On Tuesday, Nov. 27, the Wesleyan community recognized Trans Day of Remembrance, largely by means of a memorial taped to the steps of the main staircase in Usdan. Tuesday morning, ambling through the campus center, I paused to read each of the names, locations, dates and methods of murder of several hundred members of the transgender/transsexual community. In various incidents, victims were struck by a vehicle or shot in the head or strangled and drowned in the bathtub. The detail of the descriptions made these several hundred deaths feel even more vivid, drawing attention to the manner of killing instead of to the individuals who were killed.
What this display failed to do was to contextualize the events, provide space for discourse or in any way give honor to those who lost their lives. As a person who is Trans identified, I was pleased to see the efforts made to commemorate Trans Day of Remembrance, as it made the fear that affects the Trans community feel very real and tangible, but that is not the entire purpose of a day of recognition. It is important to share whatever stories are available and open space for discussion and reflection, as otherwise we risk turning large, unnecessarily murdered populations into a legacy of statistics. Violent death alone is very difficult to come to terms with, especially without the presence of an active community with whom to talk about it, an element that would greatly increase the strength of our recognition of the day of remembrance.
The exhibit set up in the campus center communicated that many people who identify or express themselves as Transgender or Transsexual have been killed as a result of this aspect of their identity. It did not provide the information necessary to understand what this means and who it impacts and how it feels to live in world where this happens for everyone, regardless of gender identity.
Furthermore, the display provided no forum in conjunction with the day of remembrance in which to facilitate discussion. It is unfair to put this sort of material in a public space without providing the chance to come together as a community. How else will we begin to process this nature of brutality? How else do we expect to generate any sort of understanding?
Leave a Reply