Suspect Arrested In Carla Pavon Murder Case

That was fast!    A suspect has been arrested in the Carla Pavon murder case.

24 year Jimmy Eugene Johnson III of the Houston suburb of Seabrook, TX has been arrested and charged with  murder.   He was detained by Dallas detectives during a traffic stop in Walker County, and investigators found items belonging to Flores-Pavon in his car. 

He was arrested, taken to the Walker County Jail and held on $500,000 bond.  Once the paperwork is completed, he will be taken back to Dallas County to face the legal music from his crimes

Johnson had been corresponding with Pavon online and it was confirmed that he was the person spotted running from her north Dallas area apartment in the Citadel at Preston Complex

Pavon emigrated to the US from Honduras seeking refuge from anti-trans discrimination in her homeland, and had been in Texas for five years .

We are now one step closer to receiving justice for Carla, and seeing that Johnson doesn't serious time for murdering our sister.  . 

BTWI Statement On The Trans Murders In Dallas and Atlanta

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 17, 2018
Contact: Monica Roberts BTWI Media Chair
Carmarion Anderson  BTWI Founding National DirectorDee Dee Watters BTWI Board Chair 
855-255-8636 Ext 11media@blacktranswomen.org

We at Black Transwomen, Inc are dismayed and saddened about the murders of our trans siblings occuring in our headquarters city of Dallas, TX and in Atlanta, GA where we have a BTMI chapter.

Our condolences and warm thoughts go out to the friends and families of Carla Patrica Flores-Pavon, the still unidentified Black trans sister whose body was pulled out of White Rock Creek on May 12, and Nino Fortson.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office is still working to ascertain the cause of death for our unidentified sibling, and once that is determined we will pass that information along as quickly as we receive it.

We also mourn the untimely passing of our Latinx sister Carla Pavon, and thank Ana Andrea Molina and the Organizacion Latina de Trans en Texas (OLTT) for the opportunity to be present at the vigil organized by OLTT for Ms Pavon at the Cathedral of Hope on May 13.

Ms. Pavon was the ninth trans person we have lost to anti-trans violence in the US, and we join OLTT in expressing our desire for the swift capture, prosecution, and punishment of the person who killed Carla so that justice can be served for her family and all who loved her.   

BTWI leadership has been working in close cooperation with the Dallas Police Department to help get accurate information out as expeditiously as possible in these cases.  We are diligently working to ensure that we identify our sister so that the investigation into her death can commence and the perpetrator can be brought to justice. 

In Nino Fortson's case, there are many members of our Atlanta BTMI-BTWI family who knew Nino  personally and are devastated after hearing the news of his tragic May 13 murder.

Fortson was unfortunately the tenth trans person and first trans masculine person killed in 2018, and we mourn his loss as well.   Our transmen also face anti-trans violence aimed at them, and his murder is an unfortunate reinforcement of that reality. 

We at BTWI along with our BTMI brothers in Atlanta and beyond are hoping that the perpetrator of our fallen brother's May 13 murder is swiftly captured and punished for his crime.

A Historic Graduation For Keo!

Needed some positive news to talk about after writing about several trans murders, and this is coming from the ATL

Since Spelman changed their policies to allow trans people to matriculate on their campus,  been wondering when would witness our first trans graduate from the first liberal arts college for African American women. 

Turns out it's May 2018. 

Meet Keo Chaad O'Neal.   It's apropos that the 21 year old O'Neal is graduating with a degree in history because he is making it as the first openly trans masculine graduate of Spelman College.   

When the South Plainfield, NJ native first enrolled on the Spelman campus he identified as non binary and used they/them pronouns.    While O'Neal loved Spelman, he didn't feel at the time he would be able to become themself, so O'Neal transferred to a predominately white institution (PWI).

While at the PWI, O'Neal transitioned, grew and developed on that campus, but missed Spelman.

"I came back to Spelman in my junior year because although I could flourish in my queerness, I felt like I was denying my Blackness.  I was nothing more than a body to those folks," O'Neal said.

O'Neal returned to Spelman for his junior and senior year  and says he faced some backlash from current students, their parents and alumni.    He came out during a on campus convocation for Spelman aluma and author Alice Walker who was visiting as ana artist in residence. 

