I am wondering how many people here will commit to attending a Transgender Day of Remembrance event in their area. This is the day we gather to honor and give dignity to those transgender people who have been murdered by hate violence in the past year.
The list is never less than 300 names, worldwide...and it is only those we know about...and only those killed by hate crimes — not the ones who were killed by economic violence, or who took their own lives, because they could see no way forward.
Every year, in addition to the names on the list, I remember Terrianne Summers. She was my transmom. She was on 2002’s TDOR list, having been murdered in Dec, 2001...on her own front lawn in Jacksonville, Florida. She was the one who taught me what I know today about activism in the transgender community, and I owe her much. It is hard to believe that she has been gone for nearly seventeen years now.
To this day, her killer has never even been identified, and Terrianne lives in the cold case file of the Jacksonville PD...MMISGENDERED!! The very REASON for which she was killed...and the cannot offer her the basic dignity, in death, to gender her properly. This is why I continue to fight...because of people like Terrianne.
Will you join us? Will you hold candles and read names with us...give dignity to those who never got dignity in life...or in death? Will you hear our voices, will you see our tears?
Say Their Names — by Angela Bridgman (November, 2017)
Say their names, my sisters and brothers taken
They the ones society has forsaken
In life nor death given consideration
They come from around the world, every nation
Their entire lives, denied humanity
When will we see the end of insanity?
What if we cared less about their chromosomes
And welcomed them into our lives and homes?
What if, instead of showing them scorn and hate
We allowed them in life to participate?
Maybe if we said their names while still alive
Maybe if they were given a chance to thrive
Maybe if in life their value not denied
We'd not have to say their names when they have died
-In memory of Terrianne Summers, died Dec 12, 2001