Trigger warnings: death, suicide,
truth.
What does TDoR mean to me?
It's intensely personal. Each year, I carry a picture with me to TDoR
ceremonies I attend. I carry it because
someone very dear to me died of violence in September 2013. Self-inflicted violence. That wound will never heal. That scar will never fade.
This year, there are 69 known dead
in the US, and 389 dead worldwide. Those
numbers are less than last year, breaking the long-standing trend of annual
increases.
|
|
World |
US |
Brazil |
|
2022 |
389 |
69 |
107 |
|
2021 |
472 |
74 |
153 |
|
Difference |
-83 |
-5 |
-46 |
|
Percent |
-18% |
-7% |
-30% |
|
Percent of total |
0 |
18% |
28% |
(reference if needed)
Someone I’ve known since a month
after my re-awakening in 2008, Maddie Hoffman, is one of these names, shot
three times by police officers on a wellness check. Suicide by cop.
Lee Mokobe: “now oncoming traffic is
embracing more transgender children than parents.”
Who can blame her for having a
mental health crisis? The GOP is
demonizing and legislating us out of existence everywhere they can.
How long until we see something like
Pink triangles as required adornment for transgender people? How long until my name is among those read by
someone I’ll never meet, or laugh with
In any case, the police weren’t
charged. That’s because, in the eyes of
the law and many others, we are not human.
An overwhelming percentage of trans murders are never investigated,
never mind solved. Their only crime was
living at the Intersection of identity, race, and othering. The sentence for our existence is Death or
exile. Court is never adjourned. But there is hope.
This building we occupy stands for
the belief that there is something more to our existence- and that those we honor
tonight join the chorus invisible of those we honored last year, and the year
before. We say their names, their loved
ones remember and grieve them, and we continue the fight. We continue until there are no more death
sentences, until there are no more exiles from home and friends.
To those whose names we read
tonight, all I can say is: I’m sorry: we failed you. But we will remember, and pray that somewhere,
you have found peace.
Let us honor them, by the name of:
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