Vigil planned for trans woman killed in Augusta, city identified as anti-trans hotspot

Michelle Jordan still texts her daughter every day, hoping for a reply. She knows her daughter was found  slain over a week ago at an Augusta hotel.

"I text her phone hoping that she will text me back," Jordan said. "I have not been able to sleep since my baby's been gone because I can't call her and talk to her."

Keshia Chanel Geter, a 26-year-old transgender woman, was found shot to death at the Knights Inn Hotel on Boy Scout Road in Augusta on July 20.

"She was funny, vibrant and very confident," Jordan said. "She would not ask anybody for anything. She always wanted to be the one to help other people. Just sweet and wonderful."

Geter is the third transgender or gender nonconforming person killed in Augusta over the last three years. Scottlyn DeVore, a 51-year-old nonconforming person, was found dead in Augusta on March 30, 2020. Felycya Harris, a 33-year-old transgender woman, was found shot dead at an Augusta park on Oct. 3, 2020.

According to hate crime statistics published by the FBI, there were 11,472 victims of hate crimes in 2020. Of those killed in hate crimes, 244 were victims of anti-transgender bias, according to the report.

Augusta a hotspot for violence against transgender people

Julie Callahan, a retired police officer and member of The Transgender Community of Police & Sheriffs organization, said Augusta has been identified as a hotspot for violence against transgender people.

Most transgender homicides occur in large cities – such as Dallas and Chicago, according to Callahan.

From 2017 to 2020, advocates tracked nine murders of trans and non-binary people in New York, according to regional reports from the Transgender Law Center. Within that same three year period, advocates tracked 14 murders of trans and non-binary people in Texas.

"We have certain hotspots and Augusta is one of them," Callahan said. "There are certain cities where we have repeat occurrences and there are certain places in the South where they occur more often."

Jaquarie Allen, 22, is charged with murder and with possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in Geter's death. Additional charges may be forthcoming, according to Sgt. Caleb Lee with the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.

"When I saw [Allen was arrested], I cried," Jordan said. "I cried because I'm a mother and I have raised a lot of kids. … I forgive that young man – I have to, because two wrongs don't make a right, and I don't want a life for a life – but I do want justice for my baby."

Jordan said she believes her daughter's homicide was a hate crime, but the Richmond County Sheriff's Office has not specified the specific charges that may be coming.

"It makes me angry because God is love and God is not hate," Jordan said. "We all should respect each individual."

So far in 2022, 21 transgender people have been fatally shot or killed by other violent means, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization. HRC records also indicate Black transgender women are disproportionately the victims of fatal violence.

Geter was very well known in the Augusta LGBTQ community and attended a number of Augusta Pride events, according to Jordan. Although Geter transitioned in high school, Jordan said she still worried about her daughter's safety.

"I worried because I knew how cruel the world is," she said. "I worried about my baby's safety and people picking on her or bothering her. She built up this shield and she became very confident to stop caring about what other people thought. But sometimes my baby talked about committing suicide. She dealt with a lot, but nobody knew because she looked so strong."

The Georgia chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots networks, released a statement following Geter's death.

"Keshia was an inspiration to others and an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community,” said Page Rast, a volunteer with the Georgia chapter of Moms Demand Action. “She should still be alive today. Keshia’s death is a solemn reminder of the violence transgender and gender nonconforming people face in our country everyday."

There was a 93% increase in tracked transgender homicides from 2017 to 2021 (from 29 incidents in 2017 to 56 incidents in 2021), according to Moms Demand Action. Of those homicides, nearly three quarters of the victims were killed with a gun and 73% of transgenders killed with a gun were Black women.

Vigil planned in honor of transgender people killed in Augusta

Local LGBTQ advocates Walter Santiago and Kevin de l'Aigle have planned a vigil in honor of Geter on Sunday, July 31, at 7:30 p.m. in downtown Augusta.

"This program will also serve as a public service initiative against hate crimes and murder of our trans sisters, brothers, and gender nonconforming siblings," according to the Facebook event page.

Santiago, who has participated in a number of protests, said having a call to action and mobilizing is important.

"Having an arena for representation and mourning of someone in a matter like this will bring the masses," Santiago said. "It also calls for a matrix of emotions – you're gonna have people who are coming with fury and you're gonna have people who are coming with mourning because maybe they can relate to this or maybe they are an ally at heart."

De I'Aigle, who met Geter about a month ago during Pride in Augusta, said she was a beautiful person and "had a real light."

"I think just the fact that we're having this discussion on the public square in Augusta, Georgia, speaks to how far we've come and how far we still have to go," he said. "I grew up here and it starts at the street level with the name calling and the bullying. It leads people to run away and leads people into desperate situations and that's something that we have to put a stop to."

The program will begin with a poetry reading and opening remarks from trans and queer members of the community and will be followed by a prayer, a statement from Geter's mother, and a candlelight moment of silence.

"My baby's not not here to talk for herself and I want to be a voice because it's wrong the way they're treating transgenders, as if they're not a person," Jordan said. "We are all human beings ... Nobody wants to be a voice or stand up. As a world, we need to come together and just say that hate is wrong, judging people for who they are is wrong."

Geter's family has created a GoFundMe, asking for assistance with burial expenses.

"We would love to have the community engaged in terms of the GoFundMe and helping out with the funeral expenses," Santiago said. "None of this was expected and there's no way we can make this right, but maybe we can pay this forward and show that we're committed to helping the family and just somehow making the situation better and showing some love."

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Transgender woman killed in Augusta to be remembered at vigil