By Liliana Palmer Santa Monica
I am a junior at Santa Monica High School, and after learning about modern slavery through a documentary, I felt compelled to inform as many people possible on this issue.
While watching “Slavery: A Global Investigation” the documentary, made in 2001, I was in shock to discover that chocolate is a major in the 19th Century. Slavery today has not improved throughout time. Slaves live horrible lives, they are imprisoned, they are beaten, and they are not paid a single dime for their labor work. When I say that chocolate is the cause for slavery, I am referring to the cocoa beans derived from it. Most of the cases reported are not in the U.S. but that does not mean we are a nation do no enslave people. In the documentary, I found out that slavery is illegal in every country in the world.
After having read the narrative of Frederick Douglas in English class and after watching the documentary I am able to closely relate them to one another. The book is about a boy’s life having been born into slavery. He speaks about his first experiences with slavery. This amazing since this narrative centers on slavery which was abolished by the 13th amendment in 1865 and still exists in the year 2006.
Basically, anything that contains chocolate may have been produced by slaves. The only guarantee that the chocolate you are consuming is safe is by buying organic chocolate which is an 100 percent slave-free product. So next time you consume any type of chocolate, I ask you to please think about the people who are enslaved and that are forced to produce it.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 20, 2006. Read the original PDF.