Just weeks ago, Cashay Henderson wrote on her Facebook that she was thankful nobody was writing “rest in peace” in front of her name.
Her cousin, Veronica Beck, saw that and felt scared. She had seen her cousin post before about friends of hers that she lost. She had spoken to her cousin about the difficulties of her life as a Black transgender woman – how it was a life she wouldn’t wish on anybody.
“I would have a fear in my heart for her,” Beck said. “I just never thought it would happen to her.”
On Sunday, Henderson became the third identified Black transgender woman to be murdered in Milwaukee in less than nine months, alarming an LGBTQ+ community that is also dealing with a rise in hateful rhetoric and policies across the nation.
Henderson also became at least the sixth transgender, or gender non-conforming, person to die by homicide so far this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
The organization tracked in the past two years:
The majority of victims are Black and Latinx transgender women.
