With the calendar page flipping from March to April, the weather gets warmer (at least in some parts of the country), the shorts come out and people emerge to enjoy the wonderful spring weather. And over the last two years, what has emerged is a distressing pattern of the month of April being a particularly deadly one for African-American trans women.
There were three slayings of African-American transwomen in April 2012, and that pattern continued in 2013. Kelly Young and Ashley Sinclair were killed 48 hours apart in Baltimore and Orlando, and Cemia Dove Acoff's lifeless body was discovered on April 17.
So will we see a threepeat of that pattern in 2014? I hope and pray we don't, but with the increased attention transpeople and trans issues are getting in the media, it has also fueled backlash. Some of that backlash will be manifested in people who are mean spirited, hateful and angry enough to take their transphobia to murderous levels.
And let this post serve as your wake up call. Remember you are walking around in Black feminine bodies, which like our cisgender Black feminine counterparts, draw their share of murderous attention, too.
So my transsisters, be vigilant and most importantly be safe so I don't have to type out stories of a transwoman being killed somewhere in this country during the month of April.
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