The Undeclared War On African American Trans Women

[Shana A]

The Undeclared War On African American Trans Women
by Moonflowrr
Sun Jan 04, 2009 at 10:01:26 AM PST

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/1/4/123730/3564/308/680067

It's not spoken of much, and gets an obscenely light, uncaring treatment in straight or GLBT press, much less being acknowledged by political leaders or law enforcement.  But there's a war going on out there, and black transgender women are the target.  I'm not saying that it's only black trans women facing frequent anti-trans – there are large number of latina transwomen as well – nor is it to say that trans men of color aren't facing the same threats.  But the reported killings compiled against all transgenders are showing a very notable disproportion of black trans women being the prime target of murder, especially in the U.S.

The Taysia Elzy incident in north Indianapolis' Broad Ripple neighborhood is just the latest incident in a litany of deaths in the African-American trans community these past years.  Any year is dangerous for anyone who is trans, and especially so for trans people of color.  Yet this year has been especially brutal, and in virtually every incident reported also maddeningly brushed off as "probably not a hate crime" by law enforcement.

[Kaweah]

I'm glad people more eloquent than myself are speaking up about this.  I'm not sure what to do about it, but raising awareness and conveying its unacceptability seems a good first step.

[NicholeW.]

Thanks for this piece, Zythyra. I know that all too often such pieces get short-shrift becaue "that doesn't apply to me." Which, maybe is a sadder commentary on ourselves than on anything else in the world.

It becomes too easy to use the fashionable "I'd never be caught dead doing sex-work" trope when we have good jobs and some hope of getting better ones. We've never been required to "choose" such work. But every death by violence, every dismissal of our lives by ourselves when we decline to accept that many of our sisters haven't much other choice than to do what we expect transsexuls to do, transsex, if they aren't making their money, every dismissal by cops and prosecutors of their deaths, takes us just a bit further down that road of self-hatred and loathing that seems so prevalent amongst us. Don't ask for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.

Sad the tales, but they need telling and it's high time we awaken ourselves to the fact that people do matter, all of them.

Nichole

[mina.magpie]

Sadly, I think, though few of us admit or talk about it, the thought is probably more common than we think. I've certainly been forced to consider it, and I have a friend, recently kicked out by her parents, who is kind-of in that boat now, since other work is few and far between for "our kind of people" in a conservative country and an economic meltdown. I dread talking to her most nights because I just end up regurgitating the same old assurances and platitudes that mean bugger-all.

Mina.

[lisagurl]

"I'd never be caught dead doing sex-work" trope when we have good jobs and some hope of getting better ones. We've never been required to "choose" such work.

This is not true. A white TS I know had a goal to be a porn star. She quit a high paying tech job and made over 500 porn films and made it with 2000 men as she brags. She has tried to commit suicide 4 times and been in jail 6 times. She now married a millionaire that has a house on the water and a big boat. She never said anything about love.

It is a fallacy to think or declare the only living for people is sex work. It may be what lazy people want. Many low paying jobs can be had but they are hard work under poor conditions and some just rather take drugs and ignore morals and all the problems of sex work for the easy money.

Sex work and drugs are illegal for more than religious values. They destroy the human spirit and the community. If you look at statistics you will find all black people have a average life expectancy less than others. The odds do not point to war on black TS rather they support a concept that law breakers have shorter life spans.

If everyone's life truly counts then why do we allow this behavior on the streets? Could it be that society is not willing to pay to correct the problem?

[mina.magpie]

lisagurl: I have to disagree. Sure, individuals do get into porn or prostitution because they think it is easy money, but you cannot generalise that to everybody. And the old chestnut that there are plenty of jobs to be had if you're willing to work at them is not true for everybody.

As to the morality and legality of the matter, I have a question: what do you base your argument on that sex work is immoral? You are an atheist, or at least, you express atheist viewpoints on forum, so I'm assuming it's not a religious objection. What leads you to argue that prostitution destroys the human spirit and erodes the community? Certainly the degradation, exploitation and violence that seem to go hand in hand with it do those things, but everywhere I know of that prostitution has been legalised and regulated, where working girls have gained rights and protections, those negative aspects have dropped substantially.

What a woman, a man or an androgyne chooses to do with another individual is a private matter between them. Nobody else has a say in it.

One thing I will agree on is that society ISN'T willing to pay the price: They would rather keep taking the moral high ground while people are dying rather than concede that their moral values do not apply universally.

Mina.

[lisagurl]

I know of that prostitution has been legalised and regulated, where working girls have gained rights and protections, those negative aspects have dropped substantially.

Look at Amsterdam the underworld has gained a foothold and is now being cleaned up. As drugs are needed to relieve the pain . They are now cleaning it up. As the average life expectancy is lower in those areas. Along with drugs other crimes come as people have little respect for each other.

The urge goes well beyond a mere lowering of expectations, and it has more to do with protecting self-image than with psychological conflicts rooted in early development, in the Freudian sense. Recent research has helped clarify not just who is prone to self-handicapping but also its consequences — and its possible benefits.

