Serenity Hollis, a 24-year-old Black trans woman, was murdered in Albany, Georgia on Saturday, May 8, 2021. Her family believes it may have been a hate crime and local police aren’t ruling that out.
Serenity was found with fatal gunshot injuries in the 700 block of West Highland Avenue in Albany, a Georgian town about 150 miles from Atlanta. The investigation is ongoing.
Serenity was born in Orlando, Florida then moved to Birmingham and relocated to Albany in 2019. She recently celebrated her birthday on February 24. She had just moved into her first apartment in December and later that month started working at Sanderson Farms. While she mentioned some non-specific harassment in the workplace, she seemed to be pleased with her work situation.
Serenity’s sister Sara told
FOX31 news that she had previously had trouble with violence in this area. Note: deadnaming and misgendering at the link.
“It’s a high crime area that definitely needs to be cleaned up. Its some things that have to be changed over in that area. Before my [sibling] was actually killed maybe two and a half years ago my [sibling] was stabbed multiple times at the House of Jazz,” Sara said. “So this was not the first time that something like this has happened to them. I’m not sure whether its just a high crime area or a high rate of prostitution or drugs.”
Serenity is the twenty-seventh trans, nonbinary or gender nonconforming person reported killed in 2021. Twenty-five of these neighbors have been BIPOC. She is the 19th victim who identified as Black. In total, there have been twenty-seven murders or suspicious deaths in the first 122 days of 2021, an average of one death every 4,8 days. 17 of these victims were under the age of 30. So far. That we know of as many deaths go unreported or unacknowledged. Note – in this summary, I include suspicious deaths that as you can read below are often later confirmed homicides. Rest in power, Serenity. Your life was cut short far too soon. Your family loves you so much and continue to advocate for justice in your name. I am so sorry you did not get to celebrate another birthday. I am sorry we didn’t create a safer world for you. May your memory be a revolution.
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