I was traveling, and was distressed to hear while waiting for my connecting flight in Phoenix this morning that we added another name to the already too long list of trans people who have been killed in 2018. We go to Philadelphia. PA for the nineteenth person we have lost in the person of Shantee Tucker.
According to reporting from Philadelphia magazine, the 30 year old Tucker was found at 1:05 AM EDT by police officers responding to reports of a shooting at 4300 Old York Road.
She was taken to Temple University Hospital where she succumbed from her injuries.
The initial police investigation revealed that Tucker had a brief argument with a person or persons in a black older model Ford pickup truck. Gunshots were subsequently fired at Tucker after the verbal confrontation. That black Ford truck had bonding on it and no tailgate, and the Philadelphia police are looking for the people in that truck.
Tucker unfortunately is now the 14th African American trans and gender nonconforming person killed due to anti-trans violence in the US in 2018 and the thirteenth Black trans feminine person.
What is even more distressing to me is that this is the third Black trans person we have lost in a week and as I write this, I'm hearing unconfirmed reports that we may have another one in New York..
Her Black life mattered. Her Black trans life mattered. When are our Black legacy orgs going to stand up and speak out publicly about the slaughter of Black trans women and call for its end?
Still waiting for that public statement from you, NAACP.
As of yet, no word about any vigils planned for Shantee, and if I hear any news about them or I'm notified about it in time, I'll pass that info along.
Rest in power and peace, Shantee. Your family and all who loved you will not rest until the wastes of DNA who committed this crime are caught, prosecuted and rotting in a jail cell.
#StopKillingUs #StopKillingBlackTransWomen Stop killing trans people, period
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