November 14th will mark the one year anniversary of the murder of 22 year old Lateisha Green, a Syracuse, NY transgendered woman who was shot to death by convicted gunman Dwight DeLee while sitting in a parked car outside a house party with her 18 year old brother Mark Cannon who was also shot but survived.
In a gut wrenching interview with Essence.com, Lateisha Green's mother Roxanne Green speaks candidly about the abuse her daughter received as a result of living openly as a transgender female and the last moments of her life, recalling watching Green take her last breaths as she bled on her front porch from the gunshot wound that punctured a main artery behind her heart.
From Essence.com
There was a boy who lived around the corner that Lateisha used to talk to. He got mad because people found out he had something to do with Lateisha. He was still in the closet and embarrassed by it. When I got home, I saw all this blood in the bathroom sink. I found out they had taken Moses to the hospital and he had been slashed all over his face. I told her not to leave the house and she didn't, but this boy and some friends came to the house and did this. The doctor said they had just missed a vital vein and that he was a very lucky young man. All I could think was why?
After that incident Lateisha just stopped running. She got stronger. Suddenly, it didn't matter what people were saying about her. The night she died, Lateisha and her brother Mark drove up to a friend's house. There were people outside talking. The next thing they knew, someone came to the window and opened fire. Lateisha told Mark to take off. She was screaming out, "My heart, my heart." Mark was telling her no, you just got shot in the shoulder. You'll be all right. Mark was on his way to the hospital but all Lateisha wanted to do was come home. I was inside when they came to the house. I ran outside to see my baby on the ground. I got there right before she died. The autopsy report said that her lungs had quickly filled up with blood. The bullet ended up hitting the main artery in the back of her heart. I never thought in a million years that I would be burying my child.
Since Lateisha's death, I haven't known how to help my family, especially her father. He's hurting so badly. When Lateisha came out, he was hurt because he has always tried to protect her. She was such a sensitive child and would get so upset when the kids would jump her after school. But in the end, neither one of us could protect her. We're used to a having this happy-go-lucky person, who could just light up the room with us all the time. I never knew I could miss something so much in my life. I just want to scream sometimes. I've never felt this type of pain before. I'm bitter and I hate it.
Dwight DeLee has been charged with murder in the second degree as a hate crime and was sentenced to 25 years in prison and 5 years of supervision earlier this morning.
Thanks Bernie
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