In Brazil children are using music which is one of
their country's best strength to fight their country's greatest shortcomings:
poverty, racism, and police violence. The musicians are part of Group Cultural
Afro Reggae which empowers children from Rio de Janeiro shantytowns through
workshops of music and dance. With the music, Afro Reggae tries to keep young
people alive. A 25 year old taxi driver was organizing reggae dance party’s
downtown with three friends. The four of them found two volunteer teachers and
began offering classes in Afro-Brazilian dance and drumming in a small
courtyard in the favela. The group works in a new cultural center with more
than 350 children and offers classes in everything from flamenco and ballroom
dancing to public health and citizenship. Afro Reggae has the ability to use
culture to steer youths away from drug trade and provide them a way to
communicate with society. This has the attention of national and international
foundations, governments, and the media.
A third of Rio's 5.5 million people live in favelas,
and Brazil had a big gap between rich and poor. Drug mafias have taken over the
favelas in the early 1980's, they govern with automatic weapons. Rio's military
police kill an average of 14 civilians a month. I think this is pretty awful
because many people get killed. I didn't know that this was going now
especially that the police was also killing people whom I thought that the drug
dealers where the ones killing people, but also the military police also. These
people that have made this group to help the society learn some other thing
about culture than about drugs. I think that this way many youths will leave
the drugs and learn more how to dance or play Afro Reggae with other types of
dances.
Berenice S.
