Two More Trans Americans Reported Killed in 2021
deadliest year on record for trans people.Za’niyah Williams, a 21-year-old Black trans woman, died after a hit-and-run car crash in Houston December 20, TransGriot reports.
She remained unidentified for some time and was misgendered by police and media outlets. But her loved ones have come forward to identify her.“You were loved and will always be a part of me!” a cousin wrote on social media. “Fly high you beautiful butterfly.” A friend posted that Williams was “a very sweet and smart young lady and always ripped the runway when she dressed up.”“Za’niyah Williams was a bright soul who at 21 years old had the world in front of her,” Tori Cooper, the Human Rights Campaign’s director of community engagement for its Transgender Justice Initiative, said in a press release. “It is horrific that her life was taken from her by an unknown assailant who drove off without a care.
She was also misgendered in initial reports until she was identified by her mother. We must create a society that respects Black trans women and all transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people.
Although we honor them in death, they deserve to live, and they deserve justice for the crimes that too often end their lives.”The Harris County Sheriff’s Office asks that anyone with information call (713) 221-6000 and reference case number #2112-07879.In Albuquerque, N.M., white trans woman Nikki Turietta, 31, was found shot to death December 31, TV station KOB reports.
