Black Trans People Feel Shut Out of “Black Lives Matter” Movement
New Orleans activists say the community needs to talk about it.
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New Orleans, LA (WGNO) — The “Black Lives Matter” is calling for change across the country, in the fight for equality. However, one group within the Black community feels shut out; Black trans people.
Two New Orleans trans women of color, Mariah Moore and Milan Nicole Sherry, believe the Black community needs to talk about it.
“We need to have a conversation about all coming together and realizing that you standing up for my life, in the same way you stand up for George Floyd’s life. It’s not taking anything away from either side. Because, we’re all Black,” says Moore.
“Until folks really value us, as humans,and really see the humanity within us, we’re not going to get anywhere. Especially within the “Black Lives Matter” movement,” says Sherry.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 17 transgender people were violently killed across the U.S. this year.
The majority were Black, and that number is believed to be higher, since the number is often misreported.
“They out in public, and they say ‘oh, that’s a dude, oh, that’s a man, this that and the third, often puts us into really harmful situations,” says Sherry. “The Black trans woman’s biggest threat is Black men and women.”
Organizer with Take ’em Down Nola, Antranette Scott, which organized a few of the protests in New Orleans, says organizers are working to include trans people in their fight.
“If we are in the pursuit of liberation, justice, and freedom. We, as Black people, can not harbor or hold internalized racism, internalized sexism,” says Scott. When we organize together and we fight for liberation, and freedom together, we learn from each other. We grow with each other.”
With Pride Month coming to an end, Moore says she does not believe Pride should be celebrated until all in the LGBT Community are equal.
“When I say Pride shouldn’t be happening, I mean that. When we have community members that are still being slaughtered and murdered, why are we celebrating?” Moore went on to say “How many of our sisters had to die because our larger community refused to show up.”
Trans women of color are statistically more vulnerable to homelessness, addiction, and unemployment.
“While New Orleans is a wonderful place to live, I love it, it’s my home. We still have a lot of work to do. A lot of work to do.”
The two women say one in three transgender people in Louisiana will face homelessness. They are in the process of buying a home and renovating it. Giving trans people in our state a place to stay and get support. They have raised nearly $200,000 on their gofundme.
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