As anti-racism protests pop up around the world, demonstrators have started a wave of defacing, toppling, or destroying monuments dedicated to historical figures such as slave traders, Christopher Columbus, or — more specifically in the U.S. — confederate generals. Before the trend reaches Brazil, authorities in the southern São Paulo neighborhood of Santo Amaro employed 24-7 surveillance to protect the statue of Borba Gato, a monument to the “Bandeirantes,” the historic rovers that literally shaped Brazil, but left an untold trail of blood wherever they passed.
In São Paulo, the Bandeirantes are considered a symbol of the state’s bullishness,...
