Black Transwomen Deserve Better

Rest in power to Black transwomen who have been murdered due to our ignorance, silence, and erasure.    

    Dejanay Stanton, a Black transwoman from Chicago, is the latest reported victim of the war against transwomen. Her death on September 4th 2018 marks the 17th recorded death of a transwoman in 2018. Following 2017, the deadliest year on record for transwomen, 2018 is projected to be an even more fatal year for the already marginalized trans community. As the death toll of this violent anti-trans war continues we, as a global community, must face one simple truth: Black transwomen deserve better.

     Few communities are more at risk than Black transwomen. In addition, violence against Black transwomen is widely underreported despite being one of the marginalized communities most susceptible to violence. Transphobia, the negative attitudes and exoticization of trans folk, fuels a range of violences against the trans community. While transphobia fuels acts of physical violence against the trans community, there are also examples of more subtle violences that occur daily. For example, when reported on by mainstream media, however, transwomen face the subtle violences of being misgendered by on air personalities and headlines. The realities of the subtle and overt violences facing transwomen daily reveal the ways transphobia is commonplace in public opinion.

    In regard to politics, government policies and transphobic public figures pose constant threats to the lives of Black transwomen. In North Carolina House Bill 2, which sparked the transgender bathroom policy debate of 2017, is one example of the hysteria and violent rhetoric surrounding the everyday lives of trans folk. The politicizing of their genitalia, sexualities, and bodies illustrate how trans folk are constantly dehumanized. Instead of being granted the privilege to live, work, and love as autonomous human beings trans folk are reduced to commodities, threats, and stereotypes.

    As the year continues, and for years to come, Black transwomen deserve better. They deserve protection from transphobia in all forms. From structural inequality to personal attacks they deserve safety, support, and solidarity. They deserve legislation which advocates for their lives and experiences. Ultimately, Black transwomen are the foundation and spirit of movements for Black liberation, feminism, and queer rights and deserve more from the rest of us.