Lifting Up Voices on Transgender Day of Remembrance

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”– Martin Luther King, Jr.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” – Desmond Tutu

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” – Elie Wiesel

Today marks the 16th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, originally started by Gwendolyn Ann Smith in 1999. In honor to the increasing and disproportionate death and harm to transgender people within the world, I decided to post a series of posts and videos for Transgender Day of Remembrance. There have been transgender people murdered all around the world, 23 of those killed in 2015 were trans women in the United States. A large amount of those 23 were also trans women of color. (These are the ones that have been reported thus far). The Advocate published the names of those killed in 2015, in the United States, and I am including them here.

• Keyshia Blige (33 years old), fatally shot in Aurora, Ill., on March 7, 2015.
• Tamara Dominguez (36 years old), repeatedly run over by a vehicle in Kansas City, Mo., on August 15, 2015.
• Kandis Capri (35 years old), fatally shot in Phoenix, on August 11, 2015.
• Amber Monroe (20 years old), fatally shot in Detroit, on August 8, 2015.
• Ashton O’Hara (25 years old), stabbed to death and run over by a vehicle in Detroit, on July 14, 2015.
• Shade Schuler (22 years old), cause of death unknown, found dead in a field in Dallas, on July 29, 2015.
• K.C. Haggard (66 years old), stabbed multiple times in Fresno, Calif., on July 24, 2015.
• India Clarke (22 years old), shot multiple times in Tampa, Fla., on July 21, 2015.
• Mercedes Williamson (17 years old), beaten to death in Rocky Creek, Ala., on May 30, 2015.
• Penny Proud (21 years old), fatally shot in Tremé, New Orleans, on February 10, 2015.
• Taja Gabrielle DeJesus (36 years old), stabbed multiple times in San Francisco, on Feburary 8, 2015.
• Bri Golec (22 years old), stabbed to death in Akron, Ohio, on February 13, 2015.
• Lamia Beard (30 years old), fatally shot in Norfolk, Va., on January 17, 2015.
• Papi Edwards (20 years old), fatally shot in Louisville, Ky., on January 9, 2015.
• Elisha Walker (20 years old), beaten to death in Smithfield, N.C., on August 14, 2015.
• Jasmine Collins (32 years old), stabbed to death in Kansas City, Mo., on June 23, 2015.
• London Chanel (21 years old), stabbed to death in North Philadelphia, on May 18, 2015.
• Ty Underwood (24 years old), fatally shot in North Tyler, Texas, on January 26, 2015.
• Yazmin Vash Payne (33 years old), stabbed multiple times in Los Angeles, on January 31, 2015.
• Kristina Gomez Reinwald (46 years old) stabbed to death in Miami, Fla., on February 16, 2015.
• Zella Ziona (21 years old), fatally shot in Montgomery Village, Md., on October 15, 2015.
• Maya Hall (27 years old), killed by police in Fort Meade, Md., on March 30, 2015.
• Kiesha Jenkins (22 years old), fatally shot in Philadelphia, on October 6, 2015.

A huge number of transgender people were also killed in Brazil. Other countries that have had such incidents this year also include Cuba, Spain, Japan, the U.K. and Pakistan. This is all of our fight. Lift up their voices….. Say their names. And let’s not only care when people die. Let us all remember, connect and celebrate and protect the humanity and beauty of trans people in life, not just mourn them in death.

Elena Rose: https://vimeo.com/39768974