ON THE NIGHT OF MARCH 14, RIO DE Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Pedro Gomes were shot and killed in her car after leaving a black women’s empowerment event. The killing of the human-rights activist mobilized tens of thousands of Brazilians to demand justice and sparked tributes from around the world.
A RISING POLITICAL STAR Born and raised in the Maré favela, one of Rio’s most dangerous slums, 38-year-old Franco was a fierce advocate for the marginalized—including Afro-Brazilians, the poor, the LGBTQ community and women—and a critic of President Michel Temer’s federal intervention in the city. As a black, lesbian single mother, she was a minority several times over in Brazilian politics and the only black woman on Rio’s 51-member city council, having received the fifth…