"There's an epidemic of transgender murders."
There's been a tendency in the trans community in recent times to cry this mantra.
Mainstream media have now begun to report the idea as hard fact too. Just pop "trans murder" in Google and you're bombarded with reputable news sources proclaiming "Another trans woman of color was murdered today..." with a report proclaiming "that's the 27th transgender murder this year..." It's like we don't even bother with journalism anymore.
There's even a website trans murder monitoring that collates the murders of trans people. Unlike, say Iraq War Body Count or other sources that attempt to collate deaths within a set framework Transrespect merely collates data of people who self identify as a different gender who happen to be murdered. Whilst the site is called "trans murder monitoring" they don't even make a pretence of linking the victim's murder to their gender orientation.
The Guardian published an opinion piece by a victim of violence on a London bus last week. Chris, one of the women attacked, rightly argues that the attack was not only because she is queer but because of a society that is misogynistic at heart:
"For several days, a graphic, triggering photo of our bloody faces satisfied voyeurs and enriched companies whose values counter my own, such as News Corps and Sinclair Broadcast Group. Many of the outlets publishing my face without permission endorse racist, misogynist and xenophobic platforms and politicians. One world leader on her last day in office concluded a long career voting in favour of anti-gay, racist, colonial policies by expressing her condolences to us. We were Instagrammed by celebrities, vacuously retweeted by politicians, itemised on a BuzzFeed listicle. Despite so much inane coverage, Melania [the other victim] energetically leveraged her platform to highlight the misogyny embedded in the violence and today’s hate crime rates. [my italics]"
My initial reaction to the story, other than the horror of the graphic imagery (on two levels), was that the attack on the two women had little to do with them being queer. Would the same have happened to two gay men? A group of young men goading them to kiss? That's not saying it wasn't about them being queer but it appeared to be far more about them being women.
The piece is entitled "You saw me covered in blood on a bus. But do you get outraged about all homophobia?"
So it's a drag that after an interesting reflection on how the media reported the attack, Chris, rather tiresomely feels the need to ignore what the argument was about, a misogynistic attack on a queer couple, or homophobia, as the title suggests, and bring in a completely unrelated topic:
"Question why the photo of two attractive, white cisgender women compelled you to post about Pride for the first time.
Learn the names and stories of Muhlaysia Booker, Dana Martin, Chanel Scurlock. Elevate those who have been advocating for the basic rights and safety of communities marginalised by our existing political, economic and social structures long before I got punched in the face. Finding the right leaders takes some research and real-world activity. Their frequent absence from today’s headlines is not coincidental to their crusades. Stand up for yourselves and each other, and fight back. [my italics]"
Even I, off grid old man, had heard of Muhlaysia Booker and Chanel Scurlock. Along with Dana Martin and many other murders, of mostly black individuals, in the US, Booker and Scurlock's deaths have been widely reported as "trans murders." While it might seem tasteless to look at the murders of young people, I would argue that it's acceptable because, firstly, they are in the public domain, and secondly, the trans community are exploiting these murders to promote an ideological message, that trans people are under attack, that society itself is transphobic and that these murders are just the tip of the iceberg (because so many trans people are "misgendered" by the police).
So what is the definition of a "transgender murder"?
I assume we would all agree that any murder with a prefix implies that the person was murdered because of that prefix. Gay murder, racist murder, religious murder, etc.
Booker, Scurlock and Martin have all been used to publicize this idea that the trans community are facing a mass epidemic of violence and murder. Yet Scurlock's murderer has since been charged. The motive was robbery. Scurlock was black, her murderer, Javaras Hammonds, was black (there is a point to this). Booker, who was black, was murdered by Kendrell Lavar Lyles, a black man who murdered two other people in the Dallas area who were not transgender. Dana Martin, a black trans woman, was murdered early this year, she was found shot in "a" car. That's all that's known. There's no implication that any were killed because they were transgender. In fact, murders being widely reported as "transgender murders" are extremely problematic. If anyone actually read this they might be screaming transphobia or racism but my point is that the murders of transgender women in the US are part of a much larger pattern that has nothing to do with their gender orientation. They certainly have something to do with race, however.
