On Monday, Jan. 26, Denver police officers opened fire on a reportedly stolen car, killing the driver, 17-year-old Jessica “Jessie” Hernandez. The teen’s death has sparked outrage in the LGBTQ community, who say that Hernandez suffered discrimination at the hands of law enforcement because she was young, Latina and gender non-conforming.
“[Branching Seedz of Resistence] and the Colorado Anti-Violence Program recognize Jessie’s case as [sic] direct result of the pattern of police violence that targets queer and gender non-conforming young people of color in the U.S.,” read a Feb. 2 press release from Branching Seedz of Resistance (BSEEDZ), a youth-led component of the Colorado Anti-Violence Program.
However tragic the loss of a young life, and despite questions about Denver police conduct in the incident, police officers never questioned Hernandez or the four other passengers in the car before opening fire, raising questions about how the officers could have possibly targeted Hernandez for her sexual or gender orientations.
BSEEDZ responded to Hernandez’ death by asking “our local and national community to stand with Jessie Hernandez’s family as they mourn the loss of this young life and demand a thorough and independent autopsy for Jessie’s body as well as a special prosecutor and federal investigation of the case.”
Jordan T. Garcia, immigrant ally organizing director with the American Friends Service Committee, was listed on the press release. While Garcia did not write the press release, he did stand behind the statement that there is a growing trend in violence against transgender youth of color. However, Garcia admits that there’s little possibility the police officers involved could have known that Hernandez was queer.
“I think they could have known something about her gender identity if they had talked to her before shooting her,” Garcia says. “I think the fact the police opened fire on a car, which is not OK even by their own standards, is wildly inappropriate. I think they will find in the investigation, [her death] was totally avoidable. [The police officers] may not have known how she identified because that probably wouldn’t have been part of the discussion, but actually talking to her instead of opening fire would have been a really good way to start that.”
Eleanor Dewey, media contact for the Colorado Anti-Violence Program and one of the writers of the press release, could not be reached for comment before press time.
Still, there is much discussion across the nation of violence against transgender people of color, particularly women. In Los Angeles, 33-year-old black transgender woman Michelle Vash Payne was fatally stabbed in late January. The initial Los Angeles Police Department news release mistakenly identified Payne as a man. In Texas, 24-year-old Ty Underwood, also a black transgender woman, was shot and killed while driving, also in January. Other stories of violence against transgender women of color have arisen this year out of Norfolk, Va., and Louisville, Ky.
The BSEEDZ press release listed statistics from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Program’s 2013 report “Hate Violence Against LGBTQ and HIV- Affected Communities in the United States,” including figures linking transgender and gender nonconforming people of color survivors to six times the likelihood of experiencing physical violence from the police compared to white, gender conforming (sometimes called cisgender) survivors and victims.
“I think something we’ve noticed is that people are coming out younger and younger,” Garcia says. “So they are coming as gay, lesbian bisexual or transsexual just younger than they used to, even from when I was even a kid. I think what we’re going to find is younger and younger people are coming out and experiencing violence and transphobia.”
Respond: [email protected]
