As I began to write this, I realized that I had been putting off writing about any of the murders of trans people this entire year. However, with the death Crystal Edmonds, a Baltimore trans woman, I could not stay silent anymore!
I've written plenty on my own identity as a trans person. I've talked about the nuances of a trans identity and the intersections with other identities but I have not talked about how a steady stream of trans women have been killed this year (and many years before). Crystal Edmonds is the 21st trans person to be killed this year. While that may not sound like a lot, remember that the trans community (specifically the trans women community) is significantly smaller than the population of the US. Twenty-one people out of only 0.6% of the population is a big number!
I won't/can't go into the murders of the trans people of this year -- instead, I want to ask you all a question. How are you healing? How are we still functioning when so many of our identities are under attack, are hated, are hunted?
It feels like almost every day that we hear of the murder of a black person, the death of another trans person, the attack of a Muslim, the sexual assault of a woman. Every identity I hold is hated and ostracized and later killed. With every obituary, we are forced to mourn the next victim of white supremacy and hatred, and I wonder when we are allowed to heal.
This post was not meant to explore anything but to pose the question: what do you do to heal? What is your community doing to heal? How can we heal when all we ever do is mourn?
