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.

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International Crime Thriller Renegade Pawn Pre-release Teaser

Get involved:

See media of the event on the 3º Julho Negro Facebook Page

Donate

Sources:

Third Annual ‘Black July’ Begins in Rio, Denouncing Global Trend in Racism and Militarization

Black July 2018 Begins with ‘Candelária Never Again!’ Demonstration

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The rich don’t care about you or me, but they are starting to care about the land under us, at least where the World Cup games will be held. Mark my words. Thousands of people—even Dez—will be forced from their homes by the developers. They’ll call it progress, and the politicians will make it all legal for them.”

—LUCAS ROCHA CRIME THRILLER SERIESImage Midia Ninja Creative Commons

The post The Rich Don’t Care appeared first on Craig S Wilson.

The term carioca is used to describe people who were born in Rio de Janeiro. It’s is derived from the indigenous Tupi tribe’s word for “white house” or “white man’s house” to refer to European settlers from Portugal, but Rio de Janeiro is extremely culturally diverse and in modern times carioca refers to anyone who is a native of the city.

Carioca also used to describe the Rio natives’ way of speaking, which is not a different language, but Brazillian Portuguese with a few variants in slang and speaking style.

Cariocas are known to be some of the warmest, friendliest, and most helpful people in the world. They are affectionate and fun-loving, with deep roots in Catholicism that by no means inhibit their enthusiasm for hedonistic pursuits.

There is also a dark side of the city, where drug lords and corrupt law enforcement fight for power on the streets. The life of Lucas Rocha in my international crime thriller, Renegade Pawn, portrays this dangerous side where everyday is a life or death struggle for those living in the slums, or favelas, of Rio de Janeiro. Things culminate before the 2016 Olympics as orphan Lucas delves into the underworld in order to care for his two little sisters. What lines will he have to cross to keep them safe?

Rio de Janeiro has declared a public calamity just months before the games begin. Hopefully, the carioca spirit will help the city finish in time for the world’s most famous athletic event.

Sources:

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Slums are the squalid and overcrowded urban streets or districts inhabited by very poor people. They are rife with crime, disease, malnourishment, and poor sanitation. Many lack fresh water and electricity. Most have open sewers and garbage rotting in the alleys.

These pictures represent the lives of children and people of the slums from India and Asia, to Africa and South America. But you can see their living conditions don’t keep them from smiling once in awhile. It’s a testament to the human spirit and the will to survive. Sometimes images speak louder than words.

The post Portraits of Life in the World’s Slums appeared first on Craig S Wilson.

One Private Room for Rent in Rocinha

My new international crime thriller, Renegade Pawn, immerses you in the murky world of the typical youth living in the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro. Known as the favelas, these neighborhoods are extremely poor, riddled with crime, and usually lack proper sanitation. They’re not the kind of place a tourist should go wandering around after dark, though most areas have been regulated by the Pacifying Police Unit to drive out gangs. However, the demand for more lodgings for the World Cup and upcoming 2016 Olympics, combined with the communities’ need for economic development have led to the rise of special tours and accommodations that give the term slummin’ it a whole new meaning.

Hostels and private homes are opening their doors to the influx of tourists. These options may be the most affordable the city has to offer, with Rio rooms as low as $16 a night. These rooms are usually humble and have little more than the bare necessities, but are perfect for those adventure-seekers looking for the authentic favela experience or for travelers who want to go to the Olympics without draining their bank accounts.

Rooms can be booked online, but for a comprehensive travel plan, Favela Experience offers a complete range of culturally immersive touristic services.

Social Impact Tourism, Accommodation & Cultural Collaboration

“Favela Experience is a for-profit social enterprise that provides culturally immersive homestays, private apartment rentals, hostel stays and tour activities and services to travelers, students and volunteers in favelas, Brazil’s most fascinating urban communities. Guests gain exciting and meaningful travel experiences, bringing sustainable economic development to low-income favela residents, non-profits, and favela based businesses.”

Favela Experience arose from a World Cup focused Indie-Gogo campaign, which resulted in hundreds of foreign travelers staying in Rio’s favelas. This all took place with zero security issues or negative reviews. The creator, Elloit Rosenberg, wanted to “diminish the barrier that can sometimes make it difficult for non-favela organizations to connect with locals in order develop innovative and impactful  ideas, projects, products, and services.”

