Melonie Elizabeth Rose committed suicide on February 26th and there is only one article about her suicide and it’s aftermath anywhere online (http://www.dominickevans.com/2015/02/her-name-was-melonie-another-trans-woc-has-committed-suicide/). It’s no one person’s fault for not knowing about her suicide, but it speaks volumes to the transmisogyny and transmisogynoir in our culture and communities that the death of Melonie and countless other trans women of colour go mostly unnoticed. It’s not a question of “How many twoc have to die before people start caring?” because so many have died and there is no movement. People memorize lists of names with no context behind the lives that were lived and cut short. These are not senseless tragedies—they are deliberate and it’s terrifying.
Janet Mock, talking about the murders of six out trans women of colour this year, made a good point:
The names of our sisters shouldn’t only make headlines when we walk a red carpet or lay in a casket. Our visibility shouldn’t be subject to such extreme circumstances. […] It’s part of the reason why I am weary of amplifying these women’s deaths because it often feels like these women’s names are only spoken by the majority of us when they can no longer respond. But I must speak their names and when I do, I am aware that my sisters do not need to be reminded of their vulnerability and the threat of violence that looms over their lives.
girlhell 