Don't Wait For Tragedy To Strike: Listen To Black Trans Women While They're Still Alive

By Jaelani Turner-Williams


In August, The Advocate reported the death of Maurice “Reese Him Daddy” Willoughby, a black cisgender man who was in a relationship with a transgender woman named Faith Palmer. Willoughby had been subjected to bullying by other cis boys for his relationship, and later died by an apparent overdose soon after Palmer abandoned him. And though Willoughby’s story resonated with several, there’s been an absence of protection for Palmer, who has perplexing the emotional complications she’s felt since Willoughby’s death on her personalized Instagram.


According to a post by the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, Palmer had reportedly fled to safety from her hometown of Philadelphia right after Willougby threatened her life any time as soon as she tried to leave him. “Reese’s [death] isn't the time to discuss cis boys who date trans women,” read the Institute’s post. “Black females are usually mourning and caring for the world while attempting to keep ourselves alive. Our love and support to Faith.” The public response to Willoughby’s death versus Palmer’s safety and ongoing needs underscores how trans ladies, and especially Black trans ladies, can typically written out of their own narratives so that cis people can be at the center. This erasure is particularly dangerous for a community disproportionately susceptible to violence at the hands of acquaintances, partners, and strangers.


 


At least 26 trans people were killed in the U.S. In 2018, and trans females of color were victims of four out of five anti-trans homicides that year, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). This year isn’t promising to be much better, either: At least 18 Black trans ladies have been killed in the U.S. For now this year. It’s possible the number is higher due to jurisdictional practices of misgendering or failing to investigate certain crimes.


Faith Palmer is still alive, although she seemed to be an afterthought to several people who focused as an alternative on Willoughby’s love of her in viral posts. “It is the voice of Faith Palmer and the several trans females of color whose voices aren't amplified that the media should be stimulating right now,” Dwayne Steward, Director of Prevention at the Ohio-based LGBTQ+ healthcare order Equitas Health, tells MTV News. “Until we do the real work to destroy the dangerous stigmas and systems that perpetuate violence against transgender ladies, tragedies like this will continue to occur.”


Meanwhile, this year marks the initial time Presidential candidates have discussed directly about trans issues on a national debate stage. Cory Booker discussed violence against Black trans ladies at the Miami debates, and other candidates, including Elizabeth Warren, have memorialized murdered Black trans females by tweeting their names. (That it took so long for politicians to show allyship is its own problem and rooted in part by another inequity. While it’s essential for allies to actively support trans girls, it is also critical to be able to see actual trans representation in our legislators: there really are currently just 7 non-white, non-cis elected officials nationwide, according to the Victory Institute, and all of those are local legislators. That’s about 0.001 percent of all elected officials.)


Amplifying the epidemic of violence against Black trans girls should be the bare minimum — and not something to settle for. Though these murders have ultimately begun acquiring national attention, history shows that this isn’t new. And even if the deaths of trans girls are announced, and their lives honored by their loved ones, justice is rare: According to the HRC, only 42 percent of the 110 known murders of trans ladies since 2014 have resulted in arrests.


The broader public can not feign ignorance of this epidemic. On September 5, Indya Moore attended the Day-to-day Front Row Style Media Awards wearing custom earrings by Areeayl Yoseefaw of Beads Byaree that paid tribute to 16 of the Black trans females who were murdered in 2019; they also carried a photo of 17-year-old Bailey Reeves, whose death made 17. In the speech they gave while accepting Cover of the Year, the actor explained, “Just like me, these females dare to exhaust their freedom to exist by being visible. Although, as an alternative opposed to being celebrated, they were punished for it.” They also pointed to the average life expectancy for trans females of color and reminded each person in the audience that celebrating them meant also celebrating and protecting their sisters.


“Existence that requires bravery isn't freedom,” they added. “A life that requires bravery isn't free.”


Instead of waiting up until the names of those females are memorialized in failed to notice news headlines immediately after their untimely deaths, there needs to be national urgency of this violent epidemic and unyielding work towards its prevention. That includes celebrating trans girls for who they are, here and now.


In December 2016, Rae’Lynn Thomas was shot and killed by her stepfather in Columbus, Ohio; he was later deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial. Following Thomas’ death, BQIC organizer Wriply M. Bennet and also a crowd of other trans girls contained a memorial for her. “The thing is, As soon as I show up to marches, I show up because I need to,” the illustrator and one-fourth of viral protest order #BlackPride4 tells MTV News. “There are Black folk who require a voice, who need bodies, who need people beyond them. As someone who's grown up in Columbus, I required to show up [for Thomas], yet as soon as it comes to me and folks like me, we never get the same consideration.”


Bennet says she as well as a host of other trans girls helped make sure that businesses like Black Lives Matter adopt trans-inclusive policies. Although there’s a lot of work left to be done, especially as discussions about trans girls still often serve as a sidebar while in advocacy events and conversations.


“We hope to be recognized as who we are, as ladies, nevertheless we also hope to be recognized as transgender women,” Bennet says, cautioning against tokenization and other half-hearted attempts to include trans people in conversations and movements. “It’s never as something that feels wholly and felt inside of the community, yet only as a way to further their own conversation.”


According to Dkéama Alexis, the co-founder and core organizer of Black Queer and Intersectional Collective (BQIC), some people “talk about #ProtectBlackWomen nevertheless they're only talking about a specific kind of Black woman.” For liberation to happen, that protection needs to encompass every Black woman. Whether cis folks are actively transphobic or pointedly indifferent, they’re doing damage to the trans community, they added.


“There's a huge portion of Black girls who are not fighting for visibility and they're not fighting for representation. They're fighting for liberation and health and well-being,” Alexis told MTV News. “Representation does not equal liberation. Just because you show up in a space and you're there does not mean that you're respected or uplifted. Times are changing although there’s also so several more things to be done.”


Though Black trans girls strive to be upheld on a public platform, they’re often denied health and mental wellness resources by some medical providers. They’re also commonly written out of their own stories: Marsha P. Johnson was only recently commemorated by the city of New York with a statue in front of the Stonewall Inn; the move came 50 years immediately after she and fellow trans activist Sylvia Rivera inspired a community to act.


“This nation could be very different if children were taught about different types of figures, heroes, and the power that organized marginalized populations have amassed,” Aaryn Lang, an activist and board member at the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, tells MTV News. She points to the recent news that some states will start teaching LGBTQ+ history in public schools as a begin — but says that’s only piece of a more holistic equation that also includes cis allies supplying tangible support to the trans community. Groups like Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society (G.L.I.T.S.), the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, and Emergency Release Fund accept donations to fund their missions of assisting trans girls of color who are in need of protection, reinforcement, and financial support.


A concerted shift in the way we think about sex and gender will also lead to positive change. “Beyond history, our schools must revolutionize the way that health and sexual education is taught,” Lang says. “Understanding that transness is an organic human occurrence and that bodies are able to exist in several different chromosomal and genital makeups open the world up to young people struggling to find where they fit. This data is life-saving and acceptance-creating. Young people need to grow up knowing that there really is no regular on the human body.”


And all that is nothing without a beginning acknowledgment of whose voice needs to be heard.“The best way that cisgender allies will support is by giving up space and power to uplift leaders of the trans and gender non-conforming community,” Steward says. “We must take our lead from those who are most affected. We simply must begin listening and supporting what they've more than probably already been saying for years to deaf ears.”