Monica Forrester remembers her friend, Chevranna Abdi, as someone well known for helping other trans women, and who was outgoing and fun to be close.
The two met in Toronto in the 1990s, part of a very close community of transgender women who took care of each other in a way that their biological families were often not willing to do.
With Monday that marks the International Day of Transgender Visibility, held every March 31 to honor transgender people and raise awareness about the discrimination they faced, Forrester is among those who remember and honor Abdi, who died in 2003.
“He was a great person,” Forrester said in a recent interview with CBC Hamilton. “He was very beautiful, very beautiful physically, but you know, internally. He was a person who helped many people over the years; he helped many trans women.”
I want Chevranna’s story to be understood and remembered as one of courage, a force and courage.– Jelena Vermilion, Hamilton Sex Workers Program
Forrester said Abdi grew up in Hamilton and Somali background wine, and had relatives who did not accept their trans identity, although it was still close to one of their sisters. She looked for the chosen family of the Trans community in Toronto, where she and Forrester did street -based sex work.
“She gave the heart to the sleeve,” Forrester said.
Abdi died after Hamilton police was called to a Sandford Avenue apartment building with a woman’s reports “wielding a knife and acting strangely.” Forensic investigation said he died from “gastric aspiration for cocaine poisoning” after being carried by several stairs flights by the agents, and made no recommendation to the police.
However, an article by Hamilton Spectator of the investigation cites the witnesses who testified that the fatigued officers dragged Abdi in the middle of the stairs, letting the legs go while they still supported the upper part of the body, face down. They also said that a resident fellow had already taken the knife before the police arrived.
In an email to CBC Hamilton this month, the Hamilton Police Service spokesman Jackie Penman emphasized that the investigation did not find evidence that police actions played a role in Abdi’s death.
“Any suggestion otherwise is misleading and irresponsible,” he said.
Abdi was around 27 years old at that time.
Abdi ‘a basic element in the community’
Forrester and others want Abdi to be remembered in a different way than the way it was portrayed at that time, when the coverage used a stigmatizing language about his lifestyle and identity. Forrester said it is never too late to share more about his humanity and add to the registry.
“She was a basic element in the community,” said Forrester. “She was a presence; she helped and supported many people.”
His friend is likely to wear drugs, said Forrester. “But he didn’t take away the person who was.”
Jelena Vermilion, Executive Director of the Hamilton Sexual Workers Program, learned about Abdi’s history of the book Polyte black lives By Robin Maynard.
Vermilion sought more information in old newspapers and talking to people who knew Abdi, and was surprised by the language used to describe Abdi.
“The way it was written in the past was disgusting [and] Dehumanizing, “said Vermilion, who is trans.” His story surprised me because it could be any of us, and I think it could be me and that it could be other trans women, and I only see how the members of my community are willing, dismissed and dehumanized, and their history breaks my heart. ”
Vermilion wants to see the reopened case.
“I want Chevranna’s story to be understood and remembered as courage, one of strength and courage”, which had contacted CBC on Abdi, sharing his research and past newspaper coverage.
Vermilion learned about Abdi’s friends who loved fun and an inspiration for other trans women who were afraid to start the transition. “She deserved much more than this world gave her.”
Particularly marginalized trans people: defenders
Cole Gately has been active in the Hamilton 2SLGBTQ+ community since the 1990s, and has been working to document and share stories of queer and trans people in the city through their administration of the Community Archive of Michael Johnstone 2SLGBTQ+ in the public library of Hamilton.
Gately’s friend, Michael Johnstone, began the collection by thoroughly saving journalistic articles that were donated to the library shortly before his death in 2018.
“At this time, we are dealing with the idea that ‘trans’ is something new that tries, you know, corrupt young people, which is not true,” he told CBC, pointing out the importance of the stories of the past to put our current circumstances in context. “We have been present from the dawn of humanity.”
Gately said that he does not remember much community reaction to Abdi’s death at that time, which sees how evidence of how marginalized were trans people, and especially racialized trans people, even within Queer circles.
Kojo Damptey, a Hamilton antirracism defender, said Abdi’s story “speaks of the disposition of blacks” and echoes the stories of other black Hamiltonians who died after interactions with the police: they include Erixon Kabera, who shot and killed in November.
“Many of us are saying: ‘Hey, look, why every time the police interact with blacks, ends with some death or some form of violence? That is the story of Chevranna Abdi and other members of the black community who have lost their lives.
“Most of our population do not even know their history, and there are also many others.”
To obtain more stories about the experiences of black Canadians, from anti-negral racism to success stories within the black community, visit Be black in CanadaA CBC project that black Canadians can be proud. You can read more stories here.