So, would you brave a stay in the favelas?

Why or why not?

Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

The post Would You Spend the Night in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro? appeared first on Craig S Wilson.

From the top you will see something like this:

Thanks to the Brazilian Gringo for posting this video.

Would you dare to hop on the back of this motorcycle?

Photo credit

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It used to be that no matter what your background — Asian, African or European — you can fit in easily in Brazil. But the reality is very different. Brazil used to be regarded as one of the most racially harmonious places in the world. Yet over the decades, the racial divide has proven to be similar to other countries: driven financially.

Despite the fact that an alluring samba, sultry climate and geography made it easy for a blended society to party together, the workplace was a different matter. Over time, most of the black population has evolved into the service jobs or none at all, whereas the wealthier class are in middle management and above. It is a fact that Brazil was the last place in the Americas to give up slavery. It also imported more than 10 times as many slaves than the United States — some 4 million. In 1872, when Brazil’s first census was conducted, the population was split into just two groups: free people and slaves, who then represented 15% of the population. According to a 2010 census, 7.6% of Brazilians said they were black, compared with 6.2% in 2000, and 43.1% said they were mixed race, up from 38.5%. Interestingly, in the USA, surveys don’t offer a respondent the option to indicate a blend of races.

Thus, more than 50 percent of the population is of African descent, but those numbers haven’t translated to opportunity. Sadly, as an economy tumbles, so do race relations.  The same study found that 31.3% of Brazil’s white population had private health plans, compared with just 15.2% of the black population. The same study found that 31.3% of Brazil’s white population had private health plans, compared with just 15.2% of the black population.  According to studies based on the 2000 census, an eighteen-year-old white Brazilian boy has an average 2.3 years more education than an eighteen-year-old black boy. The father of a white boy also had 2.3 years more education than the father of a black boy. The educational disparity between white and black has remained stubbornly constant over the past three generations. The bottom line:  Mixed races (Afro-Brazilian) comprise just over 50% of the population but are 70% of those in poverty.

Lucas Rocha, the main character of my international thriller series is a sixteen year-old racial mutt who has had virtually no education but that of the streets. Begin your tour of Rio’s favelas right now by downloading the first six chapters for free. CLICK HERE.

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Downtown Detroit abounds with abandoned factories where businesses pulled out in favor of cheaper manufacturing areas elsewhere in the country, leading to pockets of massive unemployment.

Abandoned area of Detroit

High unemployment areas place a strain on government services, as tax revenues decrease, and services such as unemployment assistance, food stamps, and retraining expenses increase. Logically, so does crime. Most cities underwrite cheaper government housing, either in the form of row homes or high-rise affordable housing. Sadly, most of these ambitious projects of the 1950’s turned into failed social experiments, because poverty was concentrated in a dense area, allowing gangs to quickly take control. On March 30, 2011, the final high-rise of the once-infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago were torn down, and most dwellers were relocated into lower-middle-class neighborhoods where they could be integrated into a more balanced society..

Cabrini Green in the 1980’s.

No, the story doesn’t end here, because neighborhoods throughout USA cities still face microcells of gangs and major poverty pockets. Sadly, there are kids in crime-ridden neighborhoods of major cities who live a few miles from a vibrant downtown yet have never left “the hood” for fear of violence.

Southside neighborhood in Chicago

But here’s a glimpse of the future, should American unemployment double or if nearly 20% of its citizens have stopped filing for unemployment benefits and are basically “off the grid.” In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, squatters built colorful shacks high up in the mountains, which formed communities that were “off the grid” as far as the city government was concerned.  There was often no infrastructure provided: no streets, no electricity, no running water, no schools, no fire stations or hospitals. Residents fended for themselves. The locals continued to build on free land until many favelas approached one hundred thousand residents. The default governing body of each hill often became the local drug lord, who lived at the very top, inaccessible by the police. As the money trickled down from above, locals could use cell phones to alert the gangs above that there were intruders. Ironically, as dangerous as the areas were, there was an odd “honor among thieves” and most residents were left alone. In Rio today, there are over one million poor living in favelas in a city of six million.

Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio

But with the 2016 Olympic games, some of this favela land has become strategic to locating Olympic events and housing. The government began to reclaim some favela land in 2008 in preparation for the 2014 World Cup and accelerated cleaning up the slums for the day when the world watches the opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics in 2016. Special forces, called Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais, better known as “BOPE” has been engaged in battle with the gangs for control of their turf. Although the official program is “pacification” of the favelas, BOPE forces have only been trained for combat, not socialization and gentrification. The net result is chaos.

America has its slums and certainly pockets of gangs. But all land is deeded, developed, has roads, water, and electricity. Residents have access to free primary and secondary education. Hospitals are nearby as are fire stations and police departments. None of this exists in most of the Rio favelas.

Begin your experience of Rio’s favelas right now by downloading the first six chapters for free. CLICK HERE.

The post The Difference in USA Slums versus Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas appeared first on Craig S Wilson.

I am a compassionate person.  My wife and I live in downtown Chicago. We walk past people with homeless signs every day. Some have physical disabilities, and others are clearly “not all there.” Because there is a PADS program in Chicago, almost all of them have access to centers that will provide temporary housing. There are also soup kitchens that provide life-sustaining meals. Most of the people on the street choose to live there, rather than be thrown into a group environment.  I have few problems with this.

HOWEVER, I have a real problem with someone who is clearly healthy and in the prime of his or her life sitting on a sidewalk with a corrugated sign that reads something like, “I lost my job and need money.” Here’s why this ticks me off:

• There are 5.4 million job openings in America, mostly lower level and requiring very few skill sets to quality. Source:  October 14, 2015, Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Unemployment assistance lasts for six-months before it runs out. Source: IDES
• There are dozens of retraining programs freely provided. IllinoisWorknet.com
• People who claim to be veterans don’t mention that any veteran no longer able to work qualifies for a Veterans Disability Pension.

I am not insensitive, but I compare the above scenario to the unbelievable conditions that people live in elsewhere in poverty-stricken areas of the world:

• There are 70 million homeless in India with no possibilities for employment, even though many are highly educated.
• The top five rates of unemployment range from Senegal at 48% to 70% Zimbabwe (see Wikipedia for all rates)
• The United States has a murder rate of 4.7% (per 100K inhabitants) versus Honduras—90.4%, Venezuela-53.7%, El Salvador-41.2%, and Brazil-25.2%. Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

There are probably one billion people in this world that would risk their lives to move to America or other affluent countries. It goes on daily at our borders. You would have to have been asleep not to see what has been going on with refugees from war-torn Syria.

I am releasing a book about a homeless kid in Rio de Janeiro named Lucas Rocha and what he does to save his sisters from the slums. Sometimes good people do bad things for the greater good. Download the first 6 chapters pre-release! CLICK HERE.

The post A Word about the Homeless appeared first on Craig S Wilson.

Tragedy and Beauty comingled

Brazil is certainly one of the most violent countries in the world. In 2012, 56,337 people were murdered. In the same year, fewer than 15,000 people died violently in the U.S., a country with 60 percent more people. Not surprisingly, beautiful Rio de Janeiro has actually gotten safer for white people as the 2016 Olympics are approaching. In the past decade, homicides in Brazil among whites have decreased 24 percent but have increased 40 percent within the black population. Those who have money can afford to hire private security and build electric fences and gated communities.

The poor have to deal with a police force that killed some 2,000 people in 2012, roughly five per day.  Per capita, one-eighth as many individuals were killed in the United States. It is common to see pre-teens toting semi-automatic rifles roaming about the poor neighborhoods. Drug gangs rule most of the hills, and in a continuing struggle by the pacification units of Rio police, many neighborhoods quickly turn into war zones.

Jobless single parents, some who are crack heads or prostitutes, have reared generations of slum children. Many kids find it safer to form packs and live on the street rather than home. You can imagine why Lucas Rocha, the main character in my international crime thriller series would have done almost anything to protect his twin six-year old sisters. He joins a nefarious gang to be a drug runner at night to care for Fernanda and Inez by day. Sometimes people do bad things for the greater good. You can download the first 6 chapters pre-release! CLICK HERE.

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