Since government still fuels perceptions that transgendered
individuals are second-class citizens by legally discriminating against
them, it can be viewed as at least partly to blame for the murders of
trannies. Here's a chance to build some bridges with people who should
be natural libertarian allies.
Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>
Mark your calendars now: Nov 20, 2003 here in SF-- Candelight March
and Vigil
Where are Day of Remembrance events taking place?
http://www.rememberingourdead.org/day/where.htmlStory about the beginning of Transgender Day of Remembrance by Gwen
Smith:Rita Hester was a 34-year-old African-American transsexual living in
Allston.
Massachusetts. Her friends considered her to be a "unique and
beautiful
person" who would often call people by their astrological sign rather
than
their
given name. She had been a regular (and performed) at Jacques, a bar
in the
Bay Village section of Boston.She was last seen alive at the Silhouette Lounge, an Allston
neighborhood
bar. Hester's brother said he heard there was an alteration between
her and
another person at the bar. Others at the bar that night heard this
person
say they
were "going to do something" to Hester.At around 6:20 p.m. on the night of November 28th, 1998, one of
Hester's
neighbors called police to report a disturbance at her apartment. Some
witnesses
say they saw two caucasian men leave Hester's apartment from a rear
exit
on the
night of the murder. When police arrived, they found Hester in
cardiac
arrest. She was rushed to Beth Israel Hospital, where she was later
pronounced
dead. She had been stabbed multiple times.Her murder has never been solved.
Day of Remembrance was formed one year after the beginning of the
Remembering
Our Dead project, so let's start with that. The Remembering Our Dead
project
begun after the death of Rita Hester, as a reaction to the
communitie's lack
of memory involving anti-transgender murders. Three years, almost to
the day
(November 20, 1995 - tchusetts, that being Chanelle Pickett. Her
death --
and
the subsequent trial -- inflamed activists still upset over the death
of
Debra Forte, another Massachusetts transwoman killed six months prior
(May
15,
1995). Many turned out at vigils and protests around Pickett's
death, and
the
trial of William Palmer was highly reported in the community's press.Three years later, all of this involvement around Debra Forte and
Chenelle
Pickett's deaths had been forgotten, and -- to paraphrase George
Santayana --
our community was doomed to repeat these deaths. This led to the
site, to
serve
as a permanent reminder of those we've lost due to anti-transgender
violence.A few months after the launch of the site, a fledgling San Francisco
activist
group, TGRAGE, held a protest and vigil outside the Castro Theater, to
coincide with the showing of "The Brandon Teena Story," and to remind
others that
the issue of anti-transgender violence did not end with Brandon's
death.
Penni
Ashe Matz, of Boston, and I bounced around the idea of holding
another,
similar, vigil in November of that year -- to coincide with the one
year
anniversary
of the death of Rita Hester -- and the Day of Remembrance was born.The violence is widespread, especially when one simply looks at the
number of
reported deaths this year. In the last twelve months, 35 cases of
anti-transgender violece have been reported worldwide, including 16
in the
United States
alone.Besides Rita Hester, so many other accounts of violence have occurred,
notably among them the Brandon Teena murder on December 31st, 1993,
is an
obvious
one, as are the Chanelle Pickett and Debra Forte murders (mentioned
above), the
case of extreme prejudice that led to the death of Tyra Hunter in
Washington,
D.C. in 1993, the Amanda Milan murder in New York in 2000, and the
October
2002 killing of Gwen Araujo are standouts in my mind. I would also be
remiss to
not mention the dual killing of Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis in
Washington,
D.C. in 2002, nor the deaths of bella Evangelista and Emonie
Spaulding in
Washington, D.C. in 2003. Indeed, a number of the cases over the
last two
years
have drawn more attention to them than most of the deaths over the
last
decade.Where are Day of Remembrance events taking place?
http://www.rememberingourdead.org/day/where.html
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