The Law of may 21, 1851 on the freedom of slaves : a legislative and legal injustice

La Ley del 21 de mayo de 1851 sobre la libertad de esclavos : una injusticia legislativa y jurídica

It is intended to demonstrate that the origin of racial discrimination, poverty and social exclusion of the Afro-Colombian people dates back to the Law of May 21, 1851, and that such situation persists due to the indifference of the State. This has determined the wide socio-economic inequality gap that exists between the Afro-Colombian people and the rest of the population. For this purpose, the Law of May 21, 1851, the Sentence C-931 of 2009, books, scientific articles and a course of Afro-Colombians, their history, struggles and achievements presented to Professor Kevin Parthenay form the Institute of Political Science of Paris in 2014, are reviewed. It was confirmed that the Law contains discriminations and inequalities among the parts of the servile system. Thus, since colonial times and the beginning of the Republic the Afro-descendants have been excluded from society, victims of racism and -currently- of the State’s indifference. In this respect, the Constitutional’s Court inhibitory sentence was criticized because there were elements that allowed for a substantial pronouncement.