Yet another Black trans woman, Mia Green, has been murdered in US. She’s the 29th known trans person to be killed this year
Mia Green was 29 years old when she was shot dead. (Human Rights Campaign)
Mia Green, Black trans woman, was shot dead in a car in Philadelphia on Monday (September 28), making her the 29th known trans person to be killed in the US this year.
The death of Mia Green, 29, means that the number of trans people killed in the US in 2020 has now surpassed the total for the whole of 2019.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, a man named Abdullah Ibn El-Amin Jaamia was arrested Wednesday on charges of murder, possession of an instrument of crime, obstructing justice, and tampering with evidence in relation to Green’s death.
The two of them were arguing in Jaamia’s car, when he allegedly shot a gun three times that he had stored between the driver’s seat and centre console.
He shot Green in the back of the neck, the left arm, and grazed her left side. Green was taken to hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries within half an hour.
Jaamia later confessed to shooting her, and was denied bail.
Mia was a person who mattered, and she did not deserve to have her life stolen from her.
Human Rights Campaign (HRC) director of community engagement for the transgender justice initiative Tori Cooper said in a statement: “We are mourning Mia’s loss along with her friends and family.
“Although I did not know Mia personally, we are from the same community and share many mutual friends.”
Cooper said that losing Green was “devastating”, and added: “Mia was a person who mattered, and she did not deserve to have her life stolen from her.
“Too often, we see a mix of toxic masculinity, misogyny, racism and transphobia play a strong factor in the deaths of Black trans women like Mia. As we remember her, we must continue to affirm that Black Trans Lives matter.
“Everyone — including those in government, law enforcement and our friends and neighbours — must speak up and take action to bring this horrific violence to an end. Yet another Black trans woman has been taken from us far too soon.”
