Marielle Franco
![Photo: Mídia Ninja [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c9edf9111f78419cff9bb06/1554432808437-6DAINSUDPUYSBP8QB7KI/Button+1.png)
Photo: Mídia Ninja [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Country: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro
Location: Latin America
About
Marielle Franco (July 27, 1979-March 14, 2018) was an Afro-Brazilian politician, human rights defender, and sociologist born in the Maré favela of Rio de Janiero. A proud Black bisexual feminist and activist, she was known for her unabashed commitment and advocacy for and to Brazil's most marginalized communities – including LGBTQ+ persons, the Black community, indigenous persons, and religious minorities. Franco was elected City Councilor of Rio, as a member of The Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), with 46,502 votes. Moreover, she was a candid critic of state-sanctioned violence, which disproportionately impacts Brazil's Black and poor communities, which she so diligently worked for. After losing a friend to a stray bullet from a shoot-out between police officers and drug traffickers in Maré, Franco sought to challenge and dismantle state violence. Her master’s thesis in public administration at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) was about the punitive atrocities committed by the state and the militarization of its agents and was titled, “UPP, the Reduction of the Favela to Three Letters: An Analysis of Public Security Policy in the State of Rio de Janeiro.” Prior to her death, she took to social media to speak out against police violence that resulted in the deaths of three young Black men in Rio, who too, like Marielle were from the favelas. On March 14, 2018, after speaking on a panel called "“Jovens Negras Movendo as Estruturas” (Young Black Women Moving Structures), Franco was assassinated while sitting in the back of a car, with four bullets to her head. Her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes, was also murdered. Her execution sparked international global solidarity under the social media hashtag, #MariellePresente. Her life and legacy inspired countless Black Brazilian women to run for political office during Brazil's national elections in 2018.