Black trans woman attacked in viral video, activists speak out
In a video posted to Twitter, Iyanna Dior can be seen being brutally beaten by a group of Black men after a reported 'fender bender' in Minnesota.
Trans activists and Black Lives Matter advocates are rallying around a Black trans woman after a video of her being attacked went viral.
In a video posted to Twitter on Monday, Iyanna Dior can be seen being brutally beaten by a group of Black men after a reported “fender bender” in Minnesota. The clip shows the group of men follow her into a local store where they continue to harass and assault Dior.
Dior took to her Facebook page after the incident went to viral to share that she is “ok,” according to Out.
READ MORE: 2 Kansas City officers charged with assault of Black trans woman
“I just need some time to process everything that’s going on,” she wrote in a post. “Thanks to everyone reaching out making sure I’m ok. Imma talk real soon.”
Pose director and trans activist Janet Mock made a statement on her Instagram in support of Dior, saying that she praises and uplifts her.
“I’m sending you the strength of your sisters still standing too — and the ones who no longer could. They deserve rest, and we speak their names too,” she wrote on Wednesday. “Iyanna, you are a black trans woman. What a gift! Don’t let nobody tell you otherwise. Sis. I’m sorry. I’m so f**king sorry. They didn’t have to come after you. But they did. There’s no f**king excuse for their brutality, their dangerous ignorance, their fragile masculinity.”
She continued, “That s**t been killing us. To be brutally attacked and called out your name while a crowd of your brothers and siblings look on….I’m so sorry sis. My heart aches for you. But we got you sis. You’re gonna heal. You rest now. Let us carry what you can’t right now. You deserve rest and peace. We’re showing the f**k up.”
Mock went on to call out the hypocrisy of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has traditionally centered Black cis heterosexual men while paying less attention to Black LGBTQ people and Black women who have been killed or terrorized.
“Our fight for black lives will not be in sacrifice of you or our sisters. We must stop centering cisgender heterosexual men and their needs. We will not ignore the violence some of these men enact on you, our sisters’ and our siblings’ lives,” she wrote. “If Black lives matter then Black trans lives should matter as well. We are here. We been here. We need our black cisgender siblings to roll up RIGHT NOW. You ain’t no ally. You are family. We are your family. Speak Iyanna Dior’s name — all our names — just as much as we’ve been screaming yours. We love y’all. We show up for y’all.”
Advocates have shared Dior’s CashApp handle, $NajaBabiie, in a show of solidarity. Dior’s attack comes amid the killings of Tony McDade, a Black trans man who was killed by police, and Nina Pop, a Black trans woman who killed in early May.