Here is another problem. self-handicapping allows those who are lazy to feel OK about what they do. If that does not work they turn to drugs. Being legal does stop the loss of community it just saves tax payer the cost of solving the issue. It may also reduce the spread of disease. Being legal does not stop the suicides and loss of human spirit. It also does little to reduce crime and deaths. The only crime it reduces is the prostitution crime.

[soldierjane]

I don't know if there is a "war" on transwomen of color but discrimination against the perceived norm is very much alive. Also, women are still an acceptable object of violence for a lot of men so any woman, black, white, trans or GG is a target. Brandon Teena became a target of rape and humiliation when his murderers confirmed by force he was female-bodied.
Prostitute women are in particular an easy target for killers. Like a soldier, whoever chooses such life chooses its risks too. Coming from the third world, I don't know that I can understand Americans being forced into a life of prostitution so I surmise that whoever practices prostitution understands the risks associated or has made a lot of bad choices. In the case of Tayshia (or any trans victim), the only thing we should care is that she's a sister that was killed, nothing else.

As a side note, in a society as multicultural as the US, racial discrimination is rampant. A lot of people are still tribal and work for their little cliques, so eventually the whites distrust the blacks, the blacks distrust the latins, the latins distrust the asians, etc. I wish we'd stop passing this ball of hate and not become the best oppressors our oppresors taught us to be.

[Ell]

It is a fallacy to think or declare the only living for people is sex work. It may be what lazy people want.

i hope i am not trying to make a point, but i think we should approach this issue differently, rather than propagating racial or socio-economic stereotypes.

people, i think, are drawn to extreme measures often because of emotional struggles brought on by a coldly uncaring home environment, and a coldly uncaring society. it is my opinion (and who cares about opinions?) that leaders at the local, state, and national levels have long since abandoned the idea of community-building, and, indeed, actively work against it wherever it raises its hopeful head.

our society is not, and has not been for a very long time, a model of cooperation.

Ha!

rather, it is a mad, winner-take-all (screw the losers) grab for whatever political advantage and self-interest that one can get. ew! now i've spoken the truth and made myself feel unhappy.

-ell

[tekla]

all black people have a average life expectancy less than others. The odds do not point to war on black TS rather they support a concept that law breakers have shorter life spans.


It's poverty more than drugs, sex or race.  Poor white folks have shorter life spans than rich honkies do too.

And lots of rich people do drugs too, Rehab centers that advertise on TV, Betty Ford and all that - none of that is for po' folk.

[mina.magpie]

lisagurl: Rather than get into a "statistics can prove anything" argument, I'll just relate what personal experience I have. I'll post some references at the end of my reply if you're interested.

I lived and worked in London for a couple of years, and became good friends with two working girls while there, one of whom was trans. The trans friend's story is sadly all too familiar - BA arts in music, but could not get work to stick in her eye once she went FT, and after her savings and the good graces of family and friends ran out, she was forced to do what she needed to do to survive. Her landlord got wind of this and kicked her out. Because of what she does, she is too scared to take the matter up legally, and to get a new place she has to be able to produce payslips, bank statements etc ... which she obviously doesn't have.

The other friend was an emigrant from South America who had come to the UK to study, on her parents' dime. She was doing fairly well till the money from back home dried up - she never went into details why, but from what I could gather her father ran into legal difficulties. She decided to stay and try and find a job so she could complete her studies, but because she didn't have any experience or qualifications yet, and because of really poor English, she couldn't find anything. When I met her she was trying to get back home because she had witnessed a crime and did not trust the police to protect her because of what she did for a living.

I met both when I ran into my own landlady troubles over there (kicked out when I came out to her as being trans) and ended up in the same no-questions-asked boarding house. I'm being intentionally vague on some of the specific details, but the point I'm trying to make is that neither of them chose the situation they found themselves in. That situation was a hundred times worse because what they did was illegal and they had no rights or protections whatsoever. Neither one was an addict or a wreck - they were both strong women who had simply run afoul of really bad circumstances.

Anyway, that's my take on it, do with it as you will.

Mina.

Oh, stats:

http://www.kuro5hin.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2002/12/22/185323/82

http://www.csun.edu/~psy453/prosti_y.htm

http://liberator.net/articles/prostitution.html

[lisagurl]

I have a question: what do you base your argument on that sex work is immoral?

There are natural physical laws that empirical science through testing, measuring, calculating and ration reasoning that give expected results.  The probability of shorting you life is much greater if you engage in activity that goes against the cultural norm. Perhaps absolute right and wrong do not exist except in religion as I do not think they have a monopoly on the better way to live, but common sense can develop a set of morals that let the human race survive to the best of its ability.

Rather than get into a "statistics can prove anything" argument, I'll just relate what personal experience I have

Emotions personal experience do not lead to the probability of ones action. Personal experience is subjective and is always less accurate than objective measurement to determine if something is going to happen.