As an example of the phenomena, here's the Human Rights Campaign list of 26 transgender people murdered in 2018 in the US (all reported as "transgender murders"). I laboriously looked up follow up information on their murders to see if any of the victims were murdered because they were transgender. Again, this might seem tasteless but, all in the public domain, and wouldn't it be more tasteless for me to be using their murders for ideological ends (oh yes, I am, because it always is)?
Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien (white): murdered by her husband. That doesn't completely rule out that her husband of many years became angered with his wife's gender orientation (of over ten years). "Her husband, Mark Steele-Knudslien, was charged with her murder and pleaded not guilty on Monday, days after police say he admitted hitting her with a hammer and stabbing her after an argument." Berkshire Mass. police and DV services were treating it as domestic violence.NBC
Viccky Gutierrez (Hispanic): murdered by a burglar.
Celine Walker (black): Unknown assailant but Walker was killed in a hotel room, which implies she was a sex worker (see other murders below).
Tonya Harvey (black): Shot. Sex worker (this is in the Buffalo News but not on any reports by Pink News, etc.)
Zakaria Fry (Race/ethnicity unknown): Murdered with her boyfriend (she was 28 he was 70?) and their bodies dumped, the police believe the murderer was rooming with them.
Phyllis Mitchell (black): "An East Cleveland man is accused of fatally shooting a 46-year-old transgender woman while collecting a drug debt, according to police. Gary Sanders, 36, is charged with aggravated murder in the Feb. 24 fatal shooting of Phylicia Mitchell. Sanders went to the home to collect a drug debt and the two argued about stolen drugs and money, according to court records.
The argument turned into a fight over Sanders' gun, court records say. The gun fired and a bullet hit Mitchell in the chest, killing her, according to court records. " Cleveland Metro.
Amia Tyrae Berryman (black): Prostitute, killed by Dendrick Butler. "While investigating the victim’s phone, police found recent messages from Butler. Officers were then able to track down Butler’s vehicle and take him into custody." The police do not say it was a hate crime.
Sasha Wall (black): Probable domestic violence death at the hand of a boyfriend. Daily Beast
Karla Patricia Flores-Pavón (Hispanic): "24-year-old Jimmy Eugene Johnson III was taken into custody in Walker County during a traffic stop. Detectives said robbery was the motive and that the woman's death was not a hate crime." The HRC site even links to this report yet still counts it as a trans murder.
Nino Fortson (black trans man?). Fortson was a " gender-expansive individual." I have no idea what that means. He seemed to be a trans man. In the HRC report it reads: "Police are still searching for a suspect which sadly misgendered Forston. Reports vary regarding Nino Fortson’s gender identity and pronouns." Huh?
"Witnesses at the scene of Fortson’s death described an argument between Forston, two perceived men, and two perceived women. “During the argument, the victim pulled a small gun from her pocket and fired into the air,” reads an official Atlanta police statement sent to them. “The witness said he then walked away, but a short time later heard more gunshots and looked back to see the victim on the ground, and one of the males limping away.” The police are not treating it as a hate crime."
Gigi Pierce (black?): Shot by Sophia Adler. "“Ms. Adler and Gigi were friends. They had known each other for years. The question we needed to answer was whether this was a murder or a case of self-defence.” Pink News
Roxana Hernández (Hispanic): Roxana Hernández reportedly died from HIV-related complications in US border custody.
Antash'a English (black): "Antash’a English, 38, was found lying between two derelict homes with gunshot wounds on Friday morning, reports Action News Jax. She was taken to hospital but died from her injuries. A police report stated that English was urinating in a gap between the properties when she was shot multiple times by a person driving by in a grey car." Pink News. "Antash’a English, a transgender performer who was killed in a drive-by shooting June 1, was also believed to be engaged in sex work at the time of her death, according to her friend David Harrell."
Cathalina Christina James (black): "There are striking similarities between the victims. Cathalina Christina James, who was gunned down at a Quality Inn June 24, posted frequently on her Facebook about traveling from city to city doing sex work." Intomore.com
Sasha Garden (black): Garden, the victim from Orlando, had also been doing sex work along the “The Stroll,” a stretch of road in Orlando where workers and clients regularly meet.
