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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.
“Our immediate reaction is sadness, anger and fear,” said Christopher Allen of Henderson’s death. Allen is the president and CEO of Diverse + Resilient, which serves Milwaukee’s LGBTQ+ community.
Henderson, 31, was shot and killed the morning of Feb. 26 inside her Milwaukee home, which was then set on fire.
Police on Sunday filed a criminal complaint against Cordell M. Howze, 33, for Henderson’s murder. He was charged with first-degree reckless homicide and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Her death comes just months after Milwaukee residents Brazil Johnson, 28, and Regina “Mya” Allen, 35, also were killed in shootings in June and September of 2022, respectively.
A 31-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with Allen’s death, but no arrests in the case have been made since Johnson was killed.
Prior to 2022, Milwaukee had not seen an identified Black transgender woman die by homicide since Chanel Larkin, 26, was shot and killed in 2010.
The streak of fatal violence has rattled Milwaukee’s LGBTQ+ community, which held a vigil and town hall meeting for all three women last week.
Recent rise in anti-trans bills, rhetoric
The fatal violence has sounded alarms for a community that has long endured harsh discrimination but also a recent resurgence in anti-trans rhetoric and policies nationwide.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, large percentages of transgender people report experiencing:
- A lack of acceptance within their own families
- Denied opportunities in education, employment, health care and housing
- Unequal treatment in the justice system
The marginalization results in increased risk for intimate partner violence, physical and mental health disparities, poverty and homelessness and other challenges.
It also impacts youth. One in four Black transgender or nonbinary youths attempted suicide in the previous year, according to new research from the Trevor Project
The ACLU has tracked what they say is a record number of nearly 350 anti-LGBTQ bills proposed across the U.S. this year. Many of them target transgender or gender non-conforming people directly.
The bills would limit the ability to:
- Update gender information on identification records
- Weaken anti-discrimination laws
- Restrict access to certain books
- Block access to gender-affirming medical care
- Prevent trans students from participating in school sports and discussions on issues relevant to them
Although none of those bills have been floated in Wisconsin this year, according to the ACLU, Allen said they can still harm transgender people anywhere.
But Allen said even considering the legislation can give “people permission to be more vocal about the hatred and discrimination that they may be feeling as well. It gives that permission to close yourself off from seeing trans people as human beings.”
Henderson was ‘independent probably since she could walk’
Henderson is originally from Chicago, where she grew up with two sisters, Beck said.
“Cashay will light up the room and Cashay will own the room,” Beck said. “She’s been independent probably since she could walk.”
Henderson always put thought and effort into her appearance. Beck recalled one instance when Henderson was a kid and she refused to walk out from an overhang in a rainstorm out of fear it would ruin her beloved suede Hush Puppies shoes.
Around the time she was 13 or 14 years old, she began to transition, and her family accepted her.
“We didn’t make a big deal about it at all,” Beck, 38, said. “She had the support of her family.”
Although she worried about her cousin’s safety, Beck said she marveled from afar at the progress she was making as an adult.
Henderson had recently bought herself a new car and was long active in various groups in Milwaukee.
For five years, Henderson was a member of a support group for Black transgender women, called Sisters Helping Each Other Battle Adversity.
She was top of mind at a vigil last week outside of the Milwaukee LGBTQ Community Center, but really the event was to remember all the LGBTQ+ lives lost to violence.
Many spoke about some of the fear and anxiety they feel living as a trans person following Henderson’s killing.
Lady Lana with the Black Rose Initiative says she has considered de-transitioning recently. “It’s beginning to come down between my happiness and de-transitioning, all because I feel my safety is the priority,” Lana said.
“(As) I think about Cashay, all the many stories and things that we’ve shared with each other, how many similarities we had, as far as traumas and things like that, I can’t help but feel if I don’t change my own course, I can be next. And I don’t want to be next.”
Dig Deeper
Contact Elliot Hughes at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.
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