She Went From The Butt Of National Jokes To National Office

francia marquez looking straight ahead
href=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:(Francia_M%C3%A1rquez)_F70A6326_(49199213312)_(cropped).jpg>Wikimedia Commons
Briona Lamback
July 12, 2022

Francia Márquez has always remained unbothered in the face of white supremacy. When she had the chance to run for one of the highest positions in her country, OF COURSE she threw her hat in the ring. 

Then it happened.

Márquez won, becoming the Vice President of Colombia! Many have used her win as an excuse to spew racist hate. A white Colombian singer has publicly called her "King Kong," and someone suggested she go "run a town in Africa" instead. 

Huh?

The gag is that when it comes to fighting for liberation, she isn't new to this; she's true to this.

When Márquez was a mere 13 years old, she opposed a dam expansion project, sparing her community from being destroyed by a large river expansion project.

She rallied the fight against the expansion and won!

Recently, she publicly said it was "time to move from resistance to power," raising a Black power fist in the air. Her campaign slogan comes from an African proverb, Ubuntu, meaning "I am because you are."

Anti-Blackness is global; no matter where we are in the diaspora, our liberation is interconnected, and we must work collectively to destroy white supremacy. Like Márquez, we must be dedicated to doing the work regardless of what they say.

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