Marielle Franco advocated for the poor and downtrodden in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. Why were her beliefs so controversial that she was murdered?

On March 14, 2018, Rio de Janeiro​ city council member Marielle Franco was assassinated after she left a meeting of black women discussing how to create systemic change in an oppressive political environment. Police reported that two men in a car fired multiple shots into the vehicle in which Marielle was riding, killing both her and her driver, Anderson Gomes. She was 38 years old.

Franco was black, bisexual, and a single mother. She herself was a product of Rio’s informal communities, known as favelas, home to roughly a quarter of Rio´s population. Her background and subsequent activism helped give her a deep socio-economic understanding of policing and criminal justice issues in Rio. She was using her mandate as member of the Rio City Council to propose policies that would shift the landscape for black, low-income communities and especially for women. Transforming an oppressive system was what Marielle lived for. READ MORE HERE.