Keisha Wells (black): Murdered by an unknown person and James Butler, a homeless man. There's no report linking her murder to her gender identity, even in HRC or Pink News etc..
Vontashia Bell (black): Shot in the chest in the street in the early hours of the morning. No organizations are linking it to her being transgender.
Dejanay Stanton (black): Shot by 17 year old Treom T Hill. Stanton "may have been a sex worker." Peoplesworld
Shantee Tucker (black): Shot. "Old York Road, where Shantee was killed, runs along Hunting Park in Philadelphia, an area that has a history of violent crime and is known by some residents as a stroll for transgender sex workers." Vice
Londonn Moore (black): Shot. "Tucker was found with a gunshot wound by police at about 1am on a highway in the Hunting Park area of the city, according to local media reports." Police aren't treating it as a hate crime. The implication is that she was a sex worker.
Nikki Enriquez (Hispanic): Shot by a border patrol supervisor who was arrested for a "string of violence against female sex workers in Laredo, Texas."
Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier (black): Stabbed. "According to the Sun-Times, police said Frazier was fatally stabbed in an abandoned building in Chicago’s West Garfield Park neighborhood after a “disagreement” with the man she was with." Which implies she was a sex worker.
Regina Denise Brown (black): Arson. "A man was arrested in connection with the fire. Kenneth Lamont Jenkins, a 37-year-old ex-convict, has previously served 18 years in prison for armed robbery and possession of a stolen vehicle and was released in the past three years."
Tydi Dansbury (black): Shot. "Tydie was shot while on the 1900 block of West Lanvale Street in West Baltimore on November 26 around 4.15 am local time. “We know there was some sort of argument that took place and during that argument it looks like a person—one individual—pulled out a gun and shot and left her on the side of the road,” Baltimore Police Department spokesperson T.J. Smith, said in an interview." Pink News
Keanna Mattel AKA Kelly Stough (black): Shot. A pastor, Albert Weathers was arrested for her murder and it was widely reported as a religious transgender murder. Weathers' defence was "Weathers said he grabbed his .40-caliber Glock because Stough jumped into his car and demanded money. He said he told her to leave his car and that Stough later came at him with a sharp metal object.
Weathers went on to his job in downtown Detroit as a security guard for the Great Lakes Water Authority and called to report the incident as a robbery and shooting about an hour later.
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Jaimie Powell Horowitz said Weathers knew Stough and had frequented the area where the shooting took place. The area of McNichols and Woodward is an area frequented by sex workers and their customers." There's been no update on it since the trial so no idea if he was found guilty of murder or a hate crime or manslaughter. Detroit News
HMC argue "These victims were killed by acquaintances, partners and strangers, some of whom have been arrested and charged, while others have yet to be identified. Some of these cases involve clear anti-transgender bias. In others, the victim’s transgender status may have put them at risk in other ways, such as forcing them into homelessness.
"While the details of these cases differ, it is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color, and that the intersections of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia conspire to deprive them of employment, housing, healthcare and other necessities, barriers that make them vulnerable.
Sadly, 2018 has already seen at least 26 transgender people fatally shot or killed by other violent means."
HRC
Clearly none of the 2018 murders have any link to the victims being transgender.
On Intomore: "Susan Gail Sherman, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, studies transgender sex workers. Sherman does see a pattern when trans sex workers are killed but perhaps not the same one advocates in Florida are pointing out when they worry there is a serial killer on the loose.
“The context is racism and transphobia,” Sherman said. “Why are they targeted? Because people are hateful. We live in a time where hate is tolerated. It’s unbelievable.”"
