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Chyna Gibson, Ciara McElveen, and JacquarriusHarris, three black trans women out of New Orleans, Louisiana, were killed within a two-week period last month. And not so much as a pin smattering has been heard from black cis men, particularly those black cis men who tout black lives matter. No outrage. No hashtag. No marches. Nothing.

What happened?

Cis black men monopolizing and narrowing the prism of black victimhood, authentic blackness and the banner of Black Lives Matter, thats what. And you know what, its getting kind of old and tiresome. FrFr.

Especially after one takes into account all the receipts pointing to the high level of violence haters have perpetrated specifically against trans women of color in the past 3 years, pretty much the extent of the existence of Black Lives Matter.

In 2014, the year former officer Darren Wilson shot 18-year-old Michael Brown and Cleveland officers murdered 12-year-old Tamir Rice, 12 trans women who identified as either Black or Latina were murdered.

In 2015, the year South Carolina ex-officer Michael Slagerkilled Walter Scott, 9 black transgender women lost their lives to a toxic cocktail of transphobia, cis privilege, abuse, and violence.

In 2016, the year an officer murderedPhilandoCastille in cold blood in front of his family, 15 trans black women became the tragic victims of a hate crime.

And since January 2017, at least 5 blacks trans women have been killed.

Yet, let cis black men tell it, cis black men and cis black men ALONE are THE priority, the only targets of violence, the only racially-victimized members of the black community that warrant attention. Let cis black men call it, theres not enough room in the black freedom struggle to be concerned about and address the dreadful circumstances and regular deaths of trans sisters. Entertaining these folks, wed be tempted to walk away with the preposterous notion that cis black men, by default, constitute the totality of black culture and single-handedly ignited the black lives matter movement.

Of course, all of this is alie.

Related: Dear Black Men: Black Womens Lives Matter, Too.

Three black women Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi founded the Black Lives Matter hashtag that would eventually evolve into a movement. Even before the popularity of this recent resurgence of the black power movement, Garza, Cullors and Tometiwere committed to advancing black issues within their own field and invested in the long-term work of organizing on behalf of ALL black people. Equally important is the fact that at least two of these women, Garza and Cullors, are visible, proud members of the LGBTQ community, a note which, said out loud, makes it all the more peculiar to endure cis black men revising contemporary history to depict the movement for black lives as a struggle started by black cis persons, but, through some form of covert manipulation and scheming, co-opted and led by faggots.

In a movement whose expressed mission is to encapsulate the specific experiences and unique struggles of a diversity of black bodies and black sexual identities, incubating this kind of perspective simply wont do. Permitting the continued spread of this mode of thinking wont do. Black transphobia, period, wont do.For nothing short of the integrity and enduring legacy of moral leadership of a group of people is on the line.

For nothing short of the integrity and enduring legacy of moral leadership of a group of people is on the line.

On this question, this issue, cis black men gotta get their shit together and do better than this. And, truthfully, the this that we shouldve been doing shouldve been done yesterday, but today and tomorrow will have to suffice.

Related: Homophobia in the Black Community and The Rise of The Hotep

One of first things I would suggest we must do is deal seriously with our own inner gender insecurities. From there, we have an obligation to conquer our homophobia and transphobia. From there, we are obligated to recognize that black transgender women are still black and just as authentically black as any other slice of the black community.

Cis black men must start organizing and showing up for protests that center black trans women and deploy their cis privilege on their behalf of trans sisters. Cis black men must start viewing their trans sisters as allies not antagonists and abnormalities, as well as empathize with and memorialize their fallen black bodies with the same depth of pain and emotion that they, we, would a Trayvon Martin, an Eric Garner or a Freddie Gray.

And if black lives matter is to mean anything anything at all it must be that the whole range of black performativity and identities cis, trans, queer, bi, etc. are welcomed with opened arms and protected with closed fists.

See more here:
Cis Black Men: If Black Lives Matter, We Need to Support Our Trans Sisters - Wear Your Voice