The legacy of Marielle Franco in the political education of black women

Abstract

Sociologist Marielle Franco was elected councilwoman in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, receiving 46,502 votes, placing her in the fifth position among the most-voted candidates. She presented herself as a Black woman, mother, daughter, sister, wife, and hailing from the Maré favela. The issue of race was present in her campaign and her proposed projects during her term as councilwoman. Intersectionality and Black feminism offer an approach in which race, gender, and class are inseparable. It is with this perspective that this article is structured. The councilwoman was assassinated in 2018, along with her driver Anderson Gomes, in a shooting attack that remains unresolved to this day. The Instituto Marielle Franco was created after her death to fight for justice, preserve her memory, disseminate her legacy, and strengthen initiatives inspired by Marielle. The Anti-Racist Platform in Elections (PANE), created for the 2020 elections to encourage the participation of Black women in decision-making spaces, and the "Estamos Prontas" Movement, developed in conjunction with the Mulheres Negras Decidem Movement, aiming to increase the political representation of Black women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and marginalized communities acting as collective leaders throughout Brazil, are proposals that will be analyzed to assess Marielle's legacy in the political empowerment of Black women. In this analysis, we will also refer to authors such as Lélia Gonzalez, Angela Davis, Bell Hooks, Djamila Ribeiro, Sueli Carneiro, Patricia Hill Collins, and Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, among others, through their theoretical contributions.