The Federal Supreme Court (STF) is composed of 11 ministers, indicated by the President and approved by the federal Senate. They have a lifetime position, so they’ll stay there until their death or retirement – which is the case of Rosa Weber, retiring this year. With her exit, the actual president, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, is responsible for choosing a new minister, and the pressure on him is to choose a black woman for the position.
In Brazil, the Supreme Court was funded in 1808. To this day, it counted only three women – Ellen Gracie, Cármen Lúcia and Rosa Weber – and 171 men ministers. Besides that, it counted with only three black men among all, Pedro Augusto Carneiro Lessa, Hermenegildo Rodrigues de Barros and Joaquim Barbosa – chosen by president Lula in his last mandate.
Why is it bad to have a majority of white men in power?
Brazil is the seventh most populated country in the world, with a population composed of 51,1% of women and 56,1% of black people. So, it is necessary for the most important public agency in the country to represent its citizens – which is not the case in Brazil.
For public policies that contemplate the population, the people in power must be aligned with their necessities. The lack of women and black people in power, such as people of the LGBTQIA+ community, contributes to an uneven and unfair country.
Maria Palmira da Silva, a black woman and the academic director of the Sociology and Politics Foundation School of São Paulo (FESPSP), shared her point of view. For her it is important to have women and black people occupying these places, but careful with the most relevant characteristic: progressivism.
“It is not enough to just have dark skin color, to be a black woman, because we can also fall into the mistake of just nominating a dark-skinned person, with black skin, and having an extremely reactionary person in the STF. […] In the last government, we had people with black skin who were extremely reactionary, people who were totally against affirmative action policies, they worked to destroy everything that was built in favor of this population, the black population”, stated.
Campaigns and international repercussion
With all of this data, the choice that Lula needs to make is generating some mobilization in Brazil and around the world. Due to the urge to have black women in power, campaigns are making noise to pressure the president to make the right choice. In our country, black women are exposed to extreme vulnerability, being the most affected by hunger, unemployment, and misery. They are 25,4% of the population but have never been represented by the Supreme Court.
All around the country, projections and posters have been spread asking for the president to choose a black woman to sit in the minister’s chair. The National Coalition of Women (CNM) gathers feminist progressive leaders all around the country and has been responsible for this pressure on the president. They have united with other social fronts to make this claim not restricted only to Brazil, but to gain force around the world.
In New York, the big screens of Times Square showed the campaign that asks for a black woman’s indication – the idea was designed by the Institute of Black People Defense (IDPN) and by the Black Coalition for Rights (Coalizão Negra por Direitos).
The campaign has arrived in New Delhi, India, where President Lula went for a G20 reunion. Posters with the phrase “In 132 years, Brazil has never had a black woman on the Supreme Court” were spread around the city that received important political figures from around the world.
Lucineia
Some Brazilian newspapers pointed out some of the black jurist women that Lula could choose for the post of minister. Among them, we choose one to talk better about: Lucineia Rosa dos Santos.
The 59-year-old black woman is a lawyer, counselor of Padre Anchieta Foundation, and a teacher of law graduate of the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP). She studied administration at the Álvares Penteado Commerce School Foundation (FECAP) and, after that, graduated in law from PUC-SP, where she got her master’s and doctorate degrees. Her studies in the law include themes such as sexual harassment in work relationships and black people’s inclusion in the labor market.
She declares herself as a left-wing person and is also a part of the group “Prerrogativas”, created in opposition to the Lava-Jato Operation. She defends the indication of a black woman to the Supreme Court as a way to impact fundamental issues such as mass incarceration.
Teacher Maria Palmira has a similar opinion to Lucineia: “In social psychology, we observe that, when you have cases of black boys and the jury is totally white, the chances of sentence increase are higher, bigger than it is when the jury is mixed. […] We have to extricate, I think mass extrication. This policy has not been presenting results so far and needs to be overcome in our society”.
Admired by her students for inspiring them to fight for a less unequal world and fairer, Lucineia received public support from them in a media campaign, and also from the Center of Relations of Work and Inequalities (CEERT).
Lula’s positioning
In response to the pressure, president Luís Inácio made a public statement saying that he is not in a rush to choose someone and his choice won’t be made based on gender or color.
Besides his positioning, the campaigns for a black woman in the Supreme Court keep getting stronger. Carmén Lucia, one of the three women who became ministers in Brazil, agrees with the public request. She said that “it is past time to have a black woman in STF and there is no reason not to have it”.
Not to please public opinion, but to keep his promise of a plural and diverse government, Lula should definitely choose one of the black jurists women to compose the Supreme Court. Not only in this opportunity of the retirement of Rosa Weber but also in the next indications.
“Not just one, but next indications have to follow this guideline of continuing to be women, black women, women who are from the north-northeast region. Because there are none, the majority are white men and here from our region, of the south-southeast region.” – Maria Palmira
If you agree that having a black woman in the Supreme Court is relevant in Brazil’s actual scenario, you can support this initiative on the website: https://ministranegranostf.com.br/
The article above was edited by Fernanda Miki Tsukase
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