Today we learned that Londonn Moore Kinard, a 20-year-old Black trans woman, was murdered earlier this week in North Port, Florida. We mourn Londonn’s murder as we continue to mourn and process the recent deaths of Dejanay Stanton in Illinois, Vontashia Bell in Louisiana, and Shantee Tucker in Pennsylvania – all young Black trans women murdered in just the last two weeks. Londonn is the twentieth transgender person murdered this year in the U.S. that we know of, and the fourteenth Black trans woman.
We are calling for people across the country to join us in a national moment of silence and action on Friday at noon PT/3pm ET. Go outside with your friends, loved ones, classmates, and coworkers, say the names of the Black trans women we’ve lost this year, hold a moment of silence, and demand action for Black trans lives.
Isa Noyola, deputy director of Transgender Law Center, the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people, issued the following statement about the action:
“We are heartbroken and furious at the murder of four young Black trans women in these past two weeks. Each of these deaths is an unspeakable loss of a beautiful, loved young Black woman, and together their murders mark a heightened moment of crisis for our community.
Now – not just when the President tweets or a legislator pushes harmful policy – is the moment we need allies of trans women to mobilize. Now is yet another moment we need our media to pay attention, look at the systemic problems contributing to this crisis, and finally hold each other accountable for offensive, dehumanizing coverage of these deaths. Now is the moment when non-Black trans women, like myself, must recommit ourselves to lifting up the work of Black trans women and confronting all the ways our country, founded on anti-Blackness, is killing our Black trans sisters.
We’re asking folks to show up and show out for Black trans women this Friday. Wherever you are on Friday at noon PT/3pm ET, go outside, take up space with your friends, loved ones, schoolmates, and coworkers, say the names of the lives we’ve lost, and honor those still here in a moment of solidarity and public display of the crisis we’re in. Beyond that moment, check in with Black trans organizers in your communities and ask what support looks like.
The only way through the fear that consumes us at these times is hope. The only way to build hope is through community.
It’s been a devastating few years, and particularly since Trump came to office, we have not known a day without crisis. Yes, we’re exhausted. But amid all these crises, we’ve continued to fight, to rally, and to mobilize. We can’t allow the deaths of Black trans women to be the moment we fail to show up.”
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Transgender Law Center (TLC) is the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people. Grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation. transgenderlawcenter.org