A South Carolina transgender community is currently in a state of high alert after the murder of the second transgender woman of color in just 15 days.
On Sunday, August 4, the body of 24-year-old Pebbles LaDime “Dime” Doe was found inside a parked car in a driveway in Allendale County, located near the Georgia border, according to New York Daily News. Doe had been shot to death.
Allendale County law enforcement agencies have declined to provide much information about the case. A coroner’s office representative told the Post and Courier on Thursday, “All I can say is I’m not releasing anything.”
Dime Doe’s aunt, Rhonda Doe, told WJBF, “They have hurt us in the worst way, the very worst way.”
Barbara Kolberg, a cousin of Doe, also told the local station that she had “always been a friendly person to everyone. The joy of anyone’s life.”
Chase Glenn, the executive director for Charleston-based LGBTQ advocacy organization Alliance for Full Acceptance, told the Post and Courier that Doe’s death reflects the heightened threat faced by the transgender community in South Carolina.
“We are sounding the alarm,” Glenn stated. “We are in an absolute state of emergency for black transgender women.”
Her death comes 15 days after Denali Berries Stuckey, another transgender woman of color, who was shot to death in South Carolina. On July 20, the 29-year-old Stuckey was found lying by the side of a road in North Charleston around 4 a.m.
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Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a 2020 presidential hopeful, wrote on Twitter: “My heart aches for Pebbles LaDime Doe, Kiki Fantroy, and their loved ones. The murder of Black trans women is a crisis that we must call out—and address head-on.”
My heart aches for Pebbles LaDime Doe, Kiki Fantroy, and their loved ones. The murder of Black trans women is a crisis that we must call out—and address head-on. https://t.co/Cww2IdWBSw
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 9, 2019