DOES SLAVERY STILL EXIST ? 

One day, a beachgoer, on seeing me collect the trash left on Ipanema beach, exclaimed: "Slavery still exists, my friend, didn't you know?" 

Like many others, myself included, he was affronted and indignant about the carelessness of other beachgoers who negligently leave their plastic and assorted trash and scraps of food on the sand of the beach. Such people evidently believe that there will always be someone servile to clean up the mess that they leave behind them.

This reminds me of the time that my black maid saw me cleaning the drain in the washing area of my apartment, removing dirt that had blocked it. She exclaimed: " Oh, Mr. Michael.*  Why are you doing a black man's work?” Shocked, I explained: "This is not work just for black people! I do this work myself whenever necessary." Although she was a negress herself, she showed a deep-seated preconception about the sort of work that people of Afro-Brazilian descent should do.

Maybe the lazy, careless beachgoers also believe that it is not up to them to remove and throw away their trash because that is a servile act. What a disgrace!

The work of the garbage collectors should be merely to collect the trash that people leave in the appropriate trashcans or garbage bins provided. They should not have to comb the entire beach with a rake to remove every piece of plastic and the scraps of food that lazy, careless beachgoers leave on the sand.

* Mr. Michael is characteristic of the way slaves in the deep south of the USA used to address their masters.  Normally, a person would say Michael (if on first name terms) or Mr. Walton or Sir, never Mr. Michael.