Marielle Franco had to Resist – No Wonder She Didn’t Survive

“Being a black woman is to resist and survive all the time.” So said Marielle Franco, the Rio de Janeiro city councillor shot dead in a targeted assassination last week, just 18 months after she was elected. Franco was 38 years old. She was a black, gay, single mother from the Maré favela who stood up for poor people, LGBTI people, black people and women. When her car was hit by nine bullets – four of which entered her skull, killing her instantly – she was on her way home from an event titled Young Black Women Who Are Changing Power Structures. This is what can and does befall such extraordinary women.