Echoes of escaped Brazilian slaves live on in Rio de Janeiro

Hundredsof years after Brazilian slaves first fled to rebel communities calledquilombos, remnants of those outposts of freedom live on in the heart ofRio de Janeiro.Often the quilombos were established in remote places — better to get away from pursuers.However,three founded in Rio have survived as living testaments to a traditionat the core of Brazil’s complicated racial history.Of course,Afro-Brazilians do not need to escape slavery anymore, but in a countryriven by racial inequality and historic injustices, the quilombos nowserve as focal points for resistance of a more contemporary kind.TheSacopa quilombo is one of the city’s best kept secrets, a beautifularea of tropical forest that has ended up being surrounded by thehigh-rent Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas neighbourhood.Back in the 19thcentury, long before the fancy apartment buildings sprang up, this waswhere slaves seeking freedom would gather, starting new lives. Thepopulation grew and, around it, so did Rio.“We’re still here becauseI have been very stubborn. They tried everything to take this land fromus but we have the rights,” said Luiz Sacopa, 74, who is the eldestliving descendant of the original slaves.He says he has lost countof the attempts by people to oust the quilombo. One neighbour plantedmarijuana on the plot to try to incriminate them.Then, citing noisecomplaints, the Rio state court stopped the quilombo from hostingcultural events like feijoada feasts and classes in capoeira, adance-like martial art developed by fugitive slaves.That was “a very hard blow,” Sacopa said.“Wewere very respectful, always ending everything by 8 or 9pm,” saidanother family member, Jose Claudio Torres Freitas, during an eventstaged on official Black Consciousness Day.“This is the only day we’re allowed to do anything,” he said.Themodern-day quilombos like Sacopa do have some legal protection. In2003, then leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a decreeregularising boundaries and titles for descendants of quilombo slaves,who are collectively known as quilombolas.However, the bureaucraticprocedures are complex and while the three quilombos in Rio de Janeirohave been recognised, they are still waiting for the second stage of thepaperwork to be completed.The Pedra do Sal quilombo, right in thecentre of Rio near the port, is where many slaves went soon afterarriving on ships from Africa.The site is also rich in culturalsignificance as a key location in the development of the still thrivingAfro-Brazilian religion candomble.But legal uncertainties mean fewof those from the 25 families descending from the original Pedra do Salcommunity live there anymore.“The neighbourhood wasn’t like this back then — it was very isolated,” said Damiao Braga, the quilombola leader.“But it was gradually invaded and swallowed by the city.There were many disputes, including with the Catholic church.”Even recognition from Unesco for the nearby Valongo Wharf, where slave ships used to dock, has not helped much.“Wehave international support but the disputes remain. Empty buildingshave been taken over and once that happens, it’s not easy to reverse,”Braga said.Out in the west of Rio, where most of the Olympic Gamestook place in 2016, quilombola descendant Adilson Almeida helps overseeyet another of these pockets of history.His ancestors founded theCamorim quilombo after escaping back in the 16th century. When slaveryended, the family returned and set up a community there.In this outof the way area, the quilombolas went about their lives until 2014 whenthe 20 resident families woke up to find construction work starting: thewoodland that was historically theirs had been picked as the site ofhousing for Olympic referees.In this case, the quilombo had yet toreceive the paperwork from even the first stage of the registrationprocedures to obtain legal protection, and the land was never returnedto the community. But Almeida still has hopes.Archaeologists foundthousands of artefacts from the 16th and 17th centuries during researchthere last year, and the disputed area has been named an officialarchaeological site by the National Institute for Historic and ArtisticPatrimony.“Now we have a solid legal base and it would be hard for something like the 2014 invasion to happen again,” Almeida said.