Merci Mack, a
22-year-old Black transgender woman, was found shot to death Tuesday in Dallas.
A passerby
called police and emergency personnel after noticing Mack lying unresponsive in
the parking lot of an apartment complex about 6:15 a.m., TV station KXAS reports. Dallas Fire-Rescue workers pronounced
her dead at the scene. Neighbors had heard gunshots in the area about 5 a.m.
Dozens of
Mack’s friends posted messages of sorrow and remembrance on her Facebook
page. “My heart is very heavy, Merci you will be truly missed, I am
going miss arguing with you, laughing, singing dancing and mostly watching them
fine Men!” one wrote.
Over the last
five years, more trans people have died by violence in Texas than in any other
state, according to The Dallas Morning News, and almost half of
those homicides have been in Dallas. Nationwide, Mack’s death is at least the
19th homicide of a trans person this year, with most of the victims being Black
or Latinx.
David J.
Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, released the
following statement: “What do you do when you don’t have the capacity to wrap
your head around the pain and trauma a community of people continues to
experience and you know that your feelings aren’t half of what’s required to
show up as a member of that community? You continue the work and insist that
others, who purport to believe that #BlackLivesMatter, also get engaged.
“What pains me
most about the continued loss of Black trans life is that nearly everyone who
is identified as Black knows the sting of stigma and the trauma of
discrimination. We know the horror of being the victim of violence simply
because of socially constructed ideas of ‘Blackness.’ This shared experience
alone should be enough for each of us, everyone who is Black, regardless of cis
or trans experience, to collectively call for and do the work to end the
violence that trans and nonbinary members of our community experience — too
often in silence. Merci Mack deserves better, as a community we failed her and
so many of our trans siblings, and this is beyond unacceptable.”
Dallas police
are asking anyone with information to contact Det. Brian Tabor at (214)
671-3605 or brian.tabor@dallascityhall.com. CrimeStoppers is also seeking tips
at (214) 373-TIPS (8477) and will pay up to $5,000 for information that leads
to an arrest and indictment.
SOURCE: ADVOCATE
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