Andre Genovesi and Brazilian Skateboarding

I got my copy of Skateboarder Magazine, August 2005 issue, today. I just read the Andre Genovesi interview. I’m always on the lookout for stuff about Brazilian skateboarders because I lived in Brazil for two years when I was 19-20 years old, and I loved the place.

First of all, you’ve got to give it to guys like Andre who are able to make it out of the favelas. Those places are crazy. I was in them all the time when I was in Brazil, but luckily I wasn’t in Rio where the really bad ones are, I was in ones where people were just dirt poor, but people weren’t nearly as violent as in the south of Brazil (I was in Manaus, by the Amazon River).

For you guys who grow up in the US or Canada you have no idea what it’s like down there. Someone who is “poor” in the US has ten times as much stuff as the normal people in Brazil. If it weren’t for the fact that in Brazil you’ll never freeze to death and food grows on trees everywhere I’m guessing half the population would be dead.

I don’t know what the economic situations were for all the Brazilians like Andre, Rodrigo, Carlos, Burnquist, Fabrizio, Adelmo, of course Og de Souza, and all the others, but if they were living like most of the Brazilians I knew during my two years there then the fact that they made it to the States and have become as big as they are is just amazing.

The sad part is that Brazil has so much to offer. The place is immune from most natural disasters like tornados, earthquakes, and tidal waves. It’s got tons of the greatest beaches in the world that people don’t even know about. There are tons of lumber, gold, water, animals, plants that may lead to all sorts of cures for diseases, and some of the nicest people on the planet. If they could just fix their government and get rid of the corruption they could be one of the richest, most powerful countries in the world within 25 years, but the entire country is kept down because of greed that filters down from the top levels and makes it almost impossible to do anything or go anywhere in life.

For example, here in the US it’s a piece of cake to start a business compared to Brazil. Not that it’s easy here, but the difficulties here are nothing compared to Brazil. They make it so hard to start and run a business there that people don’t start businesses. That means no jobs, and that means everyone is poor. If they could just make it easier for people to start and own businesses without having to pay so much money it would change the country almost overnight and just about everyone would be better off for it.

Go watch 411 issue 64. Eu amo Brasil.