Another Black Transgender Woman Killed, NBJC Mourns Merci Mack
NEW YORK — Yesterday, Merci Mack, a 22-year-old Black transgender woman in Dallas, Texas, was found murdered from an apparent gunshot wound to the head. She is the 4th Black transgender woman killed during Pride month, and the 19th trans person violently killed, thus far in 2020, that we know of. In response to this tragic news, Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition David J. Johns released the following statement:
“What do you do when you don’t have the capacity to wrap your head around the pain and trauma a community of people continues to experience and you know that your feelings aren’t half of what’s required to show up as a member of that community? You continue the work and insist that others, who purport to believe that #BlackLivesMatter, also get engaged.
“What pains me most about the continued loss of Black trans life is that nearly everyone who is identified as Black knows the sting of stigma and the trauma of discrimination. We know the horror of being the victim of violence simply because of socially constructed ideas of ‘Blackness.’ This shared experience alone should be enough for each of us, everyone who is Black, regardless of cis or trans experience, to collectively call for and do the work to end the violence that trans and non-binary members of our community experience—too often in silence. Merci Mack deserves better, as a community we failed her and so many of our trans siblings and this is beyond unacceptable”
According to the Dallas Morning News, more trans people have been killed in Texas than any other state.