In a city like Detroit, where homicide is still far too common an occurrence despite the downward trend, one might wonder why it’s worth anybody’s time to pay attention to two seemingly random murders when our hometown is ranked by the FBI as the Most Dangerous City in America for the second year in a row. Sure, it’s a tragedy when anyone is killed, especially to the families of the victims, but unless they were famous, infamous, or there was something particularly strange or lurid about the occurrence, then it’s just another dead body in the city, right?
Since July 1 of this year, according to the most recent statistics made available as of the time of this writing, two transgendered Detroit residents were murdered. Both were black. Nationwide, there have been 19 murders of transgender individuals so far this year according to Human Rights Campaign. Out of those 19, at least 12 are African American (Author’s note: between the time this article was first reported two weeks ago and when it appeared online today, the number of transgender murders reported nationwide has risen by more than half). And two of those 12 were Detroiters. Both Amber Monroe, who was found shot to death on the morning of August 8, and Ashton O’Hara, found murdered in a Detroit field on July 14, appear to have been the victims of hate crimes. Many more have been – and continue to be – the victims of harsh discrimination and harassment which sometimes leads to violence and even suicide.
So in one sense, yes, it is ‘only’ two more dead bodies. But to Detroit Police Chief James Craig it is apparently quite a bit more important than that. Craig met personally with the family of Ashton O’Hara, and also hosted a special meeting in early August in Palmer Park in the wake of the two murders to reach out to members of the local gay and transgender communities to emphasize the commitment of his department to being not only sensitive to their concerns and struggles but to actively work with them to target the sort of violence that has victimized those communities for years. It is this demonstrated level of commitment, understanding and compassion that has quite frankly caught some gay and transgender activists off guard. Compassion from others outside of their own community is not something that exactly constitutes the norm. According to an Equality Michigan press release:
“The Detroit Police Department has earned high praise from Rebecca (Ashton’s mother) in their treatment of her and Ashton. ‘They have been so considerate. I was shocked that they actually care about who he was. They were so sincere. I feel like things are different with this Chief, I think he really cares, and I never felt that way about any of the other Chiefs. I’m glad I got to thank him in person.’”
Curtis Lipscomb, executive director of LGBT Detroit, agreed with Rebecca that the Detroit Police Department has gone out of its way to be sensitive when dealing with LGBT issues.
“I was part of a task force about three years ago to create a manual, and that manual, adopted by the DPD, helps the DPD officers to engage with LGBT community members. We worked on that with Officer Dani Woods and Officer Wilson. Or Detective Wilson. I didn’t know his first name. They diligently helped craft this language over a year, and it’s something I’m very proud of,” he said.
“I sit on Chief Craig’s advisory council. I’m the only known gay person on that. So as long as I have sat on that council I have always brought up issues of gay and lesbian concerns. Not only has he (Craig) shown compassion to us, he’s shown compassion to all residents. So I commend him on his leadership. It’s very tough to be a cop, and they have been very supportive to us, and I want that to be highlighted that they have.”
But even with the welcome support from law enforcement, life on Detroit’s streets is hard enough for so-called ‘straight’ individuals. For anyone who is transgender, that level of difficulty is multiplied several fold, especially when it comes to the risk of violence and trying to obtain employment, two of the biggest hurdles according to Lipscomb. Another major problem related to violence is that transgender people are too often ‘misgendered’, which causes problems when it comes to identifying a victim whose identity prior to changing genders is not the same person known to his/her current friends and associates most able to make an appropriate identification.
“When they’re misgendered, the police identify them by their identified sexual gender, and we, the (LGBT) community, may not know anything about who the person was identified as,” he said. “I may know their circumstances, and I may know of some of their decisions that they made and how they express themselves and how they gain employment. But often we do not know them personally.
“In the trans community? Not knowing is possibly a safety issue,” meaning that oftentimes once someone has made the transition, elements from their previous ‘straight’ life can come back to haunt them in a potentially violent and dangerous way.
Detroit Police Officer Dani Woods, who is openly gay, said it is very important for members of the gay and transgender community to come forward and report any violent incidents or incidents of harassment.
“Because people live certain lifestyles, upon which we don’t agree, but you’re still a victim or you witnessed a crime, and it’s just as vital for you to come forward as it is for someone else if you have some information,” she said. “But we run into this problem because certain people who live a certain lifestyle feel as if because they’re in that lifestyle they can’t say anything or they’re gonna be punished for whatever situations they may have. Say for example a girl may have a warrant. But she has information. So she’s scared to come forward because she has a warrant. And it’s like, we’re not investigating that warrant right now when you have information regarding a more specific and heinous crime.”
In other words, murder, assault and harassment trump shoplifting and prostitution. Just because you stole some socks from Target, or turned a few tricks in Palmer Park, doesn’t put you at risk if you want to report information about a transgender friend who was murdered or beaten.
“The one thing I don’t think people really talk about when it comes to violence against trans women is the simple fact that we have been told by society that we are not qualified to work regular jobs, but then turn around and still get criminalized for the only resource we have which is sex work,” said Bré Campbell, executive director of the Trans Sistas of Color Project. Campbell knew Amber personally and served as a mentor, helping her to find employment and take control of her life.
“I want to make sure that narrative gets out that we can’t just sit here and tell people that they are unworthy of working in the general work force and then turn around and criminalize them for the only source of work that they are able to participate in.”
“It’s (the harassment) been a big problem for awhile, but I just think that now that because the transgender non-conforming community are holding reporters, police, society, more accountable for the way in which we are erased when it comes to our lives that now we’re starting to calculate those numbers more effectively.
“I think that society is under the assumption that because we don’t have basic rights that we can be discriminated against, that we can be pulled out of bathrooms, that people can tell us we’re not allowed to have jobs and health insurance, or have identification that matches who we are, that we’re disposable.”
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