*Prominent Black activist Francia Márquez could become Columbia’s next vice president.
Márquez has “faced death threats, racist tweets — even an assassination attempt,” per The Washington Post, also noting that “the president of Colombia’s senate accused her of links to one of the country’s most violent guerrilla groups,” the outlet writes.
“What really makes the president uncomfortable,” she said, “is that today, a woman who could have been the woman in his house, working as a maid, could now be his vice president.”
Márque, 40, is an Afro-Colombian single mother of two who has never held political office. She is also an award-winning environmental activist and “one of the most visible candidates in the election,” per the report.
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Here’s more from The WaPo:
Of the six presidential tickets in the May 29 election, four have an Afro-Colombian vice-presidential candidate — a remarkable shift in a country historically led by men from a small group of elite families. But it’s Márquez whose message has broken through. Her straight talk and her life story are forcing Colombia to confront its racist, classist and sexist past and present.
“I’m part of a community that has historically been excluded and marginalized, a community that was enslaved,” she told The Washington Post. “It’s more than just about the color of our skin. It’s about the elite who believe they are superior, that the rest are inferior and that it doesn’t matter.”
Per the report, “Márquez is forcing people to question their privilege in ways few other Black politicians have.”
“She’s disputing the legitimacy of a government run by the elite,” said Mara Viveros Vigolla, a professor of gender studies and anthropology at Colombia’s National University. “She’s telling them, ‘You’re speaking on behalf of a community you do not know.’ ”
“Francia’s candidacy for women means a before and an after, because she’s a woman, because she’s black – and because she comes from nothing,” said Mayra Fernanda Mejía, a black single mother and rural activist, The Guardian reports. “Francia marks a before and an after in the history of Colombia.”
Scroll up and hear more from Francia Márquez via the YouTube clip above.
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