For the Children Lost to Police Violence

Mothers of children lost to police violence took action in Rio de Janeiro for Julho Negro (Black July). Black July has become joint international event against militarization and racism around the world. This was the third annual event, taking place for 2018 from July 23–27 in Rio de Janeiro.

Fifteen other countries participated, including Palestine, Chile, Colombia, South Africa, the United States, Argentina, and India. The organizers of Black July seek to create a forum for similar movements to demand governments account for the way they treat the poor and racially discriminated in their respective countries.

Julho Negro is an autonomous organization built by mothers, families, and social groups from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, which has been plagued by violence related to military intervention for decades.

Black July runs on donations. The event featured social forums, film screenings, campaigns, presentations, workshops and more.

On July 23rd, hundreds of people, including mothers who lost their children to state violence, walked down the city streets of Rio in memory of the Candelária Massacre of 1993, when more than fifty people were shot by off-duty police officers in their sleep. Some were sleeping homeless children.

Little has changed in the favelas since then, when it has been reported that helicopters now target homes in the slums.

My book, Renegade Pawn, is set among these turbulent streets, where a homeless orphan must lead a double life with Rio’s corrupt police and the favelas’ most notorious drug lord.