Detroit’s transgender community: 'police have have no sympathy for us'

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

“It could have been me,” Lilianna Reyes, a transgender woman of color, told a crowd of 50 at meeting hosted by the Detroit police department.

Reyes was referring to the death over the weekend of Amber Monroe, a 20-year-old black trans woman who was fatally shot in what police have deemed a homicide.

Her death – which residents say follows four murders of transgender women in 2014 in Detroit’s Palmer Park, and another this summer - has underscored the danger facing the community in Detroit. And many are saying one root cause is intolerance from the police.

“We have to do better ... I know some of you here [are] just like me: I’m nervous around a whole lot of police,” Reyes said, as several officers, including Detroit police chief James Craig, listened mere feet away.

For Monroe - who, according to police, was killed around 5 am on Saturday as she exited a vehicle near Palmer Park - that mistrust was prevalent: Before she was killed, friends say Monroe was shot on two previous occasions, but never approached Detroit police about the incidents.

Craig declined to speak about any fresh details his department has uncovered so far about her killing, nor if it was being treated as a hate crime, during a meeting he convened as an “LGBT Community Chat”.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/detroit%E2%80%99s-transgender-community-police-have-have-no-sympathy-for-us/ar-BBlIc8Q

[Janelle2002 3,865]

It is said when minority groups have to form their own coalitions in order to get the equal protection that is morally right to human beings and that is also the right of U.S. citizens.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

It is said when minority groups have to form their own coalitions in order to get the equal protection that is morally right to human beings and that is also the right of U.S. citizens.

What saddens me, is she was shot twice, and still didn't go to the police...

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Trump will take care of it.

[TBoneTX 43,004]

Doesn't everyone get murdered in Detroit?

[Dashinka 23,192]

Doesn't everyone get murdered in Detroit?

Actually, I think Baltimore and Chicago have taken over that spot, but Detroit is still up there.

As to this case, patience is needed. I know police don't have a lot of supporters these days, but they still have a job to do, and sometimes this takes time regardless of the circumstances.

[lostinblue 1,989]

A hooker having a dispute with its john ?

[GandD 5,966]

That's what it sounds like. No wonder she's nervous around the police. People committing crimes usually are. And it's clear the police are not to blame for the killing.

[Expat1 971]

A better article that clarifies location and setting for this killing:

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2015/08/detroit_police_meet_with_lgbt.html

Killing of transgender woman in Detroit red-light district opens dialogue

Statistics available on the city's website show there had been at least 114 crimes committed at or near the park in 2015 as of Wednesday. The offenses include assaults, theft, robbery and last weekend, the homicide of Amber Monroe, a 20-year-old transgender woman who was fatally shot.

As to the police, in the same article:

Rebecca O'Hara says Detroit police handled the July 14 homicide of her son, Ashton O'Hara, who lived as a transgender woman, with the utmost dignity.

"They have been so respectful ... in asking what we chose for him to be identified as, male or female," O'Hara said. "I have never heard or seen anything like it in my life. I was amazed."

Larry B. Gaulding, MDOC photoGus Burns | fburns@mlive.com

Ashton O'Hara's suspected killer, 37-year-old Larry B. Gaulding, was arrested and is facing a first-degree murder trial set to begin Sept. 24.

The Detroit Police Department's LGBT liaison, Danielle Woods, let the crowd know she is available to discuss LGBT concerns, and with the chief announced a community LGBT advisory board expected to form by September.

Didn't see that case mentioned in the first article.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

Because sex workers definitely deserve to be murdered. Sex work shouldn't be criminalized and this is one of the reasons why.

But seriously, I've known many transpeople who were terrified of the police because even when they weren't sex workers, the police ignore them and call them sex workers or put them in wrong-gendered cells for made-up reasons and end up being sexually assaulted.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

A hooker having a dispute with its john ?

No sympathy? That's a shocker...

That's what it sounds like. No wonder she's nervous around the police. People committing crimes usually are. And it's clear the police are not to blame for the killing.

Or it could be because they've been treated so badly by the police and people at large they don't trust them. I'm nervous around the police as well, does that make me a criminal?

[Expat1 971]

Because sex workers (and others) who frequent red-light districts are at higher risk of crime, including definitely deserve to be murdered murder.

was the point of the post.

Add to this the treatment by the police of the family of a similar (almost identical) case and the original title is extremely misleading. The police remove, order, and ceaselessly work to keep these people off these (in this case very unsafe) streets yet they willingly go right back out there?

In that light sympathy is due where?

smh

Edited August 15, 2015 by Expat1

[GandD 5,966]

No sympathy? That's a shocker...

Or it could be because they've been treated so badly by the police and people at large they don't trust them. I'm nervous around the police as well, does that make me a criminal?

Breaking the law makes you a criminal. Prostition is against the law. Stands to reason protestutes would be leery of the police. I think police are different from officer to officer. But I assume the brass via elected officials allocate police resources more in well to do neighborhoods. That's no surprise.

[GandD 5,966]

The key to dealing with the police is respect and obedience. You have a problem with the citation or arrest? Take it up with the judge. That's his job.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Reyes was referring to the death over the weekend of Amber Monroe, a 20-year-old black trans woman who was fatally shot in what police have deemed a homicide.

A homicide isn't mitigated by place or setting. The article seems not to clarify that...

A better article that clarifies location and setting for this killing:

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2015/08/detroit_police_meet_with_lgbt.html

Killing of transgender woman in Detroit red-light district opens dialogue

Statistics available on the city's website show there had been at least 114 crimes committed at or near the park in 2015 as of Wednesday. The offenses include assaults, theft, robbery and last weekend, the homicide of Amber Monroe, a 20-year-old transgender woman who was fatally shot.

As to the police, in the same article:

Rebecca O'Hara says Detroit police handled the July 14 homicide of her son, Ashton O'Hara, who lived as a transgender woman, with the utmost dignity.

"They have been so respectful ... in asking what we chose for him to be identified as, male or female," O'Hara said. "I have never heard or seen anything like it in my life. I was amazed."

Larry B. Gaulding, MDOC photoGus Burns | fburns@mlive.com

Ashton O'Hara's suspected killer, 37-year-old Larry B. Gaulding, was arrested and is facing a first-degree murder trial set to begin Sept. 24.

The Detroit Police Department's LGBT liaison, Danielle Woods, let the crowd know she is available to discuss LGBT concerns, and with the chief announced a community LGBT advisory board expected to form by September.

Didn't see that case mentioned in the first article.