Roots of Intolerance - II

B-Boy Gerson, community youth mentor responsible for training other break dancing kids at Hummingbird and leader of our AfroBreak Dance Group. Awarded B-Boy Revelation at a major event in São Paulo last week.

NB! Please see the previous images for more info.

It's been 117 years since Brazil abolished slavery. And although the Labor Ministry's mobile anti-slavery teams managed to free 6,465 Brazilians in President Lula's first 19 months in office, another 25,000 to 50,000 workers remain enslaved.

A proposed constitutional amendment pending in Brazil's Congress would permit authorities to seize land if slaves are found working on it. But the powerful Brazilian landowners who've defied existing laws and made enslaving workers a rural tradition won't easily be brought to heel.

The possibility of losing property is a heavy instrument to end the economic advantage of those who use slave labor.
But even if confiscation becomes legal, it will require lengthy, slow-moving court procedures. And if the past is any indication, landowners won't go down without a fight. They've used violence and threats of violence against labor inspectors, activists and even priests in their efforts to discourage the enforcement of anti-slavery law.

Lawmakers and big landowners who allegedly work slaves are sometimes one and the same.

There is still a lot of slavery today, not only in Brazil where there are still 2.4 million children working illegally, but also throughout the rest of the world. As long as people want to make money, some will want to steal. Slavery is the worst kind of stealing because they don't just steal your money, they steal your life, your soul, your freedom, ...everything!