Merci Mack, a Black woman killed in Dallas, is 18th transgender death this year
Merci Mack, a 22-year-old Black transgender woman, was fatally shot in Dallas on Tuesday. Seventeen other transgender people have been killed in the U.S. in 2020, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Mack was found unconscious in a parking lot by a passerby, according to the police. Residents at the location told police they had heard gunshots around 5 a.m., but police reported no records of 911 calls at that time.
"Her friends say that Merci Mack was a young, upbeat soul who deserved to experience a full life. HRC is mourning with Merci’s loved ones and are calling for a full, thorough investigation into her death," said Tori Cooper, Human Rights Campaign director of community engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative, according to Out magazine.
Say Her Name: #MerciMack is the 19th reported trans person violently killed in 2020. https://t.co/WJjGpgt8aQ
— Out Magazine (@outmagazine) July 1, 2020
More transgender people have been killed in Texas than any other state in the past five years, and nearly half of those deaths were in Dallas, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Dallas police deadnamed Mack in their report, saying they had "not been provided with a preferred name" by next of kin.
Deadnaming is the use of a transgender person's birth name, their former name, and is often accompanied by misgendering.
GLAAD, a media monitoring organization founded by LGBTQ+ people, tweeted that doing so "only adds to the pain of her death."
Homicide detective is seeking the public’s assistance in solving a murder in the 3000 block of E. Ledbetter Drive. The victim was found deceased from gunshot wounds in the parking lot of the Rosemont Apartments. Click the link for details https://t.co/HPYgmpyVq1
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) July 1, 2020
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GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis told USA TODAY on Wednesday that “using the birth name implies that the trans person's actual lived identity is somehow not real, and draws attention to a name and identity that is not accurate or authentic to how they lived their life."
"Journalists need to do the work and learn the name the victim actually used with people who respected and accepted them. Failing to do this causes additional harm in a situation that is already tragic," she said.
Transgender women of color are a particularly vulnerable population and incidents against them are likely underreported because of "a combination of stigmatization, marginalization and criminalization," said Mara Keisling executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.
"We need to shine a bright light on this," she said. "Lots of incidents of violence against transgender women go unreported because they’re afraid to go to police."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Merci Mack, a Black woman killed in Dallas, is 18th transgender death