Oh she's so close. Transphobia? How exactly has Sherman come to this conclusion? The victims' chosen gender had no connection to their murder. Most were sex workers. Most were black and most were killed by black men and (very rarely) women. Misogyny? Certainly. Racism? Well, yes, if you take into account the institutionalised racism inherent in the American capitalist economic system. One can see this in the homicide statistics in the US:
"According to the US Department of Justice, African Americans accounted for 52.5% of all homicide offenders from 1980 to 2008...The offending rate for African Americans was almost 8 times higher than European Americans, and the victim rate 6 times higher. Most homicides were interracial, with 84% of European Americans victims killed by European Americans, and 93% of African Americans victims were killed by African Americans. In 2013 there were Black or African Americans 4,379 murder arrests.
Of the 9,468 murder arrests in the US in 2017, 53.5% were black and 20.8% Hispanic. Of the 822,671 arrests for non-aggravated assault, 31.4% were black and 18.4% hispanic."
There isn't anything intrinsic about race/ethnicity and a propensity to violence, that would be mad, so there must be another reason why 11% of the US population carry out over 50% of all homicides, predominantly carried out on others of the same race and ethnicity.
That isn't to say that trans people are not targeted for hate crimes or, indeed, murder, and it's not saying that it isn't difficult being openly trans in Trump America or Brexit Britain but I am saying that conflating the sexuality or self identified gender or other factors in murder statistics without taking into account the more obvious presenting conditions that lead to murder, is setting dangerous precedents.
There's a reason why people, trans or otherwise, end up in sex work. Alongside misogyny, poverty is the real reason why people are murdered in the US at such alarming rates. Even though black Americans disproportionately murder and are murdered in the US it isn't racism per se but the conscious and unconscious racism that maintains class boundaries and keeps sections of the population in poverty; economic and educational.
Talking about "epidemics" of trans murders instead of talking about the real issues behind the murders; race, ethnicity, misogyny and poverty/class plays right into the hands of those in power. The response is that we need to protect trans women (of colour) rather than look at the reasons why so many young black, poor women (often sex workers) and men are murdered in the US. The fact that most were shot also brings up debates around gun culture as murders of trans people in other western democracies are far, far lower and rarely involve firearms.
If it seems grotesque detailing the lives and deaths of these people here, how more grotesque is it to use them for ideological profit to promote a climate of fear and a paranoid atmosphere of rampant transphobia?
There's been a tendency in the trans community in recent times to cry this mantra.
Mainstream media have now begun to report the idea as hard fact too. Just pop "trans murder" in Google and you're bombarded with reputable news sources proclaiming "Another trans woman of color was murdered today..." with a report proclaiming "that's the 27th transgender murder this year..." It's like we don't even bother with journalism anymore.
There's even a website trans murder monitoring that collates the murders of trans people. Unlike, say Iraq War Body Count or other sources that attempt to collate deaths within a set framework Transrespect merely collates data of people who self identify as a different gender who happen to be murdered. Whilst the site is called "trans murder monitoring" they don't even make a pretence of linking the victim's murder to their gender orientation.
The Guardian published an opinion piece by a victim of violence on a London bus last week. Chris, one of the women attacked, rightly argues that the attack was not only because she is queer but because of a society that is misogynistic at heart:
"For several days, a graphic, triggering photo of our bloody faces satisfied voyeurs and enriched companies whose values counter my own, such as News Corps and Sinclair Broadcast Group. Many of the outlets publishing my face without permission endorse racist, misogynist and xenophobic platforms and politicians. One world leader on her last day in office concluded a long career voting in favour of anti-gay, racist, colonial policies by expressing her condolences to us. We were Instagrammed by celebrities, vacuously retweeted by politicians, itemised on a BuzzFeed listicle. Despite so much inane coverage, Melania [the other victim] energetically leveraged her platform to highlight the misogyny embedded in the violence and today’s hate crime rates. [my italics]"
My initial reaction to the story, other than the horror of the graphic imagery (on two levels), was that the attack on the two women had little to do with them being queer. Would the same have happened to two gay men? A group of young men goading them to kiss? That's not saying it wasn't about them being queer but it appeared to be far more about them being women.
The piece is entitled "You saw me covered in blood on a bus. But do you get outraged about all homophobia?"
