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damnedifIknow

(3,183 posts)
Sat Oct 17, 2015, 03:34 PM Oct 2015

Maryland woman is the 21st transgender person killed this year



A 21-year-old transgender woman was shot to death at a Maryland shopping center Thursday afternoon, according to police.

Zella Ziona was found in an alleyway near a Washington, D.C. parking lot with a gunshot wound to her head. She later died at a hospital, according to WJLA.

Ziona is the 21st transgender person killed in the United States in 2015, a record-high number according to The Advocate. Transgender death statistics tracked by advocacy groups don't account for those not properly identified as transgender at the time of death nor those deaths that go unreported by the media.

*Police have not identified a suspect, but a witness told WJLA that he saw Ziona surrounded by and arguing with four or five teenagers, one of them then shot her four or five times. "

http://mashable.com/2015/10/16/zella-ziona-trans-woman-murdered/#yKuaRWqdzGqQ
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RKP5637

(67,032 posts)
4. It seems an America pastime sport, anymore. And then the massive killings in other
Sat Oct 17, 2015, 04:02 PM
Oct 2015

countries. Many humans are clearly a defective lot. Same here, I am just so damn fed up with it all. I also seriously question if the US government is capable of getting it under control in some rational way in the US. I also think the world would likely be better off if the US pulled out of the countries we are in now as our inane foreign policy continues to keep us as the cops of the world as the US wages on with Empire building and the MIC makes $$$$$$$'s.

 

Eleanors38

(18,318 posts)
7. Over all, it's not as risky compared to 25 yrs ago...
Sat Oct 17, 2015, 04:40 PM
Oct 2015

...but if you are on "the edge" of convention and politics during a time of right wing resurgence and RW opinion-makers in full sway with little or no opposition, then the risk is elevated. Everyone which is on any kind of edge has to cover themselves and become situationally aware in the broadest sense.

Two weeks ago the FBI warned repro clinics they are under direct threat. Call 'em bullies, fascists, whatever, they smell fear and lack of response in our society. They will continue to do this shit until thrown against the wall. Transgender folks are, imo, more subject to attack than even gays and lesbians because their status has the least amount of history and experience in being "out," and thereby developing "legitimizing" institutions and customs that can bring them into a stronger status, esp. with allies.

The usual HyperPunk element looks for juice by killing others; nothing new, no big numbers. But the de-legitimizing climate fosterd by the Far Right gives them license. That is the fear many of us feel: Who's got our back?

 

Eleanors38

(18,318 posts)
14. Part of the counter-culture of the late 60s & early 70s answered that...
Sun Oct 18, 2015, 03:36 PM
Oct 2015

No membership, no dues, no corporate t-shirts. But a lot of folks from artists, hippies, political activists (so essential), musicians, minorities, queers and general odd balls had a well-used 6th sense about who to hang with and rely on. Some times it went beyond just the geographical area, like Austin. The fact we must ask the question now serves notice on that era.

 

Eleanors38

(18,318 posts)
18. I may be reading too much into this, but there have been calls for a return to the 60s...
Sun Oct 18, 2015, 04:19 PM
Oct 2015

I haven't read much detail about it, whether it is a call for the political actions of the time or, as I kind of suspect, a longing for the sense of community, purpose and positive thinking that was much stronger then. Either way, I'm for it because those distinctions are illusory; they will come together.

RKP5637

(67,032 posts)
16. Some days I wonder, does the US need tranquilized water.
Sun Oct 18, 2015, 04:13 PM
Oct 2015

All of the violence and hatred in this country is incredible.

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