CRIME
Two Arrested for Murders of Trans Women in NC
Despite two busts, advocates decry inadequate police response in Charlotte
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
Following the murders of
two Black transgender
women in different hotel
rooms in North Carolina,
police have made two arrests —
but advocates are not reassured by
the way authorities have conducted
themselves in the process.
Dontarius Long, 21, and Joel
Brewer, 33, are facing multiple
charges in connection with the
deaths of 29-year-old Jaida Peterson
and 28-year-old Remy Fennell,
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police
Chief Johnny Jennings said
at a news conference on April 16.
The alleged perpetrators have
been charged with murder, robbery
with a dangerous weapon,
and conspiracy to commit robbery
with a dangerous weapon.
Police said the men committed the
crimes together.
Peterson, 29, was discovered
unresponsive in a hotel room after
offi cers responded to a welfare
check at the 3100 block of Queen
City Drive — which appears to be
the site of a Quality Inn and Suites
— on Sunday, April 4. On April 15,
Fennell, a 28-year-old female victim,
was shot to death in a room
at a Sleep Inn at 8525 North Tryon
Street, which is in northeast Charlotte.
Both women were also sex
workers.
However, in the aftermath of the
arrests, the local community is
not necessarily feeling protected
by local authorities. A Black trans
woman who stays at a nearby hotel
said offi cers demanded to search
her room on April 19. The offi cers
said they were looking for someone,
although no one was in the suite.
“Look in my room? Absolutely
not,” Jayla Neil, 30, said in a phone
interview with Gay City News from
Charlotte. “I can hold my door
open or you can get a warrant. If
I let them in, anything could have
happened to me.”
For those in Charlotte’s trans
community, the police response to
the string of murders is different
from their relationship with communities
of color on the ground.
Jaida Peterson was killed on April 14.
Jayla Neil said police heavily target the LGBTQ community and people of color.
Neil said residents of color are targeted
for selling CDs, while transgender
women are often profi led
when walking down the street.
“The police don’t give a damn,”
Neil said.
Ash Williams, a transfeminine
non-binary community organizer
at Charlotte Uprising, a social justice
advocacy group, and a member
of the House of Kanautica, said he
worries law enforcement’s response
FACEBOOK/JAIDA PETERSON
JAYLA NEIL
deviates from an effort to tackle
homelessness, economic and food
insecurity, and other issues contributing
to the rampant violence
against the trans community.
“We can’t pretend that if we
pluck out the seemingly isolated
instances of violence that we have
saved Black trans women,” Williams
said in an interview with
Gay City News. “Because we are
Black trans abolitionists, we know
that’s not true.”
He added, “What we have been
asking for is lower barriers and
increased access to housing and
health care, and these people being
in a cage does not give Black
trans women increased access to
housing. It does not stop workplace
discrimination in Charlotte.”
Charlotte Uprising has raised
more than $10,000 in mutual aid
funding to provide safe housing for
Black transgender women. Neil is
one of nearly a dozen trans women
using these funds. While the money
offers temporary relief, she also
sees it as a gateway toward pursuing
a stable job as a chef or working
in a salon.
“It was very helpful,” said Neil,
who has received $700 in funding.
“It’s enough for the girls to be able
to shelter for two weeks and get
groceries.”
She noted that pandemic-related
closures have made it diffi cult to
access support services. Plus, like
many transgender people, she has
faced barriers in changing identifi
cation documents, which is another
obstacle to safe lodging.
“Getting housing is the hardest
thing for a trans girl,” she said.
“You got to worry about people harassing
you.”
Neil has received help from
Charlotte Uprising since she faced
a brutal transphobic attack on a
bus in Charlotte more than three
years ago. Last week, despite the
growing violence against trans
people in the US — including cases
in North Carolina — Rob Tufano, a
spokesperson for the police department,
said, “this isn’t something
we see frequently, something we
rarely see.”
As the community grapples with
the latest attack, Neil said her ask
is simple — to not get hurt and for
others to defend the lives of Black
trans people.
“The trans girls are really going
through it now, but we don’t
really show it,” she said. “We only
comfort ourselves in praying every
day that we can walk out on these
streets and somebody can stand
up for us.”
April 22 - May 5,8 2021 | GayCityNews.com
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