Today marks the tenth anniversary of the viciously brutal killing of transwoman Amanda Milan at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York on June 20, 2000. It's been ten years since that night that then 20 year old Dwayne McCuller used a knife borrowed from then 26 year old Eugene Celestine to slash the throat and jugular vein of Amanda Milan.
The New York trans community was outraged, especially after the murder wasn't prosecuted as a hate crime. McCuller pled guilty and was sentenced in November 2002 to 17.5 years to life in prison for Amanda's murder.
An emotional and well attended memorial service was held July 23 in which her friend, the late Octavia St. Laurent used her eulogy of Amanda to rip into the media, the ignorant, sexist, and the African-American community. "Amanda was a transsexual. She was killed because she was a transsexual. Her neck was slashed and her story went unreported because she was Black and a transsexual." .
"The Black community is the worst," she said. "They who have suffered from prejudice in this country have treated us worse than any other people.
"White people have rights, Black people have rights. Gay people have rights. Animals have rights. Transgenders have no rights.""People refer to us as `it,' `thing' and `that.' They call us he/she. They say, 'What was that?' Being gay is O.K. They are on TV. How many will have to die before they recognize we are not expendable? We are transgenders."
Octavia's question asked during that July 2000 memorial service sadly has gone unanswered. Black transpeople ten years later continue to be murdered for who they are. Unlike Amanda's killer who is still rotting in jail, many of those people brutally taken from us have yet to see their killers be brought to justice.
Black transpeople are still waiting for our government to recognize them as human beings deserving of civil rights protection.
Octavia stated during that memorial service eulogy, "Death will not be the last word for Amanda Milan." She's absolutely right in that regard. As long as TransGriot and other trans themed blogs that cover African American transpeople are around, we will make certain that something positive comes out of it and Amanda's death never fades from our collective memory.
