Tributes paid to Brenda Bostick, 10th trans woman killed in the US this year
Tributes have been paid to a trans woman who was found severely injured in New York City last week and who died of her injuries.
Brenda Bostick was found in Manhattan on 25 April in the evening.
After being admitted to hospital, she died of her injuries last Thursday.
The medical examiner has ruled Bostick’s death is a homicide, and it is believed she is the 10th trans woman to be killed in the US in 2017.
No suspects have been identified in the killing of Bostick, according to NBC 4, and there has been an appeal for the public to provide information in the attack.
She was found near Seventh Avenue and 29 Street, but it is unclear whether she was moved there after being attacked.
The New York Post reports that Bostick was homeless at the time she was attacked.
The Human Rights Campaign paid tribute to the victim.
In a statement the New York Anti Violence Project Executive Director Beverly Tillery said: “Transgender woman are targeted all too often for severe and deadly violence
“We are facing a crisis of violence.”
“Ten transgender woman have already been killed so far in 2017, nine have been Black transgender woman and one woman was Native,” she added.
“As a society we can stop this epidemic by hiring trans women of colour, making sure they have safe places to live and standing up when we see or hear them being demeaned and attacked and simply by valuing their lives. The moment to act is now.”
Chayviss ‘Chay’ Darice Reed was shot dead in April in Miami-Dade County, Florida, making her the ninth trans woman killed in 2017.
In Louisiana, Jaquarrius Holland, 18, Chyna Dupree, 31, and Ciara McElveen, 21, have been killed.
Tiara Richmond, 24, was murdered in Illinois, Mesha Caldwell, 41, died in Mississippi, Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, 28, was killed in South Dakota, and Jojo Striker, 23, was shot dead in Ohio.
The most recent murder before Reed’s was of Alphonza Watson, 38, who was killed on March 22 in Baltimore, Maryland.
