Marielle Franco represented a progressive new left, built on advocating for Brazil’s most vulnerable citizens, making her murder doubly tragic. By Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Marcelo K. Silva Boston Review — On…
By Kiratiana Freelon — Marielle Franco, 38, a black politician from Rio de Janeiro, died fighting for the rights of women and favela dwellers. As a councilwoman from the Maré favela, she denounced the police brutality that favela residents, most of them black, regularly experienced. On Wednesday around 9:20 p.m., armed men gunned the councilwoman down in her car in the center of Rio de Janeiro with nine shots—four to…
In Colombia, women are demanding an end to the impunity, silence and invisibility that fuel attacks on female human rights defenders. Tumaco – Afro-descendant women’s organizations in Colombia are marking International Women’s Day by highlighting Black women’s role in peacebuilding and calling for reparations for conflict-related gender-based violence and other human rights violations. As members of communities that have long suffered governmental neglect, Afro-Colombian women and girls have faced disproportionate rates of conflict-related human rights violations with minimal access to justice or services. Ongoing violence in the wake of Colombia’s peace accord with the FARC, including killings of human rights defenders and displacement of entire communities, has especially impacted Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Peoples.
Afro-Colombian women. Photo by Aime Saldarriaga, Reuters. By Adolfo G. Cuevas — Public health research has documented racial disparities in health and health care for decades. When looking at the 10…