The transgender and black woman Iyanna Dior was brutally beaten by 30 men in the state of Minnesota, USA, the same state in which the black man George Floyd was asphyxiated to death by a police officer – an episode that triggered a wave of protests against racism around the world.
The attack was recorded in a video that soon went viral on social media. “Thank you to everyone who has been reaching out and making sure I’m okay. I’ll talk about it soon”, wrote Dior in a post on Facebook, the social network where she went live commenting on what happened (see below).
In the video, which we The Cape we won't share it here, Dior is followed by men inside a store, where they attack her; some use LGBTphobic terms to offend her, while no one around tries to stop the attack. The record suggests that a car accident triggered the attack.
“One side of my face is literally sore, it hurts so much. On my forehead, I have bumps and scratches,” she said. “My f… arm is sore, it hurts a lot. I need to go to the hospital. My lower teeth cut my lips from the inside. A lot of shit happened.”
Writer and director Janet Mock (pose, The Politician), a trans and black woman, spoke out in the Instagram regarding the horrible episode: “Sis. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. They didn't need to come after you. But they were. There is no fucking excuse for their brutality, their dangerous ignorance, their fragile masculinity. This shit is killing us.”
“If black lives matter, the lives of black transgender people should matter too,” he added.
