Sad news out of Syracuse, NY. Lateisha Green was shot and killed while sitting in a car, the apparent victim of a hate crime. News reports are referring to this person as "Moses Cannon," their birth name, but at least one notes that Lateisha Green is the name they went by with friends (Green is this person's mother's last name).
The family says it's because "he" was "gay" -- but the news reports are muddled about this person's gender identity and preferred name. It seems more likely that Lateisha was murdered becuse "she" was "transgender," but again this is speculative based on conflicting news reports (and the photo above that's been circulating). I have no idea how this person would want to be represented in name or in gender pronouns, which has made blogging about it tricky to say the least. Obviously, the family's use of pronouns and names is not necessarily the way this person would have wanted it.
Here's one such report, in which her female name is treated as a nick name (Moses "Teish" Cannon):
Moses "Teish" Cannon was openly gay, and his family said today that is why he was shot and killed Friday night. His death should be treated as a hate crime, they said.
Cannon, 22, of 404 Arthur St., was shot about 8:45 p.m. Friday as he sat in a car parked in front of 411 Seymour St., police said. His brother Mark Cannon, 18, and a third person were in the car when a man with a gun walked up, Syracuse police said.
The gunman fired into the vehicle and hit both Moses and Mark Cannon, who were in the front seats, the report said. Mark Cannon, who was in the driver's seat, drove the car about 13 blocks from Seymour Street to Arthur Street, where police found them, the report said.
The Cannons were taken by ambulance to University Hospital, where Moses Cannon was pronounced dead and Mark Cannon was treated for a non-life threatening injury.
Moses Cannon was killed, his mother said, because he was gay. "This death was senseless, and I'm very angry," Roxanne Green said.
This raises again questions over hate crimes legislation. How to determine why this person was murdered? Because they were "gay"? Because they were "transgender"? Or was it for other, yet unknown, reasons? Very difficult to ascertain in many cases.
Hey Trev---
Thanks for drawing attention to this act of violence. It does indeed raise again the issue of hate crimes legislation---but it also draws into questions HOW our lives are represented in the popular media...and it is often not in a way that affirms our true selves.
I'm in Rochester, NY which is only just over an hour west of Syracuse---so this incident hits relatively close to home for us in Upstate NY. Although I did not know Lateisha...I have many friends and colleagues from around the state who work in queer violence prevention, including in Syracuse, and my understanding is that she was indeed trans (although that may or may not be correct). In our area this incident is being reported as the "murder of a Syracuse trans woman"...and, in fact, this coming Thursday (11/20) is the National Transgender Day of Remembrance (ironic and sad, huh?)---and many upstate communities are specifically planning to honor Lateisha's life in their community vigils.