Just one day after we reported on the murder of Ciara McElveen and two days after we reported on the murder of Chyna Gibson, Mic is reporting on the murder of Jaquarius Holland, another Black trans woman in Louisiana. We’ve been in shock at how young the other victims, including 23 year old JoJo Striker, 24 year old Keke Collier and 21 year old Ciara McElveen are, and that shock is amplified by the fact that Holland was only 18 years old. 18 years old. She was a teenager, a child. Holland is the sixth Black trans woman reported murdered this year so far and the seventh trans person, all of them being trans women of color. Just in the month of February we know of five Black trans women who have been murdered. Our hearts are broken.
According to Mic, Holland’s friend Chesna Littleberry has set up a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses for Holland. The GoFundMe uses both “she” and “he” to describe Holland because her family still used “he” pronouns for her. Littleberry told Mic that Holland was like a little sister to her and that “I’ve struggled with accepting myself and being who I am and she always helped me with that. I want her to rest peacefully. That’s why I’m really excited.” I want to thank Mic and especially Matthew Rodriguez for their great reporting on this case and on the other murders of trans woman; you are doing a very valuable service and helping these women find the respect they deserve.
I keep on saying this. I keep saying the same things, but they aren’t any less important, they aren’t any less vital. Holland was murdered on the 19th, but we’re only able to report on it now because she was misgendered in reports. There are laws and barriers in place that make it so that trans people cannot change their names and gender markers. And things are getting worse for Girls Like Us. When lawmakers make laws that make it harder to change your passport, when lawmakers make laws that say that trans teen girls, like Holland, are male and must use men’s bathrooms, when lawmakers make laws that deny trans people from getting the healthcare that they need, trans women who get murdered end up being erased.
We use the hashtag #SayHerName because so many people and so many parts of society refuse to do that when it comes to trans women. Especially when we’re talking about Black trans women. While Black trans women are alive, they are thrown into the gutter, they are ignored, they are spit on. We need to support them in every way that we can. Women and trans people and Black people are hated in America. The people who are all of those things are especially hated. When you add that many of them are poor or homeless or sex workers, things get even worse. This is a genocide of Black trans women. This is a nightmare. This is Hell. Please, remember these names and say them as often as you can.
Mesha Caldwell, 41
Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, 28
JoJo Striker, 23
Keke Collier, 24
Chyna Gibson, 31
Ciara McElveen, 21
Jaquarrius Holland, 18
a nightmare and a genocide it is. i’m so sad.
I thought that at first, too, but I think it’s 6th because the headline specifies Black Trans Woman – Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow was not Black.
FUCK. This is heartwrenching.
What the fucking fuck is going on in Louisiana.
thank you for continuing to cover this tragedy, mey. this is heartbreaking and unacceptable.
This is heartbreaking, and I’m outraged. This child deserved so much better, in life and in death. Thanks for telling me her name.
i keep trying to type and retype and type and retype, and ultimately there just aren’t honestly words for how unacceptable and gut wrenching this is.
Agreed
This is heartbreaking. My thoughts are with those who loved her.
This is terrifying. How can we kid ourselves about protecting our own when they keep murdering our most vulnerable?
This is enraging. She was so young.
This is heartbreaking. I don’t even have words for how upset and angry I feel. Fuck
It breaks my heart that this keeps happening, it breaks my heart that you have to write about it, it breaks my heart that these women’s own families misgender them.
I know it’s little comfort, and I wish this wasn’t necessary to say, but thank you Mey, and thank you Autostraddle, for consistently being a place where these beautiful souls can be remembered for who they were. For helping us all remember their names.
this is fucking heartbreaking. thank you mey for continuously reporting on these tragedies that keep adding up too fast and too often. they shouldn’t happen in the first place. may she rest in peace.
This death is just devastating. Once again, the magnitude of these murders is a national disgrace.
Heartbroken, and so damn angry about all the ways current politics keeps on tightening the screw. Thank you, Mey, for keeping on reporting, for keeping on naming transphobia and violence, for keeping on making the links.
I don’t even know what to write.
This is heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time. All my love goes out to Mesha, Jamie Lee, JoJo, Keke, Chyna Gibson, Ciara McElveen and now Jaquarrius Holland’s friends and families and the trans community in general.
My only problem is the sad-mongering of calling her a child. That is incorrect. 18 is an adult. If you can be tried as an adult at 16, if you can vote, smoke, buy porn, and go to war at 18, then you are definitely an adult.
Definitely not the time or place for, Richard.
richard shut the fuck up.
The article says “Holland is the sixth Black trans woman reported murdered this year so far and the seventh trans person, all of them being trans women of color.” So it would seem to me the title saying “Sixth Black Trans Woman” is correct.
Whoops! Somehow I didn’t see that there was already a response to this. I don’t know how to delete my comment.
This ain’t whitey doing this neither..
jamal shut the fuck up and have some respect.
Thank you for keeping up with this. We need to be informed.
May they rest in power.
Every time I see a similar headline, my gut wrenches. Terrible tragedy, but thank you for this important coverage.
My heart goes out to those who loved these women. Wake up America. You voted in a monster who has no intention of protecting the rights of LGBT community especially transgender people. You are loved and have every right to be happy.
As someone who is part of the LBGTQIA+ community, I mourn for our country and world seeing hate crimes like this. Don’t we have the same human blood? The same human organs? We all came from the same sources before humanity exist, whichever it’s from evolution or from the Almighty. Race, color, gender, orientation, disability, nationality, religion, creed, martial status… Murder is murder.