As to what is next for O'Neal.  While he has been accepted into a PhD program in the fall, he wants to take a few years to establish himself before returning to school.

While it was a tough two years, he also had a message for his supporters.

"I could not have made it this far without the encouragement of others, O'Neal said. "It truly takes a village.  For everyone who played a part in my successes, this is a win for all of us."

And in a week full of bad news for our trans community, it's a win we sorely needed.

Congratulation Keo! 

Number 10- Rest In Power and Peace Nino Fortson

We have lost our first trans masculine person  of 2018 to anti-trans violence in what is turning out to be a deadly week.

36 year old Nino Fortson was shot multiple times during an argument early in the morning of May 13 at the corner of Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway and Woods Dr NW

As you probably guessed, the initial news report on CBS46 misgendered our brother.

According to the misgendering CBS46 report, Atlanta PD was executing a traffic stop nearby, heard the gunfire and rushed to the scene where the mortally wounded Forston was spotted.   He was taken to the nearby Grady Memorial Hospital where he died from his wounds.

Fortson is the 10th trans person we have lost to anti-trans violence this year, the sixth Black person and the first in Georgia this year   

APD is looking for Fortson's killer.   If you have any information on this case you are urged to call Atlanta Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS (8477)

If there are any vigils being planned, I'll pass that information along as soon as I receive it.

Rest in power and peace Nino.   You were taken from us far too soon, and we won't rest until the person who killed you is swiftly arrested, convicted and justice is served in your case.

 

Number 10? Deceased Black Trans Woman's Body Found In Dallas

Turns out while I and Ana Andrea Molina were in Dallas over the weekend for Carla Pavon's vigil, a few miles away from where I was staying on Saturday they were fishing the body of a deceased Black trans woman out of White Rock Creek 

At 7:30 PM CDT on May 12 a kayaker called Dallas PD to report a body in the creek near the 6900 block of Merriman Parkway in Lake Highlands that Dallas Fire- Rescue officials pulled from the creek.

The person in question was 5'3' and weighed 130 pounds.  Body was in a severe state of decomposition, and wearing a black t-shirt and black scrub pants with no tattoos or identifying marks on the body

Dallas PD is seeking the help of the public in identifying this person since the body didn't match the description of any current missing person's cases. 

If you have information regarding the identity of this individual, please call Detective Chaney with the DPD Homicide unit at 214-671-3650

The death is currently classified as an unexplained one pending cause of death determination from the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office.

It has not been classified by DPD or a Dallas County Medical Examiner as a homicide yet. 

If that happens, she would become the 10th trans person we have lost to anti-trans violence in the US, the sixth Black trans person we've lost in 2018 and the second in Texas this year.

And yes, Texas Republican Party, your anti-trans rhetoric is responsible for this happening.

First let's get this sister identified as expeditiously as possible, so that we can then focus on the task of obtaining justice for her .

RIP TyJanae Moore

While I was doing a Google search to find the TransGriot post I'd written about her back in November 2010. was shocked to stumble across an obituary for her from last year.

TyJanae Moore was in the news back in November 2010 when she was unjustly arrested for simply using the bathroom in the downtown Houston Public Library after a Black cis female security guard called the cops on her. 

The obituary I stumbled across doesn't mention a cause of death, and as you probably guessed it deadnamed her

She was also just 33 years old when she died.   Not only is the question on my mind how did she die, I'm also wanting to know where.  I know thanks to the bare bones obituary when it happened, on November 15, 2017 and I know it happened in her residence in Killeen.

That was a mere 28 days after she celebrated her 33rd birthday on October 17.

The funeral home handling the arrangements was in Copperas Cove, TX,.   So if you know anything about the backstory concerning how she died, let me know.   

Rest in power and peace TyJanae

Texas Club Attendee Told To Remove The Makeup

All Bobby Rodriguez wanted to do was dance.  So the 21 year drove 40 miles to Corpus Christi from suburban Kingsville, TX to go to a club called Whiskey River to do just that

But Rodriguez only got as far of the door of the establishment at 5702 S. Staples St. in Corpus Christi when he was told by a bouncer that in order to enter the club he would have to remove his lipstick and false eyelashes due to the club's dress code.

A dress code that not only wasn't posted at the door according to Rodriguez and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, but one bars people from entering unless they have 'gender appropriate attire'.

Gee, where have I heard those words before?

"I approached the door I handed my ID to the security at the door (and) his words were and, I quote, 'unfortunately, you cannot enter because you are wearing makeup and we have a rule here that says men need to dress like men,'"  said Rodriguez. 

Despite being upset about what he was told, Rodriguez complied by wiping his lipstick off in his car, but later complained about the discriminatory happenings on his Facebook page. 

The club's owner Angela Blohm, called Rodriguez's allegations in a Caller -Times interview a 'bunch of frivolous baloney' and denied it happened while admitting that the club has a 'gender appropriate attire' dress code. 

And as you probably guessed, people are rushing to defend and excuse the homophobic and transphobic dress code.

If Blohm thought the best way to handle this was be insulting, dismissive and deny it happened, that was the wrong response.   What she should have done was apologize to Rodriguez, not double down on the arrogant defiance.

That dismissive response has not only drawn negative commentary from people incensed about the way Rodriguez was treated, it has triggered a protest organized by Kathy Huff that is scheduled to happen this Thursday. 

The May 17 protest of Whiskey River is scheduled to run from 6-9 PM CDT.   It is drawing support from Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) and other Texas based advocacy orgs.

It also has driven home the case of why nondiscrimination laws are needed that cover gender identity and expression in every Texas city and statewide.

Black Cis Peeps, Stop Using The Cops As a Weapon Against Trans People

Black America was justifiably outraged over the increasing number of incidents in which Black people have had the cops called by white people for simply doing mundane things.

But y'all have been criticket chirping silent about the times you skinfolks have called the cops on Black trans people for simply living our lives or going to the damned bathroom. 

Think I'm selling woof tickets about that?   Here's the receipts.

Back in November 2010 a Black cis female security guard called the cops on Tyjanae Moore, who was simply going to answer nature's call and use the restroom.    She ended up spending a few days in the Houston city jail for the 'crime' of using the bathroom that matched her gender presentation. 

The same thing happened in Charlotte a few years later to Andraya Williams, when another Black female security guard called the campus cops who detained and escorted her off the Central Piedmont Community College Campus..

 

This crap needs to stop.   Trans people need to go to the bathroom for the same reason many of you do, to poop and pee.    Now if you're a Republican, you have repeatedly caught trying to make love connections in them.

But back to the post.

Skinfolk, if you don't like the cops being called on you for simply living your lives, you need to extend the same courtesy to your Black trans skinfolk.    Unjustly calling the cops on us is just as dangerous or even more to a Black trans body as it is you Black cis one, especially in an era in which trans folks are being attacked by the conservative movement.

It's past time for you to stop calling to cops on trans people for any reason other than the commission of a crime or just because you're mad that the trans woman is performing femininity better than you are and want to be shady about it. .

Texas Primary Runoff Election Starts Today

Early voting for the Texas party primary runoff elections start today and runs until Friday for the May 22 runoff election date

The race that is getting much statewide attention is the Democratic gubernatorial runoff between Lupe Valdez and Andrew White, but there are other candidates trying to get to represent their party in the fall.

There are several races we are watching in the Houston area.   One is the state Senate District 17 race in which Fran Watson is seeking to become only the third Black woman in Texas history to be elected to the state senate. 

Who were the previous two?   Barbara Jordan (1966) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (1986

But to make that trailblazing history, she has to get past Rita Lucido in a district that covers parts of Harris, eastern Fort Bend and Brazoria counties. 

If Fran is successful in advancing from the runoff, she'll then take on the incumbent transphobic Sen. Joan Huffman (R). 

The US House District 7 race is another one Houston area political junkies are watching between Lizzie Pannill Fletcher and Laura Moser.   This race started with six candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in this race to take on Rep. John Culberson (R) 

Depending on who you support (and I'm supporting Moser), voters are pissed at the two surviving candidates for one reason or another.   But only one will survive to take on Culberson in the fall.

