Courtesy Erica Malunguinho Campaign “We have a gigantic mission to recover the notion of politics for the people,” Erica Malunguinho said.

SAO PAULO ― Erica Malunguinho, Brazil’s first black trans woman to be elected a state representative, walked through the Sao Paulo state legislative assembly for her swearing-in last December with a flowing dress, pointed heels and a fist in the air. She had taken the stage in one of the state’s most influential institutions. The photo that captured the historic event garnered more than 22,000 likes on her Instagram page. Undeterred by Brazil’s new far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who ran a campaign featuring anti-LGBT and anti-black comments, Malunguinho, 37, is leaning into her mission to transform political institutions that have historically excluded people who look like her. In a groundbreaking October 2018 election, which saw a record number of trans candidates, the former art and history teacher and activist made global headlines when she won a state assembly seat, joining over 90 other deputies elected in Sao Paulo. While a Bolsonaro-aligned candidate received the most votes, Malunguinho, who ran with the Socialism and Liberation Party (PSOL), obtained over 50,000 votes after she campaigned on a progressive message of making political participation more accessible for the wider population, especially Afro-Brazilians.

You cannot be closed off, we cannot be afraid to go out on the street. Erica Malunguinho

While Malunguinho is the first trans woman to win a sole seat in a legislature, other women of color were elected, including an indigenous woman and trans women who won seats in collective candidacies, a maneuver by which groups of people team up to run for one seat. These developments are giving people hope that change could be on the horizon. “Erica Malunguinho’s election is so important because of the large amounts of violence that happen towards trans women and Black people in Brazil,” said Watufani Poe, a Ph.D. candidate from Brown University studying Afro-Brazilian queer communities in Sao Paulo. “Her election and her political ideology shows the Brazilian public that Black people and trans people are more than just statistics; that they are people with radical ideas of how to shift society for the better.” Poe attributes Malunguinho’s win to her direct communication with vulnerable populations and her years of building a local base with community-driven projects. “I think she received so many votes from non-LGBT people because of the strong sense of Black community that Erica upholds, which finds a space for all Black people, while refusing the oppression of women, LGBTQ people, poor people and others,” he added. “She makes space for the entire community while encouraging a growth out of the oppressive ways of being that people have been indoctrinated into [in] the world.” Poe added that it’s difficult to tell if Malunguinho-like success could be replicated on a national level or even abroad in the U.S., but he pointed out that her victory was in large due to “the painstaking work she has put into” caring and maintaining Aparelha Luzia, a black empowerment center. Aparelha Luzia is a space that Malunguinho has cultivated in the 15 years that she has lived in the city of Sao Paulo. The small building, located downtown, is where the city’s black community can watch musical performances, attend open mics and art exhibitions and join in debates and lectures. Malunguinho, who hails from Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil, is from one of the country’s quilombo communities, settlements originally founded by rebel slaves. She models this space after her upbringing. Among the Sao Paulo voters who supported Malunguinho, many say her historic win is about securing representation in politics but also about a shift in thinking, a change that brings in voices and ideas that have been historically excluded. For Malunguinho, this means promoting women’s representation, creating policies that protect LGBTQ rights, and combating racism through sustainable educational tourism in indigenous territories and quilombos. Joyce Prado, an Afro-Brazilian filmmaker living in Sao Paulo, has visited Aparehla Luzia and says it has been a welcoming place for learning. “People from different races, social classes and genders are trying to build a new path, a new way of doing politics and being in society,” she told HuffPost. “The election of Erica is a declaration of what we are trying to build. We still don’t have many answers, and it’s OK. We are going to find out what is next for this new moment of a democracy.”

People from different races, social classes and genders are trying to build a new path, a new way of doing politics and being in society. The election of Erica is a declaration of what we are trying to build. Joyce Prado, Afro-Brazilian filmmaker

Rafael Fontenelle, an architect living in Sao Paulo who is a member of the LGBTQ community, said: “I voted for her, and I personally support her because I believe our Congress should be as close as possible to the diversity of our society.” “I think it is imperative that we have transgender representation in our government,” he added. Fontanelle said he has personally experienced anti-LGBTQ discrimination, being forced to run from attackers on the street, and has witnessed similar incidents with his friends in this period before Carnaval celebrations. Malunguinho knows her win is historic because of her identity, but she emphasizes that it’s not enough to be just a trans or black candidate, telling HuffPost that LGBTQ and black people need diverse candidates who are actually in touch with their communities and have platforms and spaces that reflect that relationship. For Malunguinho, that’s about drawing from Afro-Brazilian history, particularly from historic quilombo societies that resisted racism, and incorporating these principles into her campaign.

Courtesy Erica Malunguinho Campaign "It is not enough not to just ‘not be racist’ when you see discrimination all around you; it is necessary to be anti-racist," Malunguinho says.