why you should know about the #SAYHERNAME movement
my account is dead and not aimed towards stuff like this at all, but i wrote a speech last year and presented it and i feel like it was good enough to share here too. nobody had heard of the movement and i want to spread the message!
there are many more cases that are just like these three. it’s called systematic violence towards women of color. the movement to bring more attention to SVTWC is known as the #SAYHERNAME movement. it’s not talked about much locally, but i believe it should be. the fact these women are losing their lives do to exaggerated violence everyday is insane, and i think the more light we shed on it, the closer we’ll get to decreasing the rate of systematic violence towards woc, and people of color in general. i stand for kayla, for rekia, and for kyam. and you should too.
fill the void, lift your voice, say her name. Kayla Moore, Rekia Boyd, and Kyam Livingston. now there’s a pretty big chance that none of you know of the names i have just said-. who they belong to, who they were- and what happened to end their lives.
kayla moore was a forty-one year old transgender women of color. she dealt with schizophrenic episodes, and had mental health checks every now and then. one check in 2013 ended fatally. she had explained that she wasn’t feeling her best, and the next actions aren’t very clear, but it’s known that kayla never laid a hand on the officers. she died after being choked/suffocated to death by the two officers. after five years of trying to sue the city, the judge had thrown the case, due to ‘lack of evidence’ to tie it to the ADA or Hate crimes linked with racism.
rekia boyd was at a public, local park one late night with a group of 50-60 people, a gathering, to drink, play basketball, and hang out. this was a regular occurance, and they’ve never had problems with it before. the twenty two year old was shot, and died on spot. someone had called and filed a noise complaint with the police, which urged the curiosity of undercover officer Servin to approach the group. Considering the possibility that they were under the influence (of drugs and/or alcohol- they were not.) Servin had asked them if he could buy cocaine off the group. rekia’s friend, antonio cross, had told him to get his ‘crackhead ass’ out of the area, going back to the conversation with his cousin on the phone, who he’d been previously talking to. this set off Servin, who pulled a gun on the group, shooting antonio in the hand and rekia in the head. he insisted that he thought the phone was a weapon. the cousin was spoken to, and he had heard around fourteen shots through the phone. rekia had not said anything to servin.
people, six years later, are still actively fighting for justice for late 37 year old kyam livingston, who passed in 2013. Livingston was arrested on July 20th at 1:51 a.m. after getting into an argument with her 79-year-old grandmother, while drinking vodka from the bottle. Although the altercation wasn’t violent, Livingston violated a specialized order of protection that her grandmother filed prohibiting alcohol or fighting in the home. she was taken by police and locked in holding cell for the night. inmates told the family that kyam had been screaming, yelling, and crying for medical attention for hours that night, claiming she had extremely bad stomach and abdomen pains. it wasn’t until seven hours had passed, and she began having seizures, that the people had called the medical personnel, who arrived at 6:40 am. she was there for twenty hours. they realized she needed severe medical attention, and died on arrival to the hospital at 6:58. her family filed a lawsuit against the NYPD due to the neglect by administrators. at a rally to bring justice to kyam, her mother said that if they had given her the attention she needed, she would still have her daughter here today. after little investigation, it was found that her cell was covered in vomit and feces, and was also in clear sight for the administrators to see.
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