Celia Xakriabá, who had won the seat of the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, was interviewed about her campaign and her aims for the next years. She describes the importance children and youth played in her campaign and how, for many parents, their future was the tipping point that motivated them to vote for Xakriabá. Being both the youngest Indigenous deputy in the world and the first Indigenous woman to receive a PhD in her state, Xakriabá and Sonia Gujajara, Brazil’s first Minister of Indigenous Peoples, share a feeling of loneliness that Xakriabá sees as part of what she calls “the racism of absence.” Far too often, the demarcation of territories only happened after the death of an Indigenous leader, but Xakriabá says no one should have to wait for that moment. She pushes for the implementation of quotas across the country as a form of reparation and the creation of a secretariat for Indigenous education within the Ministry of Education via new legislation. The country’s statute on Indigenous peoples needs to be updated, leaving behind its racist terminology and views, something that has already begun under the Presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and is continuing with her guidance.
