A video of a transgender woman’s brutal murder in Brazil is placing new focus on the violence faced by the trans community.
Attackers in Brazil dragged Dandara dos Santos, 42, from her home in Fortaleza, in the northeastern part of the country before beating her to death, all while shouting expletives and slurs. Santos can be heard pleading for her life in the video.
The crime occurred on Feb. 15, but police released the video of Santos’ death just recently, in the hope that it would help identify her attackers. Police say they have since been able to identify six suspects.
The video, which you can see stills of here, visualizes in stark images the ongoing violence faced by the trans community.
In New Orleans alone, three transgender women were murdered over the past three weeks. They were also misgendered and misidentified by some news outlets reporting their deaths.
America has already seen seven transgender people killed this year, and violent attacks and discrimination are occurring throughout the world. In Saudi Arabia this week, 35 transgender people were arrested by police, and two of them were tortured and killed.
Santos was the fifth transgender person murdered in Brazil in the month of February. The government of Ceará, the region where Santos was killed, condemned the attack.