Compiled by Patrick H. Moore (based on information provided by Takepart.com)
It was a regular Friday night in Harlem for Islan Nettles, a 21-year-old transgender women, until a group of young men approached the fashion student with the delicate features, began to talk to her, and somehow discovered that she was transgender. They then began taunting her and maliciously beating her — right in front of a Harlem precinct. Her friends were apparently able to do nothing to stop the attack. The main assailant, Paris Wilson, punched her in the face, knocked her to the ground and continued to beat her until she lost consciousness. Islan (born Vaughn) Nettles never woke up from her coma and was taken off life support on Thursday after being unconscious for six days.
According to Ms. Nettles mother, the assailants called her asinine names like “she male” displaying the kind of stunted imagination we would expect from violent “hate crimers” of this ilk.
The fact that this atrocity occurred near a police station highlights the startling increase in crimes against the LGBT, and what some feel is a historic lack of police sympathy for hate crimes against minorities within the community.
Shockingly, Nettles’ alleged assailant, Paris Wilson, was initially booked on a misdemeanor assault charge and released on $2,000 bail. On Friday, the charge was switched to murder. According to a spokesperson for the New York County District Attorney’s Office, Wilson has not yet been arraigned on any murder charges, but that the “charges will be updated pending further investigation.”
Wilson’s next scheduled court date October 4th.
Although the death of Nettles may strike some as a tragic, but otherwise freak incident for a progressive city like New York, one of the birthplaces of the modern LGBT-rights movement, statistics show that this isn’t the case. According to the NYPD, anti-LGBT “bias crimes” have nearly doubled since this time last year here in New York City, from 13 to 22.
“I don’t think people should be shocked [at the death of Nettles],” says Shelby Chestnut, co-director of community organizing and public advocacy for the New York Anti-Violence Project. “This happens more regularly than the media reports. We see this type of violence all the time.”
In May, Eugene Lovendusky, the co-founder of the LGBT rights group Queer Rising, was assaulted by a 19-year-old man after being bombarded with anti-gay insults. Lovendusky’s assault came amidst a series of high-profile hate crimes against New York LGBT residents — most notably the May 17th murder of 32-year-old gay man Mark Carson, who was shot to death in the streets of New York after being called “faggot” and “queer” by his assailants.
Chestnut agrees that there has been a major uptick in anti-LGBT assaults this year. Nonetheless, she says that the problem of anti-LBGT violence has always existed. It is being reported more now than previously, which could account for some of the increase.
Police mistrust and even indifference to, and a general lack of empathy, particularly towards the transgender and people of color, have in the past made it difficult to accurately document anti-LGBT incidents of violence.
“I don’t want to suggest [our stat] means more violence. These incidents may finally be reporting what has been happening in the streets for a long time.”
If nothing else, Chestnut hopes Nettles’ death will bring to light the tremendous violence faced by transgender women—particularly transgender women of color.
According to Chestnut, the statistics show that 72 percent of anti-LGBT murders in America affected people of color and 53 percent of those were transgender women.
The only way to end anti-LGBT violence, said Chestnut, is to keep talking about it and let the public know that incidents like the one that left Nettles dead are hardly uncommon. Victims of hate crime violence also need to find the courage to come forward and tell their stories.
“Reporting violence helps end violence,” says Chestnut. “Unless we know where the violence is occurring, we can’t do outreach in the area.”
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Although hate crimes such as the one that took Islan Nettles life are still very much with us, I believe that there is also a general increasing public acceptance of LGBT individuals and other people who live “alternative” lifestyles. This is demonstrated by the fact that more and more states are passing legislation that permits same-sex members to marry and engage in civil unions. Those individuals who do perpetrate hate crimes, however, such as the young men who confronted Islan Nettles and then beat her to death, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.