95 Reasons Black Women Are Endangered

#BlackLivesMatter*, Allegedly.

It seems that we cannot wake up these days without news of a new death of a Black man at the hands of a police officer. It occurs as a frighteningly regular rate. We’re becoming desensitized to watching the execution videos of the final moments of Black men. We weep for Black men we didn’t know but who reflected those that we love. There is weeping for our black sons, both born and unborn. Protests, boycotts, and alarms sound for Black men before their bodies grow cold. We refuse to be silenced in the expression of our pain and demand for change in the wake of new Black male death. Young Black women and men fret over the possibility of birthing a Black son.

But Black women have been and are being killed by police too. Our female bodies do not protect us from the current genocide against our people. No boy child or girl child is safe in a world where their skin will always be the source of their threat to society.

We are alarmingly silent on the death of Black women. The same bodies that birth, nourish, and raise our beloved Black men. Police-involved deaths of Black women rarely make a blip on the radar. On the rare occasion that their deaths appear as more than a byline, Black women are scrutinized far more than Black men. Respectability politics allowed us to mourn Sandra Bland and vilify Korryn Gaines. It is a scene that I’ve watched play out more often than I care to see. Below are 95 reasons Black women are just as endangered as Black men in the state-sponsored genocide of Black life.

This list originally appears on Tumblr. The original list contains 267 names with no further information. It has been edited to remove: trans women not killed by police, duplicate names, non-Black women, those killed in the commission of a felony where their deaths are not a direct result of police action, domestic violence, and erroneous additions. All information has been researched and added by @UnfitChristian.

Black Women Killed by Police, Part 1

1. Adaisha Miller – (Age 25, 2012) Killed while dancing with a police officer in 2012. The officer who killed her was off-duty but still armed. His weapon accidentally discharged, puncturing her lung and striking her heart. The investigation was quickly closed and the prosecutor’s office declined charges.
2. Adebusola Tairu – (Age 26, 2003) Allegedly threatened two people in her apartment, advanced towards an officer holding a kitchen knife and was shot to death.
3. Ahjah Dixon – (Age 23, 2012) Former student at Navarro Community College in Corsicana, Texas was killed while in police custody at the Corsicana Justice Center under suspicious circumstances similar to Sandra Bland. An autopsy report revealed that Ahjah had been beaten, with bruises and contusions, (lacerated lip, bruises on her upper and lower torso, face and many other parts of her body); this has never been explained by local law enforcement.
4. Aiyana Mo’Nay Stanley-Jones – (Age 7, 2010) Killed while sleeping during a botched police raid while filming a reality television show. Officer responsible was charged but never convicted. His first trial ended in a mistrial, the second in a mistrial, and prosecutors dropped the last charges to ensure there was not a third.
5. Alberta Spruill – (Age 57, 2003) Died of a heart attack after police officers broke down her door and threw a concussion grenade into her apartment. They were acting on bad information about guns and drugs in the apartment.
6. Alexia Christian – (Age 26, 2015) Fatally shot by Atlanta police officers while under arrest in the back of a patrol car. She was arrested under suspicion of theft. She allegedly produced a gun and shot at officers while handcuffed in the backseat of a police car. The officers who shot her 10 times were not charged.
7. Amber Nashay Carter – (Age 21, 2013) Died in a crash after high-speed police chase. The officer driving in front of Carter’s black Cadillac that was going 51 mph in a 60 mph zone. Police said the driver was driving “suspiciously” because she refused to pass the officer.
8. Andrea Nicole Reedy – (Age 32, 2001) Reedy was the subject of an early-morning low-speed chase for driving erratically. When officers boxed her in she threatened them with her car, and was fatally shot. A grand jury returned no indictments for the controversial incident but had recommendations, including that one of the police involved should undergo “therapy for aggressive behavior”.
9. Andrena Kitt – (Age 21, 2001) Killed by Pensacola undercover agents. She was 21 years old and unarmed.
10. Angel Chiwengo – (Age 46, 2013) Among three people killed in a North Baltimore collision involving a sedan being sought by police. Andrew Baker Jr., 54, who was driving a Jeep with Chiwengo inside, was critically injured. Two people in the sedan were killed. Chiwengo was rushing home to her pregnant daughter who was in labor.
11. Angela Beatrice Randolph – (Age 38, 2014) Killed by MTA officer at a light rail station. According to witnesses, she was erratic but unarmed.
12. Angelique Styles – (Age 60, 2013) Fatally shot during a domestic dispute when she refused to put down a knife and came after responding officers, police alleged.
13. Anita Gay – (Age 51, 2008) Killed by an officer responding to reports of a domestic disturbance. Officers allege that Gay confronted the officer with a knife.
14. Annette Green – (Age 37, 2001) Fatally shot as officers served a search warrant for drugs. Police alleged that Green had an “extraordinarily high” level of cocaine in her blood, which may have made her particularly aggressive. A grand jury determined that the officers were justified in use of deadly force.
15. Antoinette Griffin – (Age 13, 2003) One of seven Black teens killed in an early-morning car crash after a brief police chase. Upon viewing the officer’s dash cam video, questions arose about the conduct of the pursuing police car.
16. Ariel Levy – (Age 62, 2014) Killed by officers who were dispatched for a welfare check on Levy, who had been calling the Pleasanton Police repeatedly about a criminal investigation involving her son. Officers allege they saw a gun when they entered her home. Officers did not attempt to detain Levy for a psychiatric evaluation before killing her.
17. Aura Rosser – (Age 40, 2014) Fatally shot after police say she confronted officers with a knife inside a home
18. Barbara Lassere – (Age 60, 2013) Killed by police after a traffic stop for a broken headlight.
19. Bettie Jones – (Age 55, 2016) Killed by police with a single gunshot wound to the chest. Police were called to aid in a domestic dispute of her young neighbor who was wielding a baseball bat during an argument with his father. They shot the neighbor 6 times before accidentally shooting Jones once.
20. Beverly Kirk – (Age 43, 2012) Hit and killed by a police officer who was responding to an emergency call but failed to use lights or sirens.

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