Black History Month - Black Trans Women - February 3rd

For today, I want to highlight someone whose humanity deserves to be remembered far beyond the circumstances of her death: Muhlaysia Booker. Muhlaysia Booker was a Black transgender woman living in Dallas, Texas, who was known by friends for her warmth, humor, and resilience. Like many Black trans women, she navigated a world that constantly put her at risk simply for existing. In the months before her death in 2019, Booker had already survived a brutal, widely circulated assault that was treated by many as entertainment rather than a hate crime. Despite the trauma and public scrutiny, she continued trying to live her life, showing a strength that should never have been demanded of her in the first place. Muhlaysia Booker was murdered later that year, becoming one of the many Black trans women killed in a pattern of violence that is both predictable and preventable. Her death was not an isolated tragedy but part of a broader failure to protect trans women, especially Black trans women, from harm. Remembering Muhlaysia is about more than mourning loss; it is about naming the violence, refusing to normalize it, and honoring her as a full person who deserved safety, joy, and a future. Her life matters, and her name deserves to be spoken with care, not reduced to a statistic or headline.