The Black Trans Lives Matter movement was hit hard earlier this week. We’ve read the headlines and seen the hashtags asking whether #blacklivesmatter or #translivesmatter. Black and trans lives do matter as much as any other, but the death of Amber Monroe an African-American transgender woman reminds us of how frequently black trans lives don’t.
Black Trans Lives Matter
Video: here.
Police are treating the death of Monroe who was shot dead Saturday morning in Detroit as a homicide. The LGBT-friendly neighborhood known as Palmer Park, has recently turned into the ad hoc spot for alleged hate crimes against transgender women; this being the latest episode in a string of violent offenses against the minority group.
12 trans women killed this year
The incident caught the attention of transgender icon and “Orange Is The New Black” actress Laverne Cox, who used the hashtag #12 on social media to reference the fact that Monroe was the 12th trans woman to be murdered in the U.S. this year—and it’s only August. But there’s more to the story. Monroe was also the 10th victim to be a black transgender woman.
“Her life was just beginning,” Equality Michigan, a LGTB activist group, said in a statement in announcing Monroe’s murder. “Transgender women, and especially transgender women of color, are disproportionately affected by violence”.
A friend and activist, Julisa Abad, told WJBK that this was not Monroe’s first exposure to violence, and in fact she had been shot before. She never felt comfortable going to the police. “But this time she didn’t make it.”
Law Enforcement and Transgender Communities
The death of Amber sheds a light on something increasingly disturbing: the relationship between the transgender community and police departments.
Yvonne Siferd, director of victim services at Equality Michigan, explained that the mistrust on the side of law enforcement is counterproductive. As highlighted by Abad, when a transgender individual contacts the police, law enforcement officials tend to de-prioritize the situation. Many black LGTBQ people reported calling the cops for help only to be arrested themselves, according to BreakOUT!.
“Whether they were prostituting or selling jelly beans, nobody deserves to be killed,” Abad said.
#StopTransMurders: Violence against trans people of color
Overall, studies have shown that trans people of color, both men and women, experience disproportionately high levels of violence. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found 80 percent of all anti-LGTGQ homicide victims are people of color. Black transgender women are – literally – being hit the hardest.
Several hashtags used by activists to highlight the deaths of women of color, #BlackTransLivesMatter and #SayHerName have gone viral. Yet years before hashtag campaigns started blowing up, activists have been denouncing the justice system that targets trans people of color above almost any other category of people.
What about the justice system?
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) unveiled that, in a country that incarcerates more of its people than any other in the world, “transgender people are more likely to be stopped and questioned by police, engage in survival crimes such as sex work, end up behind bars, and more likely to face abuse behind bars”.
Transgender people of color have it worst. In it’s latest national report, the NCTE found that about half of the black trans population has been arrested.
Black Trans Lives Matter: Really?
The recently released documentary directed by Dream Hampton “Treasure: From Tragedy to Trans Justice, Mapping a Detroit Story” is a reminder of all those who were violently murdered for being transgender because of a rotten justice system.
In an Op-ed piece, Jen Richanrds, a trans advocate who created the website WeHappyTrans.com and the Trans 100, highlighted how nearly all of the victims are women, of color, poor, and many likely engaged in sex work. In the United States, most are young black or Latina women.
“It’s a somber and depressingly impotent occasion as the needs of these women were never prioritized in life, and the crisis is largely ignored by everyone other than trans women of color the rest of the year,” she said.
For Richanrds the question “is simple, direct, loud, and urgent: what are you doing to address this crisis? It’s time for us to answer”.
To take action you can join the calls for an end to anti-transgender violence launched by the Task Force. What do you think of the Black Trans Lives Matter movement? Share your views in the comments section below.
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Do Black Trans Lives Matter? Amber Monroe Victim N.12
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