[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.12.1″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.12.1″]Worcester Telegram & Gazette by Brad Petrishen
\nJune 21, 2019[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.12.1″]WORCESTER \u2013 As hundreds looked on in a DCU Center meeting room Friday, Isa Woldeguiorgius repeated the names of the 10 transgender women killed in America this year.<\/p>\n
Dana Martin was the first, shot in Montgomery, Alabama, Jan. 6. The most recent, Zoe Spears, was found dead June 13 in the same Washington, D.C., suburb as another victim, Ashanti Carmon.<\/p>\n
\u201cSay their names,\u201d Ms. Woldeguiorgius told her fellow violence prevention workers. \u201cDon\u2019t make them faceless numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Woldeguiorgius, the keynote speaker at a daylong summit hosted by Jane Doe Inc., focused her address on the importance of \u201ccentering\u201d efforts on people who live in the margins, like transgender black women or LGBQT teens.<\/p>\n
The message was the theme of this year\u2019s annual \u201cprevention summit,\u201d as speakers alluded to the importance of helping those who have become targets of a rising number of hate crimes in America.<\/p>\n
In addition to politicians like U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who called the murders a \u201ccrisis\u201d on June 15, the crimes have caught the attention of physicians at the American Medical Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cFatal attacks against transgender people have prompted the AMA to adopt a plan to help bring national attention to the epidemic of violence against the transgender community,\u201d the association said in a June 10 release, noting that most victims are transgender black women.<\/p>\n
The AMA is calling for police to better collect gender identity data, which would likely lead to more victims being identified, and calling for government at all levels to better address treatment of LGBTQ individuals.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Lt. Gov. Karyn E. Polito spoke about a new $500,000 state initiative aimed at teaching middle and high school students to respect one another.<\/p>\n
Called \u201cRESPECTfully,\u201d the campaign has taken out short advertisements on popular social media platforms that preach the importance of building healthy relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe clearly recognized the need to do this,\u201d Ms. Polito said, noting that the state hasn\u2019t embarked on a similar campaign in two decades.<\/p>\n
Ms. Woldeguiorgius, who runs a Lowell nonprofit that helps victims of sexual assault, said movements like RESPECTfully and #MeToo are an important turning point in society.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is our time, folks, this is our time,\u201d she said, urging those in attendance to advocate boldly for things such as people using pronouns when they introduce themselves.<\/p>\n
The practice \u2013 of a woman using pronouns \u201cshe\/her\/hers,\u201d for instance \u2013 is one derided by some who question the legitimacy of transgender identity.<\/p>\n
Ms. Woldeguiorgius said that when people decline to declare their pronouns, they are causing harm to transgender people and sending message to transgender youth \u201cthat their identity, and their lives, don\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
She urged people to worry less about \u201csafe spaces,\u201d and more about having the uncomfortable discussions that lead to meaningful change.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s talk about what it\u2019s like for trans women of color to get up every day and walk down the street every day just to get to the gym,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms. Woldeguiorgius cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics indicating the homicide rate for black women is twice that of white, Asian and Hispanic women.<\/p>\n
Such statistics, she said, show that while some women are being helped, too many black women are not, reinforcing the importance of the industry \u201ccentering\u201d itself on those who are most marginalized.<\/p>\n
In breakout sessions scheduled throughout the day, the event\u2019s mostly female attendees were set to discuss ways to focus on people in the margins, along with ways to foster change among men, boys and the media.<\/p>\n
Ms. Polito thanked those in the room heartily for their work, and Debra J. Robbin, executive director for Jane Doe Inc., thanked the lieutenant governor for being a \u201cchampion\u201d for their cause.<\/p>\n
Ms. Polito said it is her hope that the state\u2019s work will lead to its students being kinder and more aware of what healthy relationships look like by the time they leave high school.<\/p>\n
Ms. Woldeguiorgius said such prevention efforts are crucial, and encouraged those who work in the trade for little pay and little recognition to know that their work saves lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in this because … we believe that violence is not inevitable,\u201d she said, and that the horrors associated with it can be decreased if societal norms change.<\/p>\n
Ms. Robbin said people in society need to understand that much of what they have been raised to believe is a \u201cfalse narrative\u201d built to support dominant culture.<\/p>\n
Ms. Woldeguiorgius asked attendees, in addition to focusing on those now marginalized in society, to also respect those who were marginalized in the past.<\/p>\n
She asked the audience to pause for 30 seconds to remember the original inhabitants of the land on which they stood, the Nipmuc Native Americans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are standing on stolen land,\u201d she said, adding that, at a time the nation is grappling with the idea of reparations for slavery, it\u2019s important to acknowledge that \u201cmany things in this country were built off of stolen people, and stolen land.\u201d[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the 2019 JDI Prevention Summit, keynote speaker Isa Woldeguiorgius acknowledges the increasing violence against the transgender community, urging societal change. Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito introduces the RESPECTfully campaign. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-coverage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}