More violence against transwomen

It wasn’t so long ago that Duanna Johnson was murdered in Memphis. Now, in the same city, Leeneshia Edwards was shot – she is the third transwoman to be shot in Memphis in the last six months.
Renee notes that in the small number of articles that have covered the shooting, all mention Edwards’ involvement with prostitution, “as though this somehow justifies the violence that has occurred.”

We are given no relevant facts about her life other than that she is a trans woman of colour and that she has been associated with prostitution. Can anyone’s life be so minimized in this way. It is as though these aspects alone made up her entire identity. We are meant to think of her as soiled, and beyond redemption. By reporting her attack in this way without explicitly victim blaming the media has reduced her to a two dimensional being; and therefore less likely to illicit any form of empathy or emotion.

Edwards – who was shot in the jaw, side, and back – is in critical condition.
For more information and ways to take action, check out the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition.