June 4, 2020

African-American Trans Woman Iyanna Dior Beaten by Crowd in Minneapolis

Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 3 MIN.

Iyanna Dior, an African-American transwoman, was attacked and beaten by a mob of more than thirty people after a minor traffic accident in Minneapolis on June 1, news sources reported.

The assault appeared to take place in a convenience store and was captured on cell phone video and circulated widely on social media, reports said.

The video prompted an outpouring of support for Dior, who was left with bruises but said in subsequent Facebook posts that she was okay.

Many on social media condemned the June 1 attack, which occurred even as protests were taking place in the city that decried police violence against George Floyd, an African American man who died after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck for almost nine minutes, ignoring both Floyd's pleas and the concerns of bystanders.

One Twitter user responded to the video with the comment, "that video of iyanna dior getting assaulted by that group of men really just made me cry."

The tweet continued: "black trans women's lives really aren't valued and it's fucking sad. PROTECT BLACK TRANS WOMEN."

Tweeted another: "Stand up for Breonna Taylor. Speak up for Iyanna Dior. March for Aiyana Jones. Make your activism intersectional. Have our backs."

"Protect Black women like we protect you all," the tweet added. "You all wouldn't be yelling 'Black Lives Matter' if it weren't for TWO queer Black women."

A third tweet read: "I just watched the Iyanna Dior altercation. To all my black men and women now isn't the time to be transphobic, homophobic, or any of the phobia."

"We as a community have to be together no matter what sexuality a person is. We are in a fight right now and we have to fight as one."

Anti-LGBTQ assaults have skyrocketed in the wake of the 2016 elections. Hardest hit have been transwomen of color. the