By Jos Truitt • @jostruitt • 11 years ago

Video: Police violence targets the transgender community

Xion Lopez at a protest on Nov 17, 2011 in Washington DC. (Bill O'Leary/Washington Post)

Check out this great news report about how members of the trans community experience violence at the hands of the police (the video does show violence):

(The video is closed-captioned). 

While the initial frame of the video and the opening interview from Dean Spade talk about violence targeted at the trans community in general, the rest of the interviews speak more specifically to how this plays out. Black and brown trans and gender non-conforming folks are targeted by police harassment and incarceration at the highest rates. Class and education are also major factors according to the National Trans Discrimination Survey, maybe because poor and working class communities of color are consistently targeted by the police. Trans women of color are also more likely to be incarcerated for longer periods of time and more likely to experience violence in prison.

The global epidemic of violence against trans women of color is backed up by state violence carried out by the police. Ending violence aimed a trans folks has to include ending violence at the hands of the police.

 

Jos Truitt Jos Truitt believes in a world without state violence.

Boston, MA

Jos Truitt is Executive Director of Development at Feministing. She joined the team in July 2009, became an Editor in August 2011, and Executive Director in September 2013. She writes about a range of topics including transgender issues, abortion access, and media representation. Jos first got involved with organizing when she led a walk out against the Iraq war at her high school, the Boston Arts Academy. She was introduced to the reproductive justice movement while at Hampshire College, where she organized the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program’s annual reproductive justice conference. She has worked on the National Abortion Federation’s hotline, was a Field Organizer at Choice USA, and has volunteered as a Pro-Choice Clinic Escort. Jos has written for publications including The Guardian, Bilerico, RH Reality Check, Metro Weekly, and the Columbia Journalism Review. She has spoken and trained at numerous national conferences and college campuses about trans issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. Jos completed her MFA in Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in Spring 2013. In her "spare time" she likes to bake and work on projects about mermaids.

Jos Truitt is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Development.

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