The other local race I'm watch is the District 29 Republican one between Carmen Maria Montiel and Philip Aronoff in which the winner will take on Sen. Sylvia Garcia (D), who beat six candidates back in March to secure her spot on the fall ballot

Aronoff has my undivided attention because of the transphobia he unleashed to get into this GOP runoff, and you know I want him to go down in flames.   But then again Texas GOP primary voters have repeatedly shown their racist tendencies when an Anglo candidate goes up against a Latinx one.

Montiel is a former Miss Venezuela who emigrated to the US.  Even if she beats the odds and winds May 22, Garcia will be a formidable opponent. 

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Early voting starts today and runs through May 18.   If you don't handle your electoral business this week, you'll have to wait until May 22 to do so. 

But whether you do it this week on on May 22, just do it.   Exercise your right to vote.       

Texas 2018 Democratic Gubernatorial Debate

I missed this when it happened on Friday because I was traveling to Dallas.   Now that I've found the video for it I'm posting it for you peeps who are trying to make up your minds which person you wish to see take on Greg Abbott in November.

This is the one and done debate between Lupe Valdez and Andrew White that occurred on Friday evening in Austin.  It was moderated by Dallas Morning News reporter Gromer Jeffers, and as you probably suspected, got testy at times, especially since early voting for the May 22 runoff election starts today and runs through May 18 

So who am I supporting in this race?   I voted for Valdez in the primary in large part because I didn't like White's donation to the Kentucky Republican Party and his self description as a 'conservative moderate Democrat.' and I will be voting for her again in this runoff.

We need real Democrats, not Democrats-lite in these Trumpian times. 

 So handle your electoral business.

Vigil For Carla

It would have been nice to not have to spend Mother's Day having to memorialize another one of our fallen trans sisters, but unfortunately that's exactly what we found ourselves doing today in the International Peace Chapel on the campus of the Cathedral of Hope.

It was organized by the Organizacion Latina de Trans en Texas (OLTT) ED Ana Andrea Molina, which has a chapter in the DFW area .

I was invited to speak during this vigil which had Dallas City councilmembers Omar Narvaez and Adam Medrano in attendance, Dallas PD assistant chief David Pughes, Cathedral of Hope senior pastor Rev Neil Cazares-Thomas, Pastor Yinessa Romera and Carla's mother.

In addition to remarks from Rev Cazares-Thomas, Ana Andrea Molina, and Chief Pughes, there were musical selections performed in honor of Carla.

I had an opportunity to briefly talk to Carla's mom's, and she thanked the community for remembering her daughter that she loved dearly. 

I wish I'd gotten a chance to meet Carla.   But unfortunately that's not going to happen.   All we can do now is ensure that Carla and her family receives justice. 

Vigil For Carla Tomorrow

Well TransGriot readers, didn't expect to be back in Dallas this soon. 

I'm back in town to speak at a vigil for Carla Pavon, our sister we just lost way too soon on Wednesday.   

It's being held in the Interfaith peace Chapel on the Cathedral of Hope campus at 5910 Cedar Springs Rd on Sunday starting at 2:30 PM.

Hope we get a nice turnout for it, and see you there . . 

85th Anniversary of Nazi Book Burning

"Where they burn books, they will ultimately also burn people."
-Heinrich Heine, 1920 

85 years ago today Nazi Germany committed a crime against knowledge. 

After conducting a May 6 raid on the Magnus Hirschfeld Institute which since 1919 had been doing pioneering research on trans and gay people, on May 10, 1933 the institute's 20,000 books and 500 images along with other 'unGerman' books went up in flames in the Opernplatz (now called the Bebelplatz) as Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels spoke in front of a crowd of 40,000 people.

The other critical thing that was seized in that May 6 raid was the Institute's lists of names and addresses.   Some historians assert the list was used by the Gestapo and SS to launch the 1934 purge against the Ernst Rohm led SA and round up of the German TBLGQ people left in the country called Operation Hummingbird. 

Marking the spot in the Bebelplatz where our TBLGQ history and knowledge went up in flames along with other books deemed 'unGerman' by the Nazi regime is a plaque with the Heine quote and a glass panel.   It's a window that allows you to peer into an underground room with empty bookshelves, symbolizing the knowledge and history that went up in flames on that day. 

