India Clarke is at least the tenth transgender woman to be murdered this year. Sadly, the police and the media are choosing to additionally victimize her.
At about 9:00 AM Tuesday morning the body of 25-year old India Clarke was found lying next to a basketball court in the University Area Community Center in Tampa, Florida. A police report states “the victim exhibited obvious signs of homicidal violence to the upper body,” which they later reportedly described as blunt force trauma. The exact cause of death has not been announced.
The police report, however, also stated “the victim was a male dressed in women’s clothing.”
India Clarke was a transgender woman of color, the ninth transgender woman of color to be murdered this year alone. There have been at least ten murders of transgender women this year, almost matching the number of recorded murders of transgender women – 11 – in all of 2014.
Police refuse to identify India as transgender.
“We are not going to categorize him as a transgender. We can just tell you he had women’s clothing on at the time,†Detective Larry McKinnon, a spokesman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, told BuzzFeed‘s Dominic Holden. “What his lifestyle was prior to that we don’t know — whether he was a cross dresser, we don’t know.â€
“He is a male,†McKinnon continued, Holden reports. “I can’t tell you he is a female.â€
The media, especially the Associated Press, has strong guidelines specifying how to report on the murders of transgender people, yet the AP and news outlets in Florida, even after being called out, have continued to misgender India.
Eric Glasser, a reporter at WTSP in Tampa, reported India as “a transgendered individual,” and as “25-year-old Samuel Elija Clarke” who “began dressing almost exclusively as a woman using the name India” two years ago.
Despite a flurry of readers’ comments and social media posts, Glasser has not updated his story.
Buzzfeed added that “WTSP also reported that Clarke had ‘a prior arrest in 2013 for prostitution while posing as a woman,’ but presented no evidence linking sex work to her homicide.” Including details unrelated to a transgender person’s murder is wrong, but a common practice among the media.
CBS initially ran a story titled, “Transgender person Samuel ‘India’ Clarke found murdered near Tampa park,” but changed it to “Transgender person found murdered near Tampa park,” still refusing to properly identify India as a woman.
Over at Media Matters, Carlos Mazza rightly is calling out news outlets for improperly and disrespectfully reporting on India’s murder.
“The Associated Press violated its own guidelines while reporting on the homicide of a transgender woman in Florida, joining several state-based news outlets in misgendering the victim and referring to her as a ‘man dressed as a woman.’ The incident is the latest in a trend of media mistreatment of transgender victims of violence,” Mazza reports.
He adds that the AP along with state-based news outlets including “CBS, ABC, and NBC affiliates in the Tampa area followed the Sheriff’s report and also referred to India as ‘Samuel,’ using male pronouns, and referring to her as a male.”
“India Clark’s death is a tragedy, which is made worse by egregious misgendering by local police and media,” Chai Jindasurat, Co-Director of Community Organizing and Public Advocacy at New York City Anti Violence Project said in a statement. “We must honor India Clarke, and all of the transgender women, especially teams [sic] women of color, killed in this epidemic by supporting the leadership of transgender women, public awareness and respect campaigns, speaking out against this violence, and protecting transgender people from harassment and discrimination.”
NCAVP adds “documented 20 anti-LGBTQ homicides in 2014. Of those 20 homicides, a majority (55%) of victims were transgender women, and half (50%) were transgender women of color.”
The public outrage over the media’s handling of India’s murder has been growing. For example, these tweets, many of which are to WTSP’s Eric Glasser:
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