Just as the Aug. 25 sun began to set outside the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Social Justice Initiative's Pop Up JUST Art (PUJA) center on South Halsted Street, activist Monica James read off the names of the 18 transgender women of color murdered in 2015.

James asked the more than 100 people who gathered in solidarity with the fallen to repeat each name with enough emphasis to "resonate into this universe."

"This is all we have to give to her," James said. "So that we don't have 19. It's a real war out here."

The names Papi Edwards, Lamia Beard, Ty Underwood, Yazmin Vash Payne, Taja Gabrielle DeJesus, Penny Proud, Kristina Grant Infiniti, London Chanel, Mercedes Williamson, Ashton O'Hara, Amber Monroe, India Clarke, K.C. Haggard, Shade Schuler, Kandis Capri, Elisha Walker, Tamara Dominguez and Jasmine Collins were not only echoed in Chicago but—according to Black Lives Matter strategic partner and GetEQUAL Central Regional Coordinator Elle Hearns—in 20 cities nationwide that evening and through 5.5 million Twitter followers who answered a call to action marking Black Trans Liberation Tuesday.

"We wanted to be very vocal about the ways we are all intrinsically causing the deaths of these women," Hearns told Windy City Times. "Across the country we saw cisgender men as an integral part of these actions. They made accountability statements as to how they participated in transphobia and what they can do to end that. At some of the actions, highways were shut down by folks who felt compelled to do more. Part of that was to disrupt a normalized way of living."

In Chicago, James joined a notable panel elevating and demanding conversation about the lives of Black transgender women senselessly lost while facing system-wide discrimination blithely dismissed by the mainstream media and legislators and ignored by society at large. Jason Tomkins was host for the evening, along with representatives of Black Lives Matter Chicago.

Despite her considerable talents as a writer and public speaker, Jaz—author of the Black Trans Lives + Labor booklet distributed that evening—told the audience that she has spent her young life working low-wage jobs.

"I look at myself and I see the statistic where over 50 percent of trans women of color are making an income of under $10,000-a-year," she said. "You can't afford rent anywhere with that. I've been intermittently houseless. I've lived with men who I don't like—essentially in what we consider modern-day slavery. I'm there as a thing for his use and consumption and when he's done with me or bored with me, I'm out. So many social-service centers [are] only able to be a Band Aid on what is otherwise a gushing wound. The Black trans community is bleeding out."

She challenged union representatives in the audience to employ 600 Black trans people by the end of 2016.

Gender non-conforming advocate Benji recalled that, from as early as the fifth grade, she wanted to be a teacher. Today she works at Walmart. "I just stay focused on showing people that there is more to life than what we see on television," she said. "The Black trans community doesn't want to feel boxed-in and not living up to our own potential to be who we want to be. Our system is black and white, and it puts a lot of strain onto our existence."

The strain on James's existence was accentuated through horrendous violence at the hands of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and most of her adult life behind bars.

"Why is accepting trans women of color such a big barrier for our society?" James demanded. "It transcends beyond labor. We know that housing is one of the biggest issues. Without housing you cannot attain anything. Without a place to stay, you cannot get a job, you cannot get your health in order. Those 18 [murdered] women were known somewhere in this world by their name, by their loved ones as a trans woman but they didn't make it to the world news. How do we get this movement further? We all know trans women who are out there on the battlefield every single day getting rejected, being snickered at, laughed at, toyed with. They are beautiful and resilient."

Hearns stated that the Black Lives Matter movement is not restricted to the nationally publicized murders of Black men, women and children at the hands of the police. "The reality is all Black lives. It has essentially become a movement for the pursuit of liberation of Black people. The co-founders have really been committed to being collaborative in a partnership of Black trans women and also making sure we are sistering those who are most directly impacted by the systems of oppression leading to the demise of Black people not just in police brutality, but in state violence."

Hearns believes the answer as to why the epidemic of attacks and murders of Black trans women has been ignored by the national media lies in respectability politics. "What happens is the media is attracted to certain demographics of people," Hearns said. "Throughout our society, Black people, trans people and women have always been an after-thought. Black trans women have been discarded as a conversation piece. We really want people to start and continue that conversation. We want them to take bold, direct action to stand up for Black trans women in their community."

For more information about Trans Liberation Tuesday, visit blacklivesmatter.com and Article Link Here .

To donate to the event, go to Website Link Here .