We are dangerously close in the United States to not heeding the lessons of the rise of Nazi Germany and repeating its deadly to marginalized peoples mistakes.

Conservatives are quick to call any news story or article criticizing them as 'fake news' and even call any news outlets critical to them 'lugenpresse'.

That needs to stop before it does damage to our country we can't fix in a few election cycles .

Number 9- Rest In Power Carla Patricia Pavon

Once again it's my sad duty to inform you that we have lost another trans woman due to anti-trans violence.

The location for this latest trans murder is right up I-45 from me in Dallas, TX.   Our sister we lost far too soon is Carla Patricia Flores-Pavon and she was just 26 years old. 

Her two Facebook pages have her name starting with a 'K', but the Dallas PD crime report has it starting with a 'C'.   

According to Dallas Voice reporting by David Taffet, the Dallas PD and Dallas fire department emergency units were called to her apartment in the Citadel at Preston complex at 6104 LBJ Freeway near Preston Rd at 4:17 PM. 

A Latinx male was seen running from her apartment before Dallas fire department emergency response and police units were called.  Her body was found strangled inside her apartment, and she was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.

DPD confirmed at a 3 PM CDT press conference Pavon died from homicidal violence, but there is according to them there is not enough evidence at this stage to investigate this case as a hate crime. 

Carla is the 9th person we have lost to anti-trans violence this year in the US.  She's the seventh trans person of color and the second trans Latina we have lost in the US in 2018. 

She also the first trans person in Texas we have lost this year.   This murder also is infuriating me not only because it happened in my home state, but because she was just 26 years old. 

She was just beginning to embark on her life journey, and who knows what Carla could have accomplished had she been allowed to simply live her life.

This is still an active DPD investigation, and as of yet there isn't a designated person of interest in this case or any suspects at the time I'm writing this.

I'll update the post as more news becomes available.   If you're in the DFW area and you have any information that will help solve the crime and bring Carla's killer to justice, please call the Dallas Police Department or Dallas Crimestoppers at 214-373-TIPS (8377)   You can also call DPD Detective Tommy Raley at 214- 283- 4856


TransGriot Update:  Age that was written in the DPD report was incorrect according to the recently concluded press conference.   Carla's correct spelling on her name is with a C.  Someone was spotted running from her apartment prior to Dallas police and fire department emergency response units being called. 

If a vigil is being planned, will pass on that information.    Post has been updated as of 3:45 PM CDT to reflect the latest info 

     :

Fayetteville, AR Police Investigating Death Of Trans Woman

Last night I received a tip from an area TransGriot reader concerning the death of a 28 year old trans woman in the Fayetteville, AR area named Amrita Tehuti Mekti 

The reader sent me the message because they were concerned that so far no media outlet in the Fayetteville area (home city of the University of Arkansas) is covering the story. The Fayetteville PD have so far been tight lipped about what they know in this developing case.
This media story popped up only after I posted the initial tweet last night concerning this case. Back to discussing our fallen sister. Amrita was well known and loved in the Fayetteville area trans and GNC community, and loved supernatural and sci-fi stories.  
According to the Facebook post of the inTRANSitive group,
Amrita was a loving presence at every inTRANSitive event, fed the community at their weekly dinners at St. Martin’s Episcopal Center, attended almost every demonstration or protest in the  Fayetteville area, and has a special space in the hearts of many people across and beyond the Fayetteville area 

She was found dead in her apartment at The Gables complex at 1526 Oakland Ave. there following a welfare check on Monday after being missing a week . The details of her death are currently unknown and under investigation. An investigation that if foul play is involved, the community wants to see justice expeditiously happen for Amrita and all who loved her.

There were no signs of suicide, and her body is being sent to a crime lab in Little Rock for an autopsy. If it is confirmed that she was indeed murdered, she would unfortunately become the ninth person lost this year in the US due to anti-trans violence She would also saly become the sixth Black trans person and seventh trans POC murdered in the US this year.

Rest in power and peace Amrita, we lost you way too soon.

#BlackTransLIvesMatter #SayHerName TransGriot Update: The autopsy ruled out foul play in Amrita's death...