Call for change at trans march
Murdered black trans woman Merci Mack’s name was said underneath Parliament on Saturday.
Chinwe Akomah’s voice – a call for change – rang loud and clear about Mack, 22, who was found unconscious with an apparent gunshot wound to her head in a Dallas, United States, parking lot earlier this week.
Mack’s name was said by Akomah in a series of speeches, in what was the end-cap to a Black Trans Lives Matter march from Frank Kitts Park to the Beehive on Saturday. The event saw about 200 people chant their way through the capital’s streets.
‘‘This march isn’t just about solidarity, it’s about us telling and showing our black trans queer and non-binary wha¯ nau that we are here,’’ Akomah told the crowd huddled together underneath rainbow flags.
‘‘We are here to love, to support, to protect, and to be an ally.’’
Akomah said it was heartening seeing Wellington turn out for one of society’s most vulnerable black communities but the lack of men present also spoke to work that still needed to happen.
She made reference to activist and drag queen Marsha P Johnson: ‘‘It was queer black women that started this movement. It was a black trans woman that started Stonewall. They were there for us.’’
Chanel Hati, community liaison for the New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective, told the crowd that police brutality, and gender and race-based violence had to stop. ‘‘It seems that everywhere that trans people look the door is closed. The door to serving your country, to fight for your country in the military.’’
Vivian Lyngdoh, chair of Wellington Pride, said the crowd was able to gather on Saturday ‘‘off the backs of black trans people’’ who had fought for such rights historically.
‘‘Acknowledge that. Can you all acknowledge that?’’ he said to the crowd, which erupted in applause.
‘‘I’m here. We are here. We as queer, I as melanin, we as melanin. We move. We see this oppression and say no ... I’ve had enough, we’ve had enough.
‘‘To Merci Mack, who just got killed – murdered – this week; I’m sorry, I see your soul. I hear you, I love you. Be at peace. I rise, and we all rise together.’’
Discussion then turned to the Government failing rainbow communities over time. Lyngdoh referenced the lack of specific investment put towards rainbow Kiwis throughout the pandemic, despite research showing rainbow communities have significantly worse outcomes in areas such as health and education.