Pressure for a black minister in the STF includes Times Square, G20 and narration by Taís Araújo – 09/15/2023 – Power

On the eve of the opening of the vacancy for the minister and president of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), Rosa Weber, black movement organizations intensified their mobilization for the unprecedented appointment of a black woman to the court.

The entities involved in the #PretaMinistra campaign state that the calendar of actions must continue to pressure President Lula (PT) for nominations to other courts in the country.

A survey released at the beginning of the month by the CNJ (National Council of Justice) indicates that 15% of Brazilian magistrates declare themselves black, out of a universe of 13,272 professionals.

“We will continue the campaign by deepening the importance of black jurists, also from the perspective that Justice acts a lot on this racial agenda and we need that in these spaces there are more jurists committed to the rights of the black population”, says Ingrid Farias, from Black Coalition for Rights, which brings together 250 entities from the black movement.

In August, posters demanding the nomination of a black woman to the Supreme Court were posted on Avenida Paulista. In the week of the G20 summit meeting in India, panels were distributed along the main exit route from New Delhi airport, through which Lula and other heads of state arrived in the country.

In English, the billboards said “in 132 years, Brazil has never had a black woman on the STF”, “President Lula, we count on you to nominate a black woman for the STF” and “the votes of women and black people were essential for the Lula’s election in 2022”.

On Tuesday (12), the Black Population Law Institute, Coalizão and Nossas – also responsible for the other actions – screened in Times Square, in New York, the teaser for the short film “Everybody Has a Dream”, by Mayara Aguiar.

Narrated by Taís Araújo, the video shows a black girl (Lua Miranda), who talks to her mother (Mariana Nunes) about what she can be when she grows up. Upon hearing that she could become a STF minister, the girl asks: who is the same as, mother? Taís’ narration highlights that Brazil has never had a black minister in the Supreme Court.

On social media, Taís stated that the initiative is an urgent manifesto and asked for support for the campaign.

“I count on the strength of those who believe it is possible to rewrite this history with the effective participation of our people in this important decision-making space for the country. Sharing this video is already participating.”

The pressure for the nomination has also reached the Presidency of the Republic’s email inbox, where the Coalition has sent messages questioning Lula about the nomination of a black woman.

A petition that already had more than 30 thousand signatures this Friday (15), graffiti and a podcast on the topic are other initiatives that are part of the mobilization.

By the end of the month, a public event to intensify the election must be held in Brasília with the presence of movements, legal professionals and influencers.

“I am an eternal optimist. The campaign is having a positive impact, despite bad comments coming from within the left itself. We have managed to guide the discussion outside the bubble together with several organizations and with the support of the media and the artistic class”, she says Juliana Sanches, legal director of the Institute for the Defense of the Black Population.

Tainah Pereira, political coordinator of the Mulheres Negras Decidem movement, which in May made a first list of names for the Supreme Court, says that conversations with Lula’s interlocutors are also underway.

She reinforces that the nomination is a decades-old agenda, to which several entities have joined.

To date, the STF has only had three women in its composition. Rosa Weber was appointed by Dilma Rousseff in 2011 to the seat of Ellen Gracie, who was the first woman to join the court, appointed in 2000 by Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The second was Cármen Lúcia, chosen by Lula in 2006.

Juliana states that increasing the representation of black people in the Judiciary is an urgent issue.

“In 132 years we have not had a black woman appointed to the STF, but we have also never had a black woman in the STJ or in other courts. One of the IDPN’s proposals in the medium and long term is to map out these vacancies that are subject to nomination by the president and guide future nominations”, he says.

The Institute defends the names of lawyer Vera Lúcia de Araújo, federal judge and professor Adriana Cruz and prosecutor Lívia Sant’Anna Vaz for the court. Adriana and Lívia are also on the list of Mulheres Negras Decidem, which also has the name of Rio Grande do Sul lawyer Soraia Mendes.

In addition to these, the names of Dora Lúcia Bertulio, UFPR Attorney, and Flávia Martins de Carvalho, Assistant Judge of the STF, and black men were also defended in April by Educafro.

The campaign to appoint a black minister to the Supreme Court intensified in the first half of the year, with the retirement of minister Ricardo Lewandowski. Lula ignored the plea and appointed her former lawyer in the Lava Jato cases Cristiano Zanin, whom she called a friend.

At the end of August, Zanin’s votes in court increased pressure for the president to nominate a progressive black woman.

Despite this, behind the scenes the main candidates are men: Jorge Messias, current attorney general of the Union, and the minister of the TCU (Court of Auditors of the Union) Bruno Dantas.

Among the defenders of choosing a woman, the names of second instance federal judge Simone Schreiber and lawyer Dora Cavalcanti stand out.