When I met her she was trying to get back home because she had witnessed a crime and did not trust the police to protect her because of what she did for a living.

Breaking the law leads to lawlessness. Then Murder is OK because it is OK to break the law. Not reporting a crime is also a crime. Police alone could never catch and solve crimes without the public help. So crime escalates in areas that allow small crimes because the larger crime commits know that no one will talk.

Neither one was an addict or a wreck - they were both strong women who had simply run afoul of really bad circumstances.

They simply did not run afoul. They made bad decisions, poor judgments and broke the law. They could of gone to a shelter. The could of used the state employment services. They could of taken advantage of education of English programs. My father ran a factory that 90% of the workers did not speak English they did hair dresser work on wigs. Ignorance of law is not an excuse to break it. It takes a person willing and wanting to do what is right rather than what ever emotionally is easy.

[NicholeW.]

Lisa, you've known one. One. Heck even I've known 3 over the years through boards and such, who opted for sex-work. None of them seemed "lazy" and all three were "white."

And your generalization that appeared to couple "black" people and "short life spans" and "crime" seems to me more symptomatic of what Moonflower wrote about and what I was driving at in my original response.

I know you have some decided opinions on things, but Lisa, even for you this entire set of presumptions and assumptions and just out-and-out declarations of off-the-cuff "knowledge" is pretty lame, hon.

You really have a "thang" about sex work doncha? Is there any crime you feel is worse? Where does that come from. Seems like everytime s-e-x is mentioned anywhere your eyes kinda glaze over and you lose any pretense of the emotional detachment you display in so many other areas.

Whassup?

Nichole

[tekla]

I've known several people who work in the sex industry.  All of them by choice, some gay, some straight, some trans, some male, some female.  At one of the places I work at we share an alley with a 'gentleman's club' next door (yes, the girls next door are strippers) and I talk with some of them from time to time when they out having a smoke (its Cali, you can't smoke inside anywhere, not even in a strip joint) and they are pulling down $40-50K a year, which is not bad for a High School degree.  Some of the people I've known who have done porn movies did it more for the fun then the money.

[NicholeW.]

*sigh* Kat, as always the expert on the arcana of the so-called "seamy side of life!" 

Man, you do your homework, doncha? 

[soldierjane]

Lisa, you've known one. One. Heck even I've known 3 over the years through boards and such, who opted for sex-work. None of them seemed "lazy" and all three were "white."

And your generalization that appeared to couple "black" people and "short life spans" and "crime" seems to me more symptomatic of what Moonflower wrote about and what I was driving at in my original response.

I know you have some decided opinions on things, but Lisa, even for you this entire set of presumptions and assumptions and just out-and-out declarations of off-the-cuff "knowledge" is pretty lame, hon.

You really have a "thang" about sex work doncha? Is there any crime you feel is worse? Where does that come from. Seems like everytime s-e-x is mentioned anywhere your eyes kinda glaze over and you lose any pretense of the emotional detachment you display in so many other areas.

Whassup?

Nichole

I'd noticed too 

[tekla]

Nice girls are their own punishment in a way.  And SF has a huge porn industry, so its not that hard to find people who have done one or two.  Heck I know a bunch of people who were extras in the MILK film, they called it 'being gay for a day for pay."

[soldierjane]

Nice girls are their own punishment in a way.

Acid rain has nothing on you, Teks

[NicholeW.]

Nice girls are their own punishment in a way.

Acid rain has nothing on you, Teks

Agreed, SJ -- add salt-spray corrosion, sandstorm abrasion and rocky avalanche discombobulation!! 

[lisagurl]

You really have a "thang" about sex work doncha? Is there any crime you feel is worse?

Yes when I was driving a Taxi in Fairbanks at night a prostitute came up to me and said she would pay me $10 for every customer I directed to her. I sent the cops in her direction. The crimes worse than sex work is those who use the sex worker. There would be no sex work if people made decisions on objective means rather than temporary emotional ones.

I  use the term "lazy" to describe people who rather skit the law rather than put the work in required to obey it. Sometimes people put a lot of effort in breaking the law they still are lazy. I have seem many con artists that if they only put in half the effort to legitimate work would have been much better off. It seems that satisfying emotions is easier than controlling the will.

And your generalization that appeared to couple "black" people and "short life spans" and "crime"

Statistics show that a higher percentage of black people are in jail they also show that on an average they live ten years less. That is no different than declaring war on black TS people because a few have been killed. True all the facts are not there, so someone has to point that out to the misinformed public. Leave the emotions out of reporting facts.

Humans will never be civilized as long as they let emotions run the show. Irrational acts based on feelings destroy life, liberty and happiness. The whole historic traditions based on gender have not improved the human character. Language itself is stuck with these traditions that lead to inequities and discrimination.

As long as sex is used as a tool to manipulate the human psyche the playing field will not be level.