June 16, 2020

Thousands of protesters gathered outside the Brooklyn Museum on Sunday for a rally and silent march.Stephanie Keith/Reuters

By Julia Carmel

Newsroom Assistant

“Let today be the last day that you ever doubt black trans power.”

— Raquel Willis, a black transgender activist and writer

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Bundles of sage and sticks of palo santo burned outside the Brooklyn Museum on Sunday as more than 15,000 people gathered for the “Brooklyn Liberation” rally. The surrounding streets glowed in the sunlight as protesters arrived in white outfits — referencing the N.A.A.C.P.’s Silent Protest Parade of 1917 — to march for the lives of black transgender people.

Last fall, the American Medical Association called the killings of transgender women of color in the United States an “epidemic.” According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 15 transgender and gender nonconforming people have died by violent means this year.

Even as protesters have chanted the names of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, many black transgender women have largely been overlooked. In a single week leading up to the march, two more women were killed and deadnamed. Riah Milton was shot during a robbery in Liberty Township, Ohio, and Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells’s body was found in the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

“Black trans lives matter! My sister’s life mattered!” said Melania Brown, whose transgender sister Layleen Polanco was found dead in her cell at Rikers Island last year. “All of the loved ones that we have lost — all these beautiful girls that we have lost — their lives matter.”

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Polanco’s family recently filed a wrongful-death suit, and a video was released last week that shows prison guards laughing outside Polanco’s cell after finding her body.

At the protest on Sunday — which was organized by The Okra Project, The Marsha P. Johnson Institute, G.L.I.T.S., For the Gworls and Black Trans Femmes in the Arts — organizers asked for black transgender women to move to the center while white, cisgender people were asked to place themselves around the perimeter of the crowd, and to use their “voice to amplify, not to lead.”

“When trans lives are under attack, what do we do?” the two M.C.'s, Junior Mint and Joshua Allen, asked repeatedly at the rally. “Stand up, fight back,” the crowd replied each time.

When Raquel Willis, a writer and activist, spoke from the balcony of the museum, she reminded the crowd of the many transgender women of color who came before.

“We stand in a symbolic shadow of some powerful folks, don’t we? Folks they tried to erase,” Willis said. “But we know about Marsha, don’t we? We know about Sylvia, don’t we? We know about Miss Major, living legend, don’t we? We know about Miss Ceyenne, and all of that glory that is still with us today, don’t we?”

Smoke billowed from the hand of a protester whose white tank top read “angels have no gender.”

“We have a lot of souls to reach right now,” Willis told the crowd before leading them in a chant.

“I believe in my power,” she said before the crowd echoed back. “I believe in your power. I believe in our power. I believe in black trans power,” Willis said, exchanging each sentence with the crowd.

“Y’all gonna say it with me again?”

Below are some photo highlights from the march.

Stephanie Keith/Reuters

Protesters burned sage to cleanse the air.

Simbarashe Cha for The New York Times

Some carried flowers as a symbol of mourning.

Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times

A protester held up a sign for Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco.

Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times

Basit Shittu, who was on the MTV show “Are You The One?,” danced in the street as the rally marched toward Fort Greene Park.

Simbarashe Cha for The New York Times

“This is what community sounds like,” protesters chanted as they arrived at the park. “This is what community looks like.”

A Landmark Ruling

Outside the Supreme Court on Monday.Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to L.G.B.T.Q. workers, extending workplace protections for millions more people across the country.

“An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law,” Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote for the majority in the 6-to-3 ruling.

Until the court’s monumental decision, which arrived in the middle of Pride Month, it was legal in more than half of the states to fire workers for being gay, bisexual or transgender.

The ruling came just days after the Trump administration finalized a regulation that erases protections for transgender patients against discrimination by doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies.

A Juneteenth Celebration

Join us on Thursday, June 18 at 3 p.m. Pacific time / 6 p.m. Eastern time for some cocktails, conversation and comfort to mark Juneteenth and the promise that even when freedom comes late, it’s always welcome.

The event will be hosted by Veronica Chambers of The New York Times. We will make cocktails with special guest, Toni Tipton-Martin, an award-winning food journalist and author of “Jubilee.”

Today’s In Her Words is written by Julia Carmel and edited by Francesca Donner. Our art director is Catherine Gilmore-Barnes, and our photo editor is Sandra Stevenson.

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