The fall season with its gorgeous trail of auburn, copper and crimson leaves dropping on the ground, one at a time, giving way to the long silence of winter, and eventually an astounding rebirth in the spring have been a source of deep comfort in my work on human rights. They remind me that like the seasons, injustice comes and goes, and rebirth is always within our reach. The pursuit of justice is demanding. It asks us to be patient and diligent, to cultivate hope against all odds, to never give up. Just as we know with absolute certainty that spring will come, we must trust that a more just world is possible.
This week I was overjoyed to learn that Brazil had finally convicted two former police officers for the murder of Marielle Franco, a prominent young female politician killed in a drive-by shooting in 2018. Our team in the Brazil office has devoted much of its work to this case. Marielle may not be back, and her family remains forever shattered, but this conviction breaks a culture of impunity that had engulfed Brazil for too long. It took six long years of mobilizing, advocating and campaigning in what seemed like an impossible case for this conviction to emerge. My first thought upon hearing the news was the wise words of Martin Luther King, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” What a privilege to bend the arc daily, with the support of so many of you, even in what seems like a cold winter for human rights.
