Two More Black Trans Women Killed In The US
Two more black trans women, Shaki Peters and Bree Black, have been killed in the US in the past week.
Bree, who was only 27 when she passed away, was fatally shot in her hometown of Pompano Beach. Two days after her death, Black Lives Matter Alliance Broward hosted a gathering in honour of Bree’s memory. Later, protesters marched to Pampano Beach City Hall chanting “No justice. No peace.”
Tifanny Burks, an organiser with Black Lives Matter Alliance Broward, said: “We want some immediate answers to what’s going on and we want this investigation to be done with full integrity. We want to get connected to her family.
“We want to get connected with her friends because we don’t want this one altar, this one event to be the end.”
Shaki was 32 years old when she was killed in Amite City, Louisiana. The St. Helena Parish Sheriff’s Office, who misgendered her in their report, are investigating her death as a homicide and have identified a person of interest.
One of Shaki’s frineds, Natahalie Nia Faulk, who is also a black trans woman, called her a “very independent person and very loyal to her friends,” and said she was “full of laughter and an abundance of life.”
According to ‘Gay Times’, Shaki and Bree are the 19th and 20th known killings of trans people in the United States this year.
In a statement, Louisiana Trans Advocates urged for local and state leaders to “speak out against these killings, against the ongoing, systemic devaluation of trans people that pervades our media and politics, and against the institutional racism that places almost all of this burden on trans women of color.”
LGBTQ+ organisations have called called for the Black Lives Matter movement to do more for murdered black trans women.
“I don’t think that anybody would say that there’s been enough attention focused on and around trans people and the state of violence they live in,” said Tori Cooper of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an LGBTQ+ advocacy group. “I think it is a weakness of the Black Lives Matter movement. We only speak out when Black men are being harmed or murdered.”
Read related myGwork articles here:
Two Black Trans Women Were Killed In The U.S.A. In The Past Week
Black Trans Man Shot Dead By Policeman In Florida
One In Three Black Trans Youth Attempt Suicide, New Report Reveals