So it's a drag that after an interesting reflection on how the media reported the attack, Chris, rather tiresomely feels the need to ignore what the argument was about, a misogynistic attack on a queer couple, or homophobia, as the title suggests, and bring in a completely unrelated topic:
"Question why the photo of two attractive, white cisgender women compelled you to post about Pride for the first time.
Learn the names and stories of Muhlaysia Booker, Dana Martin, Chanel Scurlock. Elevate those who have been advocating for the basic rights and safety of communities marginalised by our existing political, economic and social structures long before I got punched in the face. Finding the right leaders takes some research and real-world activity. Their frequent absence from today’s headlines is not coincidental to their crusades. Stand up for yourselves and each other, and fight back. [my italics]"
Even I, off grid old man, had heard of Muhlaysia Booker and Chanel Scurlock. Along with Dana Martin and many other murders, of mostly black individuals, in the US, Booker and Scurlock's deaths have been widely reported as "trans murders." While it might seem tasteless to look at the murders of young people, I would argue that it's acceptable because, firstly, they are in the public domain, and secondly, the trans community are exploiting these murders to promote an ideological message, that trans people are under attack, that society itself is transphobic and that these murders are just the tip of the iceberg (because so many trans people are "misgendered" by the police).
So what is the definition of a "transgender murder"?
I assume we would all agree that any murder with a prefix implies that the person was murdered because of that prefix. Gay murder, racist murder, religious murder, etc.
Booker, Scurlock and Martin have all been used to publicize this idea that the trans community are facing a mass epidemic of violence and murder. Yet Scurlock's murderer has since been charged. The motive was robbery. Scurlock was black, her murderer, Javaras Hammonds, was black (there is a point to this). Booker, who was black, was murdered by Kendrell Lavar Lyles, a black man who murdered two other people in the Dallas area who were not transgender. Dana Martin, a black trans woman, was murdered early this year, she was found shot in "a" car. That's all that's known. There's no implication that any were killed because they were transgender. In fact, murders being widely reported as "transgender murders" are extremely problematic. If anyone actually read this they might be screaming transphobia or racism but my point is that the murders of transgender women in the US are part of a much larger pattern that has nothing to do with their gender orientation. They certainly have something to do with race, however.
As an example of the phenomena, here's the Human Rights Campaign list of 26 transgender people murdered in 2018 in the US (all reported as "transgender murders"). I laboriously looked up follow up information on their murders to see if any of the victims were murdered because they were transgender. Again, this might seem tasteless but, all in the public domain, and wouldn't it be more tasteless for me to be using their murders for ideological ends (oh yes, I am, because it always is)?
Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien (white): murdered by her husband. That doesn't completely rule out that her husband of many years became angered with his wife's gender orientation (of over ten years). "Her husband, Mark Steele-Knudslien, was charged with her murder and pleaded not guilty on Monday, days after police say he admitted hitting her with a hammer and stabbing her after an argument." Berkshire Mass. police and DV services were treating it as domestic violence.NBC
Viccky Gutierrez (Hispanic): murdered by a burglar.
Celine Walker (black): Unknown assailant but Walker was killed in a hotel room, which implies she was a sex worker (see other murders below).
Tonya Harvey (black): Shot. Sex worker (this is in the Buffalo News but not on any reports by Pink News, etc.)
Zakaria Fry (Race/ethnicity unknown): Murdered with her boyfriend (she was 28 he was 70?) and their bodies dumped, the police believe the murderer was rooming with them.
Phyllis Mitchell (black): "An East Cleveland man is accused of fatally shooting a 46-year-old transgender woman while collecting a drug debt, according to police. Gary Sanders, 36, is charged with aggravated murder in the Feb. 24 fatal shooting of Phylicia Mitchell. Sanders went to the home to collect a drug debt and the two argued about stolen drugs and money, according to court records.
The argument turned into a fight over Sanders' gun, court records say. The gun fired and a bullet hit Mitchell in the chest, killing her, according to court records. " Cleveland Metro.
Amia Tyrae Berryman (black): Prostitute, killed by Dendrick Butler. "While investigating the victim’s phone, police found recent messages from Butler. Officers were then able to track down Butler’s vehicle and take him into custody." The police do not say it was a hate crime.
