Joslyn Allen, Jaslene Busanet and Eden Estrada weren't fearing for their safety after a night out on Hollywood Boulevard in mid-August. The three friends, all popular influencers on Instagram, were exiting a store in the early hours of Aug. 17 when cellphone video caught a violent, unprovoked attack against them.
Activists across the country have marched in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement since the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in late May, sparking conversations about racial justice and equality. Simultaneously, there is a growing call for more inclusion of Black members in the LGBTQ community.
Black and Latino members of the transgender community account for almost all of the deaths on record in 2020.
Black transgender Americans have been fighting this abuse for years, dating back as early as the 1960s when Marsha P. Johnson threw the first brick of protest at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, sparking the beginning of the gay rights movement.
More recently, the hashtag Black Trans Lives Matter has called attention to the epidemic of violence in the transgender community.
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