Nikki Matthews-Cunningham, the mother of Cameron Thompson, a Black teenager who was shot and killed in Alabama on Dec. 16, told the Associated Press that she believes her daughter was killed because she was transgender.
The 18-year-old girl was shot several times in the early morning hours on Monday, and her body was found later that afternoon, only a few blocks away from her home.
According to the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit, Captain Jack Kennedy, 37-year-old Matthews-Cunningham believes that Thompson was killed because of her gender identity.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Matthews-Cunningham said, “Of course it was a hate crime.” She continued to suggest that if a cisgender girl said something about the suspected shooting on social media, “He wouldn’t have lured her out of her home and killed her. But because my child was transgender, that’s why he did it. I hate this happened to her, all because of her choice of wanting to be who she was. That’s the only reason she is dead.”
Captain Kennedy said that Thompson knew the suspect and that she had posted about the suspected shooter’s sexual orientation on social media before her being killed.
Although the suspect is under 18 and his identity is being kept anonymous by authorities, he is being charged as an adult with Thompson’s murder.
As for Matthews-Cunningham’s belief that Thompson was a victim of a hate crime, legally, Alabama is one of only nine states that don’t recognize “sexual orientation, gender or gender identity in the legal classification of a hate crime” as opposed to race or religion.
Unfortunately, regardless of the narrowed hate crime definition in the state, the Human Rights Campaign reports that at least 36 transgender people have died from violence in just one year, and more than half of them were Black transgender women — drawing attention to the Dangerous intersectionality between race and gender identity.
The campaign’s Alabama director, Carmarion D. Anderson-Harvey, said of the incident, “Cameron’s death is not just a profound loss for her family and loved ones — it is a heartbreaking and unjust loss for the entire transgender community in Alabama and beyond. Her life mattered. Her dreams, her light, and her limitless potential were stolen far too soon. Law enforcement must conduct a thorough, transparent investigation and find some measure of justice for Cameron’s loved ones.”
Matthews-Cunningham told AP that Thompson was only just beginning her journey in life and that she was gearing up to move to New York City and go to college before her death.
“She was just starting her life,” Matthews-Cunningham said emotionally. “She struggled with people not wanting to accept her for who she was. But she was such a good person.”
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