With a speech of resistance and priorities, Anielle Franco takes office as Minister of Racial Equality

Mencius Melo – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The journalist Anielle Franco was sworn in on the afternoon of Wednesday, 11, at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, as minister of the Racial Equality. In a strong speech marked by ideals of struggle and resistance, the sister of the assassinated councilwoman in Rio de Janeiro, Marielle Franco, was assisted by an audience composed of politicians and activists from organized civil society movements, mostly black and indigenous, with the right to the Mangueira samba, champion of 2019: “História para Ninar Gente Grande”, sung by singer Marina Ísis at the end of the ceremony.

Anielle Franco was sworn in shortly after the inauguration of Sonia Guajajara, now minister of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI). As soon as she stepped up to the pulpit, Anielle thanked family members and the memory of Marielle Franco. “To my family, for all the support, affection and complicity, especially, my parents Marinete and Toinho, my husband, Fred, my daughters, my niece Luyara and also my sister Marielle Franco, in whose name I accepted this challenge”, she declared.

Emotional, the minister recalled the steps since the loss of her sister, murdered in an ambush in Rio de Janeiro. “Since March 14, 2018, the day Marielle was taken from my family and Brazilian society, I have dedicated every minute of my life to fighting for justice, defending the memory, multiplying the legacy and watering the seeds of my sister. On that path, we founded the Marielle Franco Institute”, she recalled.

Political Reading

During her speech, Anielle gave a political reading of the inauguration of president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on January 1, 2023. “When our president Lula received the presidential sash from the people, held by a black peripheral woman, he showed that the path to the Brazil of the future will be led by those who, for centuries, have resisted the violent project that founded this country”, she said.

On the occasion, the minister of Racial Equality took the opportunity to criticize the violence of the coup acts that took place on Sunday, 8, in Brasília. “Today’s ceremony has a very special symbolism. After the attacks suffered by this House and by the Brazilian people last Sunday, we step here as a sign of resistance to any and all attempts to attack the institutions and our democracy. Fascism, as well as racism, is an evil to be fought in our society”, she added.

Anielle also condemned the lack of sensitivity in the face of practices that do not yield results. “If the world we want to live in is a world where all people have the equal right and opportunity to be happy, with their freedom, respecting each other, in peace, harmony, justice, and dignity, it’s past time we stop repeating the failed formulas that deliver none of that!”, the minister protested.

Anti-racist struggle

On the occasion, the minister also advanced the agendas for the ministry. “We will take a step forward in the institutionalization of the anti-racist political struggle with this ministry. Bringing racism to the public and institutional debate in a way, until then, not experienced in Brazilian politics. An achievement that is the fruit of incessant social mobilizations that preceded and culminated in this moment”, she commented.

Anielle Franco contextualized the history and racism in Brazil. “After almost four hundred years of black slavery and 133 years of an abolition that was never concluded, the Brazilian population still faces multiple faces of racism that generates unequal conditions of life and death for black and non-black people in the country. This cannot be forgotten nor put aside”, she pointed out.

At the end, Franco praised ancestry and made a request. “We have a project for the country and we hope to count on you in this construction. And that is why I make this request to the entire Brazilian population: walk with us. Walk with us on this road where our ancestors walked and where our sons and daughters will walk. Walk with us until the dreams of our ancestors come true”, she concluded.