November 20, 2024: Transgender Day of Remembrance

By Shelby Hearn, Director of LGBTQIA+ Student Services

Each passing year I find it more and more difficult to speak as an educator on Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). Yesterday morning I read the Human Rights Campaign’s annual report–”The Epidemic of Violence Against the Transgender & Gender-Expansive Community in the U.S.”--and took down the numbers: 36 victims of fatal violence since Nov. 2023, 61% of those victims were trans women of color, 50% were trans Black women. The numbers began to blur with last year’s, and the last, and the last.

I want to tell you about Rita Hester whose murder started TDOR and remains unsolved 26 years later. I want to show you how clearly the intersections of racism, sexism, transphobia, and classism create the conditions in which this “epidemic of violence” continues to thrive. I want to talk about the resilience of trans, two-spirit, and māhū individuals of color in the face of these unjust conditions. But it is a struggle. How do you begin to speak with political neutrality about people whose identities have been nonconsensually politicized?

Today, on this annual day of remembrance, I will leave you with an excerpt from Cameron Awkward-Rich’s poem “Anti-Elegy”, the names of transgender victims of fatal violence in 2024, some suggested reading, and finally an invitation.

The trouble with elegy
is that it asks the dead

to live, it calls them back.
& who am I to say rise?

Walk again among those
who could not bear

the sight of you? Your body.
Your one good dress.

Today, someone will walk into the night
& then become it. Someone’s heart

will crowd with beloved ghosts
& who am I to say, dance

with me here a little longer? Never mind
the bloodshed darling, never mind.

Never mind.

Amiri Reid, 21	Kejuan Richardson, 21	Jean Butchart, 26
Savannah Ryan Williams, 38	Meghan Riley Lewis, 57	Amber Minor, 40
Kitty Monroe, 43	Righteous TK “Chevy” Hill, 35	Diamond Brigman, 26
Alex Taylor Franco, 21	Meraxes Medina, 24	África Parrilla García, 25
Tee “Lagend Billions” Arnold, 36	River Nevaeh Goddard, 17	Andrea Doria Dos Passos, 37
Sasha Williams, 36	Starr Brown	Kita Bee, 46
Reyna Hernandez, 54	Brandon “Tayy Dior” Thomas, 17	Michelle Henry, 25
Yella (Robert) Clark Jr., 45	Jazlynn Johnson, 18	Liara Tsai, 35
Pauly Likens, 14	Shannon Boswell, 30	Kenji Spurgeon, 23
Monique Brooks, 49	Dylan Gurley, 20	Tai’Vion Lathan, 24
Vanity Williams, 34	Redd, AKA Barbie, 25	Kassim Omar, 29
Honee Daniels, 37	Santonio “San” Coleman, 48	Quanesha Shantel (“Cocoa”), 26

Some additional reading I urge folks to consider:

“Retelling Racialized Violence, Remaking White Innocence: The Politics of Interlocking Oppressions in Transgender Day of Remembrance” by Sarah Lamble
Transgender Day of Remembrance: Critique is Resistance; Resistance is Revolution” by L’lerrét Jazelle Ailith
“Why I Don’t Believe in Transgender Day of Remembrance” by Aaryn Lang
“Femifesto for Trans Liberation” by Forward Together
“Craft Capsule: Elegy” by Cameron Awkward-Rich

Finally, this evening I invite you to join me, my colleagues at The Third Space Center, and the students of Queer & Trans Students of Color for a vigil and art-making event in observance of Trans Day of Remembrance & Resilience. Individuals are welcome to bring photos, portraits, and other items to contribute to a communal remembrance altar. After the vigil, we will create art collectively envisioning a future where our trans siblings thrive, centering the lives, experiences and needs of trans, two-spirit, and māhū individuals of color, whose communities are disproportionately impacted by anti-trans violence and restrictive legislation. We will gather at the Third Space Center at 4:30pm.