ABOVE: Nikai David (Photo courtesy of the Human Rights Campaign)
Police units responding to reports of a shooting on Castro Street in West Oakland Dec. 4 found Nikai David, a 33-year-old Black transgender woman, suffering from gunshot wound to the head. She died at the scene.
Her death is at least the 50th violent killing of a transgender or gender non-conforming person in 2021 according to the Human Rights Campaign.
The shooting marks Oakland’s 129th homicide so far this year. At this time, the Oakland Police investigators said there is no evidence of a hate crime. Anyone with information about David’s case is asked to call the Oakland Police Department’s Homicide Section at 510-238-3821 or the department’s tip line at 510-238-7950.
Speaking with local Oakland media outlet, KTVU Fox 2, Joe Hawkins, co-founder and CEO of Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, said transgender homicides are on the rise. “In general, people are ready to attack transgender people, just because they’re transgender,” he said.
Reflecting on the disturbing trend of violent crime this year against Trans people, Hawkins said Black and Latinx transgender women make up the majority of the victims. He said discrimination in housing and employment are factors putting their lives at risk.
“The people who kill them feel that they’re not worthy. Who’s gonna care,” said Hawkins, “Black transgender people deserve and need the support that they have not been given.”
Nikai David, a model and aspiring social media influencer who dreamed of opening her own clothing boutique was well-known at the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center and they are planning to honor her life. For more information on the memorial, follow their Facebook page. Ashlee Banks, a friend of David, remembered her as being “really sweet. She was a happy, fun person.” Banks said she was “really devastated” to find out about David’s death.
“Every time we step out the door, we are at risk, of never returning home again. Sometimes we don’t even have to leave the house; there is no safe space for transgender people in America. We live in a different world that most couldn’t comprehend.
I’m devastated by this news; this young lady deserves to model like she wanted to. She deserves all the good life has to offer. But here we are again, grieving another young Black trans woman murdered,” Ebony Harper, the Executive Director of Sacramento-based California TRANscends told the Blade Tuesday.
“To go through all the crap that we have to endure in this society and then be murdered hits me right in the heart. We are strange fruit. The 2012 murder of Brandy Martell is replaying in my mind and how they were debating if it was a hate crime. Here we are almost ten years later, and they are still discussing whether it was a damn hate crime? We won’t stop until our babies can walk, talk, and have relationships divinely trans. Justice for Nikai David and praying for the hearts of her family and friends,” Harper added.
“Learning about Nikai David’s death is disheartening and alarming. In the year that we’ve marked as the deadliest year on record for our community, we continue to see a frightening rate of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people. We must all continue to demand that the violence cease. David was a young person with so much life ahead of her. For her future to have been violently taken away from her serves as a reminder that we remain with so much work ahead of us to ensure a safe and loving world for all,” Tori Cooper, HRC Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative said in a statement.