Sasha Wall (black): Probable domestic violence death at the hand of a boyfriend. Daily Beast
Karla Patricia Flores-Pavón (Hispanic): "24-year-old Jimmy Eugene Johnson III was taken into custody in Walker County during a traffic stop. Detectives said robbery was the motive and that the woman's death was not a hate crime." The HRC site even links to this report yet still counts it as a trans murder.
Nino Fortson (black trans man?). Fortson was a " gender-expansive individual." I have no idea what that means. He seemed to be a trans man. In the HRC report it reads: "Police are still searching for a suspect which sadly misgendered Forston. Reports vary regarding Nino Fortson’s gender identity and pronouns." Huh?
"Witnesses at the scene of Fortson’s death described an argument between Forston, two perceived men, and two perceived women. “During the argument, the victim pulled a small gun from her pocket and fired into the air,” reads an official Atlanta police statement sent to them. “The witness said he then walked away, but a short time later heard more gunshots and looked back to see the victim on the ground, and one of the males limping away.” The police are not treating it as a hate crime."
Gigi Pierce (black?): Shot by Sophia Adler. "“Ms. Adler and Gigi were friends. They had known each other for years. The question we needed to answer was whether this was a murder or a case of self-defence.” Pink News
Roxana Hernández (Hispanic): Roxana Hernández reportedly died from HIV-related complications in US border custody.
Antash'a English (black): "Antash’a English, 38, was found lying between two derelict homes with gunshot wounds on Friday morning, reports Action News Jax. She was taken to hospital but died from her injuries. A police report stated that English was urinating in a gap between the properties when she was shot multiple times by a person driving by in a grey car." Pink News. "Antash’a English, a transgender performer who was killed in a drive-by shooting June 1, was also believed to be engaged in sex work at the time of her death, according to her friend David Harrell."
Cathalina Christina James (black): "There are striking similarities between the victims. Cathalina Christina James, who was gunned down at a Quality Inn June 24, posted frequently on her Facebook about traveling from city to city doing sex work." Intomore.com
Sasha Garden (black): Garden, the victim from Orlando, had also been doing sex work along the “The Stroll,” a stretch of road in Orlando where workers and clients regularly meet.
Keisha Wells (black): Murdered by an unknown person and James Butler, a homeless man. There's no report linking her murder to her gender identity, even in HRC or Pink News etc..
Vontashia Bell (black): Shot in the chest in the street in the early hours of the morning. No organizations are linking it to her being transgender.
Dejanay Stanton (black): Shot by 17 year old Treom T Hill. Stanton "may have been a sex worker." Peoplesworld
Shantee Tucker (black): Shot. "Old York Road, where Shantee was killed, runs along Hunting Park in Philadelphia, an area that has a history of violent crime and is known by some residents as a stroll for transgender sex workers." Vice
Londonn Moore (black): Shot. "Tucker was found with a gunshot wound by police at about 1am on a highway in the Hunting Park area of the city, according to local media reports." Police aren't treating it as a hate crime. The implication is that she was a sex worker.
Nikki Enriquez (Hispanic): Shot by a border patrol supervisor who was arrested for a "string of violence against female sex workers in Laredo, Texas."
Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier (black): Stabbed. "According to the Sun-Times, police said Frazier was fatally stabbed in an abandoned building in Chicago’s West Garfield Park neighborhood after a “disagreement” with the man she was with." Which implies she was a sex worker.
Regina Denise Brown (black): Arson. "A man was arrested in connection with the fire. Kenneth Lamont Jenkins, a 37-year-old ex-convict, has previously served 18 years in prison for armed robbery and possession of a stolen vehicle and was released in the past three years."
Tydi Dansbury (black): Shot. "Tydie was shot while on the 1900 block of West Lanvale Street in West Baltimore on November 26 around 4.15 am local time. “We know there was some sort of argument that took place and during that argument it looks like a person—one individual—pulled out a gun and shot and left her on the side of the road,” Baltimore Police Department spokesperson T.J. Smith, said in an interview." Pink News
Keanna Mattel AKA Kelly Stough (black): Shot. A pastor, Albert Weathers was arrested for her murder and it was widely reported as a religious transgender murder. Weathers' defence was "Weathers said he grabbed his .40-caliber Glock because Stough jumped into his car and demanded money. He said he told her to leave his car and that Stough later came at him with a sharp metal object.
