i dream of being possible

It hasn't been a good few weeks for

TW for every link in this article

By now, I’d hope that most people are aware of the series of attacks against (mostly) trans women in DC. I’ve not said or posted much about them because of being busy and stuff. Even though I’ve been following the news with interest, since, well, it interests me.

And as I’ve been following it and as time goes on and more trans women are violently attacked, I’ve also noticed a troubling trend.

June 30, 2013

it is reported that two trans women are attacked, in addition to one previous see also this article and this one about the two additional attacks on trans women

July 1, 2013

reports are starting to draw a pattern, but still mainly focused on the fact that 5/6 of the recent victims have all been trans women and one just reporting a sexual assault against a trans woman but on the same day we see a headline: D.C. police probe recent attacks on gay, transgendered but say only one hate-related

note how it says “gay, transgendered”

in the late afternoon 4:13pm we see this headline: D.C. Attacks Prompt Meeting on Crime Activists gather to brainstorm solutions to ongoing anti-LGBT attacks and from the same paper D.C. Hit with Anti-LGBT Attacks

July 2, 2013

Only one article that popped up Outbreak Of Violence Against LGBT Community Prompts Activist Response and from the ever awesome transadvocate Violence Against LGBT People Continues to Rise in Washington, D.C

July 3, 2013

This is today.

There doesn’t seem to be much news in the headlines about the attacks. Which is interesting. I tried to see if maybe there are protests and marches happening. I found a story about a march in DC after a gay man was shot

Which. honest to fuck, was like a punch to the gut. why? because I was going to contrast this with the response after Mark Carson was murdered and two other gay bashings happened after his protest march. what makes me fucking depressed as hell is that, when it was happening in NYC, I mentioned that it was unlikely the same reaction would result from trans women experiencing similar violence.[1. although, it is important to note that Mark Carson was also a Black man, and i do not begrudge the protests and marching on his behalf, at all. while i’m not sure about the races of the trans women in DC… it doesn’t take much thinking to know that they are likely to be Black and/or Latina]

And, lo! From what I can see, not only are there no marches happening regarding the violence against #girlslikeus in DC, but as the above shows… #girlslikeus are being erased/vanished from the story.

As time goes on, it becomes a ‘trans*’ issue, a ‘lgbt’ issue. It becomes, magically, something that the entire community is experiences. But.

I spent the time collating all of this because, it only serves as timely evidence to points i’ve been making: there is no ‘trans’ community and there is no ‘lgbt’ community. pretending as if there were

only manages to erase and vanish the actual victims of the crimes and violence.

and it makes me wonder… especially since of the six DC incidents, only 1 or 2 is being called a hate crime. and, you know? i can actually believe that.

but i wonder. how many people understand why this is scarier than hate crimes?

scarier because it means that these women were simply living. living their lives. and this? is everyday for #girlslikeus. so, no, why would there be marches?

no one shows up for us, but us.