#SayHerName: A Vigil in Rememberance of Black Women, Trans and Cis Women, & Children Lives

i learned on facebook about  #sayhername: a vigil in remembrance of black women, trans and cis women and children lives hosted by evolution mines-simmons. on thursday, may 21, 2015 i attended the vigil where we sidewalk chalked  names of women, trans and youth who were murdered domestically and by the hands of the law. there was not enough sidewalk to chalk all the names.

i chalked melanie colon, the women murdered by the Grim Sleeper in south l.a. and a list of names given to me. than i began to cry as we chanted "their lives matter" and i seen us filling the sidewalk with names of women, youth and trans who have been labeled not human and most of their deaths go unsolved. the presence of the police also rattled us, we don't trust the police but they allowed us to have our vigil.

some of the women murdered by the Grim Sleeper in south l.a. 

we heard speak outs from members of the community. i have a challenging time when speaking on this topic. i'm disgusted at how our lives is disregarded by some of our loved ones as well as by the law. #sayhername was a great opportunity to raise awareness about the attacks on women, their youth,  trans and cis communities. i have a real problem with all violence against us because we are who we are. my lack of trust in the police departments of the untied states deepens when i learn of the abuse of power.

 “It was a clean crime scene.”

Ralphiee Colon, 20, is going over the details of how his sister’s life was snatched one evening in 2012, and the web of secrets that he is convinced links her to a disgraced Philadelphia Police Dept. homicide detective named Ronald Dove.

Melanie Zee Colon, a 22-year-old single mother who was known as the “gay Barbie” and “DJ Kiss,” was a fixture in the local LGBT community.

She walked out of her home on the night of May 8, 2012, with a friend, Reynaldo Torres, and drove away in his 1983 Mazda.

Melanie’s decomposing body was found on the 12th of May, the day before Mother’s Day, in Juniata Park. She had been shot six times. Torres’ remains were found a year later.

Both murders remain unsolved.

“I want to know what happened to my sister and why she was killed the way she was killed,” said Ralphiee, who has launched a “Justice for Melanie” social media campaign on Instagram and Facebook to raise awareness about his sister’s murder.

Melanie’s family struggle daily with her loss, as they raise her son, Joshua, now 7, in their Kensington home.

“They executed her for nothing. They killed my sister like they'd kill a dude. That changed me,” said Louie Colon, 23, Melanie’s brother.

“She was a loving, caring, good heart, She'd see a bum and she’d give him change. She always was about her son. She was very beautiful, independent,” he said. “She wasn't ever in that type of life. Why would she die like that?”

Year of sorrows

The first year after Melanie’s death was filled with sorrow as the family’s suspicions focused on Torres, who was still missing. Melanie’s mother, Zoraida Miranda, died from a heart attack just before the one-year anniversary of Melanie’s disappearance.

In November 2013, after local press reports revealed that Dove had helped cover up another murder, committed by his then girlfriend, Torres’ jawbone was reportedly excavated near a rec center ball field.

The Inquirer reported that information found on Dove’s iPad led investigators to the field where the bone was found. Reports citing unidentified sources were never confirmed by law enforcement.

“I feel as though he knew something because he knew where Chino's [Torres] jaw bone was buried,” Ralphiee said. “You’re hiding info, so why wouldn’t we think you know something?”

The D.A.’s office declined to comment on Melanie’s murder, citing grand jury secrecy rules.

Melanie’s stepmother, Marybell Colon, 45, said her contact with homicide detectives on Melanie’s case has been irregular.

According to PPD public information officer Tanya Little, Melanie’s murder is still being investigated.

D.A. Seth Williams wouldn‘t comment on Colon’s murder when he announced the official indictment of Dove Jan. 22 on felony charges of hindering prosecution.

Williams would only say that a grand jury continues to investigate Dove, two-and-a-half years after Melanie’s murder.

Dove’s downfall came, prosecutors say, when his lover, Erica Sanchez, stabbed her ex-boyfriend Cesar Vera to death in September 2013 after an argument, then called Dove for help.

Dove allegedly squirreled her away in an upstate New York hotel, bought her an untraceable cell phone, hid evidence, and lied to other homicide cops while taking a weekend trip with Sanchez to Niagara Falls.

Sanchez eventually turned herself in, and Dove was fired from the police department in November 2013. Within days, police crews were digging near the Mann Rec Center in Kensington and eventually found the jawbone.

Until that grim discovery, Torres was just a missing person, and possibly a suspect in Melanie’s death.
http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/does-dirty-detective-know-who-killed-melanie-colon/zsJobe---n79TvDBAt7f6/

hopefully we will be able to come together and organize around this problem and get more resolve for these women, youth, trans and cis women. better yet let's work on creating a society that doesn't judge us because we are women, because our skin color and hair texture is different, because of our sexual orientation. "what i do is my business, as long as i'm hurting no one but me" billie holiday.

when i got home that evening my mother paid tribute to my grandmother who pasted on may 21st some 50 years ago. i was then given a photo of my great grandmother sallie biddle, her mother was raped by slave master biddle and i feel that four generation ago accepted rape. we must end this mentality.

 the following saturday, i stayed home with my grandsons and watched democracy now on mind t.v. . buffy sainte-marie was on and i felt as if our ancestors were directing me to hear buffy sainte-marie message of us peacefully coming together. my documentary focus on human rights and that is the platform in which i will pursue in bringing us together. #sayhername turned out to be a refreshing day and evening, there was rain when we started the vigil. by time the sun went down and the moon came out, the wet pavements made the names shine as if we gave meaning and life to our falling sisters and brothers!!