A fucking incredible article, written by a trans woman, about how white trans women appropriate TWOC’s deaths and overstate trans murders (1 in 12/1 in 8 statistic, anyone?) to win arguments and avoid criticism. The fact is that trans people, white trans people esp, are not being slaughtered and massacred en masse.
“I think the trans community overstates and appropriates trans murder victims (especially black and hispanic trans women) to advance a political agenda that ignores many (if not most) of the urgent needs of the people actually being victimized. Said differently, transphobia isn’t killing trans people as much as institutionalized racism, misogyny, and classism is killing trans people.When you read about trans violence, whether it’s in an op-ed in the NY Times or even my own blog, you often find a phrase like: ‘trans women, especially trans women of color, are disproportionately subject to…’ [discrimination, violence, etc.]. Especially undersells the problem so I’m going to stop using that phrase (“women of color” can also be problematic for different reasons, so I’ll try to avoid it too).
When I started working on this blogpost in early February at least 4 black and Latina trans women had been murdered. Since then, more names have been added to the list. At the end of February there were 11 queer/trans victims in 2015 – ten of whom were black or Hispanic. Now in mid-March the list is up to 13 LGTBQ victims. Seven or eight were ‘trans’ in the typical transition narrative sense, which raises the question why all gender identities seem to count in death but not in trans politics, but let’s move on….
“That individuals appropriate these statistics and deaths is not an accusation so much as it is an observation of overall community dynamics and how they lend themselves to fear. A fear that is not rational when there is no deadly backlash for the white, middle-class, trans community.
This fear is so irrational that it even lead some to defend a someone who raped a 15 year old cousin because that was the past and she was doing important work tracking trans violence. Think about that: a convicted sex offender running an organization that tracks violence against vulnerable members of society. That is indefensible, yet some ask, ”who will track the violence now?“ as though that’s more important.”
the appropriation of black and hispanic trans deaths by white trans women and political opportunists
Big Mean Sweaty Dyke 