Black Trans Lives Matter!
A black transgender woman by the name of Brooklyn DeShauna Smith was found dead in Shreveport, Louisana on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old was said to have suffered from a least one gunshot wound.
Shreveport police and its homicide units are currently investigating this horrific murder. Investigators have reached out to family and interviewed her neighbors in hopes of finding out a motive or suspect.
Brooklyn was studying cosmetology at a local community college and just celebrated her 20th birthday.
The HRC (Human Rights Campaign) have been tracking murders within the trans community since 2013, and said they have “never seen such a high number at this point in the year.”
HRC Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative Tori Cooper released a heartfelt statement, saying: “Brooklyn was just 20 years old, at the beginning of her life. She did not deserve to have that life taken from her.”
She continued: “With the news of Brooklyn’s death, we’ve now seen more trans and gender non-conforming people killed this year since we began tracking these deaths in 2013.”
“This violence is horrific, and it must be stopped. We need everyone to commit to taking action today to bring this violence to an end.”
Brooklyn is the 32nd known trans person to be killed in the US this year and is the fifth transgender casualty over the last three weeks.
According to a report from the Human Rights Campaign over “10,000 hate crimes in the U.S. involve a firearm each year.”
Related: Remembering the 31 trans individuals who have been killed in the US this year.
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