“We thirst for human rights and equity,” says Erika Hilton, SP’s most voted woman | 2020 elections in São Paulo

A human rights activist, Erika was elected co-elect to the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo by Banco Activista (PSOL) in 2018.

TO G1, the elected candidate spoke of the importance of becoming the most voted woman in the largest city in the country that kills the most transsexuals and transvestites in the world.

“We are not only alive, but we are chosen, determined, we thirst for human rights and equity. We will create many cracks in these structures of power and domination, ”he says.

Despite celebrating the result of the elections, Erika points out that many trans people before her only had space in prostitution, in a violent and compulsive way, as a way of survival.

“There is a transphobic and racist systemic structure that constantly tries to kill us, a political model prepared and built for the annihilation and destruction of this body. They dehumanize us all the time, ”he says.

In addition to being a trans woman, Erika identifies as black and peripheral, but says that her performance in the São Paulo City Council will go beyond identity guidelines.

“I am not going to discuss only LGBT, racial or women’s issues. This is the pillar of support for my own body, but I need to legislate on all the issues that compete for my position in the largest city in Latin America,” he says.

Erika says that she intends to build a collective mandate that watches over the street population and against the dismantling of social services, in addition to “policies that were discarded under Doria / Bruno and now need to be taken up again.”

“There is an African proverb that I really like that speaks: as long as the lions do not tell their own story, the hunters will continue to be the heroes. That is what we are talking about: as long as we do not tell our own stories and build that story, fascism, hatred, the ‘cis-hetero-norm’ will remain heroic and we no longer need false heroism to remain after death. ”

See the full interview:

G1: What does it mean that the most voted woman in the Chamber in São Paulo in 2020 is trans, black and peripheral?

Erika: It was a historic election because we are writing one more chapter in history, we are stamping the name of the first trans-elected woman and the most voted woman in the history of São Paulo on the walls of the City Hall.

This means an advance of our community and a break in the transphobic and racist systemic structure that constantly tries to kill us.

It is not just one body, it is not just Erika Hilton who is elected, we are collectively elected. We came together with black women, indigenous, disabled, poor, workers. This is a collective construction.

This mandate will echo many struggles, many voices, it will mark a milestone in history. Being the first woman with the most votes is very significant in a country that kills the largest number of transsexuals and transvestites in the world.

We are not only alive, but chosen, determined, we are thirsty for human rights and equity, we are building a story from our own perspective, through our hands and we will not back down, we will not give in and we will not take any step back until we are all free and We can occupy all the places that have been stolen from us.

That is what this candidacy did in career, love and hope, with real people who believe in the urgency of transforming and occupying society.

G1: In your social networks you said that being the first trans woman elected in the SP Chamber is also a serious denunciation of the political and social system that prevented so many others from occupying that place before. Can you explain it better?

Erika: We have much to celebrate because my arrival as the most voted means that we are organized and aware of necropolitics. [termo usado para definir política de morte] and genocidal system against our body. But in addition to the celebration, we have a serious complaint that must be registered.

If I’m first in 2020, what happened to the women who came before me, including paving the way for me to be here today? I am not here because I opened all the roads and I am a hero. I am here because there is an ancestral and historical struggle and these women and transgender bodies were murdered, imprisoned, interned in sanatoriums, thrown into Cracolândia and sentenced to addiction. There is a political model prepared and built for the annihilation and destruction of this body. They dehumanize us all the time.

So, leave this place and show society that not only can we but we are building this bridge of a possible future for black men, for young people, for peripheral people, for transgender people, that 90% experience prostitution violently. and mandatory, it is a milestone.

We not only occupy an office in the Chamber, we are weaving history, we are expanding the world. And this is not limited to the municipality, we will go very far because our struggles need to resonate, our voices need to be heard, because our community can no longer be condemned to the absence of public policies, to genocide, to violent and compulsory prostitution, to the drug addiction. . We need to occupy other spaces and see ourselves in other spaces.

There is an African proverb that I really like that speaks: until the lions tell their own story, the hunters will continue to be the heroes. That’s what we’re talking about: as long as we don’t tell our own stories and build that story, fascism, hatred, the ‘cis-hetero-norm’ will remain heroic and we no longer need this false heroism about death remains.

G1: Erika, what do you intend to do in practice in the Chamber for the population you represent? How do you plan to move forward in a predominantly white House made up of men?

Erika: Politics is supported by oligarchies. This public machine works to serve the interests of this political caste, which is the caste of older, white cisgender men who have historically held the power space.

But we are absolutely arriving, I usually say that we have urgency, but don’t be in a hurry. 388 years of slavery were legitimized, almost 140 years of abolition, and we continue to fight daily for our freedom.

What I intend to do here is to dialogue, it is to propose based on data and choose with whom I am going to dialogue because here they are openly fascist and they are here to preach hatred and make politics a show. I don’t intend to make a freak show out of this.

I intend to formulate policies and present projects and in this way I intend to dialogue with all sectors. With those people who are not open to dialogue, we will have a radical confrontation.

The projects that I think are focused on health, education, cultural sectors, things related to quality of life and the prospect of the future, expansion and improvement of the Transcidadania project. [projeto social criado em 2015, durante a gestão do ex-prefeito Fernando Haddad], for example.

We have to talk about the María Carolina de Jesús award, to praise the figure of a black woman, a recycler and a poet who is still erased by her color and her history.

We have projects that are not based on identity, because when we talk about blackness and LGBT, we are talking about budget, transportation, health, a number of other things that we can discuss.

I will not speak only of LGBT, racial or women. This is the pillar of support for my own body, but I need to legislate on all the issues that compete for my position in the largest city in Latin America.

It is from the dialogue that I intend to act in the construction of public policies and bills that minimize the lack of coordination for the homeless population, the dismantling of social services, the absence of shelters for the LGBTQIA + population, a series of policies that were scrapped under Doria / Bruno’s direction and must now be resumed.

It is clear that in four years I do not have the pretense and the naivety that I will make a great revolution because I have known the public machinery inside, since I was a deputy. But I will make a beautiful mandate, of that you can be sure.

VIDEOS: First round of the 2020 municipal elections in São Paulo