twitter collection on who gets arrested for murdering Black trans women
2015-04-06
east indian princex
b_binaohan
i have to say... i don't really share stories of ppl being arrested/sent to prison over trans hate crimes.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
i've noticed a pattern in who gets 'caught' and convicted of transmisogynist hate crimes... almost always Black men.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
the thing is, is that i read/scan a lot of news stories.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
are Black men the only people out there killing/attacking trans women of colour? i very sincerely doubt it.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
but i find it interesting that whenever someone is arrested for a violent hate crime... it is (almost) ALWAYS a Black man.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
how many unsolved murders and attacks are there because the police weren't able to identify a Black suspect and so stopped looking?
east indian princex
b_binaohan
it isn't very common for there to be an arrest or conviction in violent crimes against twoc...
east indian princex
b_binaohan
but when it does happen, i'm supposed to believe -- based on arrests -- that only Black men attack twoc? yeah... seems legit. :
east indian princex
b_binaohan
like it all feels very much like the whole 'Black on Black' crime thing replicated in the twoc microcosm.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
and in a general point: i just cannot see another Black man going to prison as 'justice' for twoc.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
like. u realize that these men end up in the same prisons/system as incarcerated twoc? yeah. think about _that_ for a second.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
and then the system also criminalizes and targets twoc as a matter of habit? yeah. there is no justice here.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
and some of this is easy to say as a non-Black person without immediate connection to a Black trans woman who was murdered...
east indian princex
b_binaohan
i don't begrudge the feelings of family members and friends who are glad that an arrest/conviction is made...
east indian princex
b_binaohan
i'm partially explaining why you rarely see me tweeting links to these stories of arrests and convictions.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
i'm partially writing this based on what i just tweeted about Jennifer Laude. bc a white soldier being held responsible for murder overseas?
east indian princex
b_binaohan
now _that_ is something i can get behind. but the context is super different re: neo-colonialism, the US military presence in PH, etc.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
basically... part of what i'm saying here re: arrests for twoc hate crimes, is that don't think for a second that these are progress/justice
east indian princex
b_binaohan
i'm not even commenting on whether or not the arrested Black men did it.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
see what i'm talking about? another Black man arrested for the murder of a Black trans woman... http://t.co/Jk7LhPjqWc
east indian princex
b_binaohan
'They Got The Wrong Guy,' Says Suspect Accused of Killing Islan Nettles http://t.co/8xdNIhwpH4
east indian princex
b_binaohan
"police told him they were arresting him on an open warrant for something unrelated" http://t.co/8xdNIhwpH4
east indian princex
b_binaohan
"The reason for the delay in charging him for Nettles' death was not clear" http://t.co/8xdNIhwpH4
east indian princex
b_binaohan
"investigators say they struggled because witnesses had difficulty telling Dixon and Wilson apart" http://t.co/8xdNIhwpH4
east indian princex
b_binaohan
soooo. you know how i was talking just yesterday about how... i don't think that arresting Black men for trans hate crimes is justice?
east indian princex
b_binaohan
now. yeah. i'm just like. reading this story and i have far too easy a time imagining that this happened just as he said.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
that -- for whatever reason -- two years ago he confessed _something_ to the police but it took them two years to arrest him....
east indian princex
b_binaohan
bc witnesses couldn't tell the difference between him and another Black man?
east indian princex
b_binaohan
given the NYPD super stellar track record with the Black community, forgive me if i lack confidence in their abilities.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
like. i just. yeah. again, not saying anything about what Islan Nettles' family should feel or want...
east indian princex
b_binaohan
but i look at this and the last thing that it makes me think of is 'justice'.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
two years _after_ this happened and the police say themselves that witnesses couldn't tell the dif. between two men?
east indian princex
b_binaohan
here's what i know: the state (nypd) gives nary a solitary fuck about who murdered Islan Nettles.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
what i also know: the state (nypd and beyond) has a vested interest in incarcerating Black ppl.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
i think that fact #2 is why we see that the only perpetrators (as ID'd by the state) of transmisogynist hate crimes are Black men.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
bc the state's deep level of 'idc' re: Black trans women isn't strong enough to override their need to see Black bodies in jail.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
""There are transgender people here in jail and I get along fine with them.”" http://t.co/8xdNIhwpH4
east indian princex
b_binaohan
also LT? remember how i mentioned this just yesterday?
east indian princex
b_binaohan
like. whatever. idk whether or not Dixon did it (or anything).
east indian princex
b_binaohan
but. BUT. can anyone tell me how it is justice at all for twoc to be incarcerated with men convicted of murdering girls like them?
east indian princex
b_binaohan
like. i literally cannot get this out of my head.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
but the solution, however, is not 'put twoc in women's jails' the solution is: abolish prisons. just... to make that clear.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
but this is also why the carceral aims of trans*nationalism and homonationalism just don't fucking work.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
they want these hate crime laws passed... but all that happens is further criminalization of Black bodies.
east indian princex
b_binaohan
i feel like i read a story/article/stat once that mentioned that marginalized ppl are charged with hate crimes more often than oppressors
east indian princex
b_binaohan
Suspect Arrested in November Shooting of Tennessee Trans Woman http://t.co/Hw4cWuJzuU</p>
care to guess what race he is?</span>