affirmative action, especially for black students to enter public higher education. It argues that affirmative action is one of the alternatives to reduce or minimize the inequality in this field between black and white students and/or students from public schools and private schools, in particular by means of one of its techniques of implementation: the quota system. In spite of there being various arguments against the quota system, the authors concentrate on debating or counter-arguing only one: that the quota system may generate racial conflicts in Brazil.
Public Policies; Affirmative Actions; Quota System; Higher Education; Racial Conflicts