Weathers went on to his job in downtown Detroit as a security guard for the Great Lakes Water Authority and called to report the incident as a robbery and shooting about an hour later.
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Jaimie Powell Horowitz said Weathers knew Stough and had frequented the area where the shooting took place. The area of McNichols and Woodward is an area frequented by sex workers and their customers." There's been no update on it since the trial so no idea if he was found guilty of murder or a hate crime or manslaughter. Detroit News
HMC argue "These victims were killed by acquaintances, partners and strangers, some of whom have been arrested and charged, while others have yet to be identified. Some of these cases involve clear anti-transgender bias. In others, the victim’s transgender status may have put them at risk in other ways, such as forcing them into homelessness.
"While the details of these cases differ, it is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color, and that the intersections of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia conspire to deprive them of employment, housing, healthcare and other necessities, barriers that make them vulnerable.
Sadly, 2018 has already seen at least 26 transgender people fatally shot or killed by other violent means."
HRC
Clearly none of the 2018 murders have any link to the victims being transgender.
On Intomore: "Susan Gail Sherman, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, studies transgender sex workers. Sherman does see a pattern when trans sex workers are killed but perhaps not the same one advocates in Florida are pointing out when they worry there is a serial killer on the loose.
“The context is racism and transphobia,” Sherman said. “Why are they targeted? Because people are hateful. We live in a time where hate is tolerated. It’s unbelievable.”"
Oh she's so close. Transphobia? How exactly has Sherman come to this conclusion? The victims' chosen gender had no connection to their murder. Most were sex workers. Most were black and most were killed by black men and (very rarely) women. Misogyny? Certainly. Racism? Well, yes, if you take into account the institutionalised racism inherent in the American capitalist economic system. One can see this in the homicide statistics in the US:
"According to the US Department of Justice, African Americans accounted for 52.5% of all homicide offenders from 1980 to 2008...The offending rate for African Americans was almost 8 times higher than European Americans, and the victim rate 6 times higher. Most homicides were interracial, with 84% of European Americans victims killed by European Americans, and 93% of African Americans victims were killed by African Americans. In 2013 there were Black or African Americans 4,379 murder arrests.
Of the 9,468 murder arrests in the US in 2017, 53.5% were black and 20.8% Hispanic. Of the 822,671 arrests for non-aggravated assault, 31.4% were black and 18.4% hispanic."
There isn't anything intrinsic about race/ethnicity and a propensity to violence, that would be mad, so there must be another reason why 11% of the US population carry out over 50% of all homicides, predominantly carried out on others of the same race and ethnicity.
That isn't to say that trans people are not targeted for hate crimes or, indeed, murder, and it's not saying that it isn't difficult being openly trans in Trump America or Brexit Britain but I am saying that conflating the sexuality or self identified gender or other factors in murder statistics without taking into account the more obvious presenting conditions that lead to murder, is setting dangerous precedents.
There's a reason why people, trans or otherwise, end up in sex work. Alongside misogyny, poverty is the real reason why people are murdered in the US at such alarming rates. Even though black Americans disproportionately murder and are murdered in the US it isn't racism per se but the conscious and unconscious racism that maintains class boundaries and keeps sections of the population in poverty; economic and educational.
Talking about "epidemics" of trans murders instead of talking about the real issues behind the murders; race, ethnicity, misogyny and poverty/class plays right into the hands of those in power. The response is that we need to protect trans women (of colour) rather than look at the reasons why so many young black, poor women (often sex workers) and men are murdered in the US. The fact that most were shot also brings up debates around gun culture as murders of trans people in other western democracies are far, far lower and rarely involve firearms.
If it seems grotesque detailing the lives and deaths of these people here, how more grotesque is it to use them for ideological profit to promote a climate of fear and a paranoid atmosphere of rampant transphobia?
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