Only two days after I wrote about the death of Trans Latina Erykah Tijerina, we’ve learned that yet another trans woman woman of color has been murdered. Black trans woman Rae’Lynn Thomas was shot by her mother’s ex-boyfriend in her home in Columbus, Ohio. Rae’Lynn is at least the 19th trans person murdered in the United States this year, the fourth trans woman of color to be murdered in the last six weeks.
Rae’Lynn was only 28 years old. Known as “Ray, Rayshawn, my boo Ray Ray, and Rayshawna” to her family, her aunt described her as “a performer, the life of the party and a fashionista.” According to her mother, she transitioned ten years ago and she was a light in all of their lives.
A local Ohio news station first reported on her death, which her family is rightly calling a hate crime. According to the report, Thomas’ death was especially brutal. She was beaten and shot by her mother’s ex, a man who had repeatedly called her the devil and made other transphobic comments. He called her the devil one more time before he shot her. After Thomas was shot, her mother says she said to her, “Mom, I love you. Tell my sisters and my brother I love them. Tell my family I love them. Mom, I’m dying, I’m dying, please don’t leave me.”
Rae’Lynn Thomas is yet another Black trans woman who joins our ever expanding list of trans people murdered this year. This isn’t slowing down. This isn’t getting better. This is just getting worse and more terrifying and more depressing. I am so afraid for my sisters, my friends, my elders, my family. It’s a constant fear, one that never goes away. It just gets worse on days I have to write articles like this and gets a little bit quieter on days that I don’t.
Something needs to happen. Cis people need to hold each other accountable. It will take a systemic change to stop this from happening year after year after year. Feeling sad each time you read an article about a murdered trans woman of color won’t stop it from happening two or three or four times every month. You need to call out transphobia and transmisogyny when you see it. You need to call out racism and anti-blackness when you see it. You need to talk to the men in your life about seeing trans women as women and women as human beings. You need to do what you can to support trans women of color while we’re alive. You need to stop just calling yourself an ally and start acting like members of your LGBTQ family are being murdered once every other week. You need to read these names and realize that they’re more than that, that they’re people who are gone forever and you need to realize just how long forever actually is.
Monica Loera, 43
Jasmine Sierra, 52
Kayden Clarke, 24
Veronica Banks Cano, 40
Maya Young, 25
Demarkis Stansberry, 30
Kedarie/Kandicee Johnson, 16
Kourtney Yochum, 32
Shante Thompson, 34
Keyonna Blakeney, 22
Reecey Walker, 32
Mercedes Successful, 32
Amos Beede, 38
Goddess Diamond, 20
Dee Dee Dodds, 22
Dee Whigham, 25
Skye Mockabee, 26
Erykah Tijerina, 36
Rae’Lynn Thomas, 28
Rae’Lynn Thomas’ murderer called her the devil, but do you know what the devil really is? It’s the plague of violence that trans people, especially trans people of color, especially Black trans women face. It’s a Black trans woman named Deeniquia Dodds being murdered on July 14; another Black trans woman, Dee Whigham, being murdered ten days later; a third, Skye Mockabee being murdered just a week after that; a trans Latina named Erykah Tijerina being murdered less than two weeks later; and then Rae’Lynn Thomas being murdered not even two days later. It’s the fact that we’re guaranteed to see more murders of Black and Latina trans women and other trans women of color this year and probably this month. The devil is the fact that there are a lot of people who will read this headline and think “good riddance” and that even more will look at it without thinking or feeling anything at all.
