Violence Against Us Is Increasing

There has been a series of murders in Texas and the numbers violent crimes keep increasing.

Why violence against transgender Americans is a crisis that’s under reported
PBS
Nation
May 24, 2019

A recent series of murders of transgender victims is causing growing concern, particularly for trans women of color. It comes at a time when trans celebrities are more accepted in pop culture than ever before -- but also as the Trump administration aims to roll back Obama-era discrimination protections for transgender people. Amna Nawaz talks to the Anti-Violence Project's Beverly Tillery.

Judy Woodruff:
There is growing concern in this country and fear about deadly attacks against transgender Americans, particularly trans women of color.

As Amna Nawaz tells us, a series of murders in different cities in just one week has underscored a larger pattern of violence over several years.

And yet it comes at a time when trans celebrities are more accepted and more prominent in pop culture.

Amna Nawaz:
Judy, the most recent killing took place last Sunday in north Philadelphia.

Michelle "Tamika" Washington, 40 years old and a longtime advocate for the LGBTQ community, was shot several times. Her death came one day after Muhlaysia Booker was found dead in Dallas. Booker was just 23, and just weeks before her death, she was attacked in a mob-like beating after a minor traffic accident.

One week before those murders, 21-year-old Claire Legato was shot in the head in Cleveland. She was killed after an argument between her mother and the suspected shooter.

Earlier this year, two more black transgender women, Ashanti Carmon and Dana Martin, were also killed. Last year, more than two dozen transgender people were killed. And according to a 2018 Human Rights Campaign report, there were at least 128 trans people killed in 32 states since 2013; 80 percent of them were people of color.

Let's now take a closer look at this now with Beverly Tillery. She's executive director of the Anti-Violence Project, an LGBTQ anti-violence organization.

Beverly, welcome to the "NewsHour." Thank you for being with us.

I want to start by asking you about this recent state of killings. They happened across the country. The circumstances are all very different in each case. Do you know or believe that these women were targeted because they were transgender?

Down in Texas the violence and murders of trans people are also on the rise, in this New York Times article they write about the it.

After Third Killing of a Transgender Woman in a Year, Dallas Police Urge Vigilance
By Liam Stack
June 3, 2019

For the third time in less than a year, the Dallas police said Monday that they were investigating the killing of a transgender woman, raising the specter of a spree of violence targeting one of the most marginalized communities in the city.

The police said the woman, Chynal Lindsey, 26, was pulled out of White Rock Lake on Saturday afternoon. Her killing was the second in two weeks of a black transgender woman in Dallas, and she was the fifth transgender woman in three years to be violently attacked or found dead in the city.

At a news conference on Monday, Chief U. Reneé Hall of the Dallas Police Department said Ms. Lindsey’s body bore signs of “obvious homicidal violence.” When asked if there could be a serial killer hunting transgender women in the city, Chief Hall urged people to remain calm.
[…]
Major Vincent Weddington told reporters the department was investigating four unsolved murders of black transgender women: two that occurred in 2019, one in 2018 and one in 2015. In addition, the department said in a statement that the remains of a transgender woman were found in a field in July 2017. It said that case was classified as an “unexplained death.”
[…]
The police said last month there did not appear to be a connection between the two attacks against Ms. Booker. But the department said it was investigating similarities between her slaying and attacks on two other transgender women: an October murder and a nonfatal stabbing in April.

And in Philadelphia the police arrest a suspect in the murder of a trans woman.

Arrest Made In Transgender Activist Murder: Philadelphia Police
Michelle "Tamika" Washington, 40, was a longtime advocate for the transgender community in Philadelphia.
The Patch
By Max Bennett
May 21, 2019

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Police have made an arrest in connection with the murder of a Philadelphia woman known for her transgender activism.

Troy Bailey, 28, of Philadelphia, was arrested in connection with the Sunday, May 19 murder of Michelle "Tamika" Washington, 40.

Bailey was arrested the night of Monday, May 20 at 750 Race St., police said.
[…]
"Tamika's death has devastated our community," said Amber Hikes, Executive Director of Philadelphia's Office of LGBT Affairs. "As Tamika's loved ones and LGBTQ Philadelphians mourn her loss, our Office continues to stand in solidarity with trans women of color—who throughout history have fought for our rights, protected our communities, given us shelter, and reminded us of the incredible power of our identities."

Many of the attacks go unreported because we are afraid of the police, let’s face it for many trans people the police are not our friends.

Transgender Chicagoans say police encounters can be dehumanizing. A new report says CPD is failing them and we have good reason to fear them.
Chicago Tribune
By Hannah Leone
May 10, 2019

In her decade advocating for transgender people charged with crimes in Chicago, attorney Lark Mulligan says she has learned the patterns: “gender checks” that can feel like sexual assault. Name-calling. Feeling targeted, humiliated, dehumanized.

She was not surprised by a report this week concluding Chicago and 24 other big-city police departments all fail to meet the needs of the transgender community. Even when there is a policy, little is done to train officers or make sure they follow it, advocates say.
[…]
Mulligan said the report's findings resonate throughout her work in Chicago, where the Police Department is under a federal consent decree to improve, among other things, its policy on dealing with transgender people. “The policy itself is inadequate to say the least, and harmful I think in many ways, but in my experience, the few protections that are in there are rarely if ever followed by CPD officers interacting with trans people,” she said.

Would you pick up a phone to call 911 is you knew you were going to be harassed by the police if you called?

I know someone who was on vacation with her girlfriend down in Miami when they were harassed by three guys and a woman, they were verbally abusive and threating violence. They called the police and guess who the police blamed? The trans woman and her girlfriend, they were the ones the police went after, the victims not the abusers.

And the feds are becoming worse than the local police, an asylum seeker died in ICE custody.

Transgender asylum-seeker dies after six weeks in ICE custody

Johana Medina Leon, a transgender woman from El Salvador, died Saturday, the first day of Pride month.
NBC News
By Ben Kesslen
June 3, 2019

A transgender woman from El Salvador seeking asylum in the United States died Saturday in a Texas hospital four days after being released from custody, officials and advocates said.

Johana Medina Leon, 25, complained of chest pains and was brought to Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. That same day, ICE said she was processed for release on parole. Leon died on the first day of pride month.

"This is yet another unfortunate example of an individual who illegally enters the United States with an untreated, unscreened medical condition,” said Corey A. Price, field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in El Paso, adding that "many of these aliens attempt to enter the United States with untreated or unknown diseases, which are not diagnosed until they are examined while in detention.”

And it is going to keep getting worse in today’s climate when “our leaders” in Washington look the other way to violence against all minorities. When “our leaders” encourage hate speech and call it “free speech”, when “our leaders” encourage discrimination and call it “religious freedom.”