Unfinished Lives

Remembering Sakia Gunn (1987-2003): A Special Comment on Her Birthday

Sakia LaTona Gunn, murdered by a male homophobe as she defended her friends from him. She was not yet 16 when she died.

Newark, New Jersey – On Saturday, Sakia LaTona Gunn would have been 25 years old–but instead, she was murdered by a homophobe on the make for young lesbians.  Sakia’s story never got the press attention other LGBTQ hate crimes murder victims did.  She was a young, black, poor girl from the wrong side of the Hudson River.  But among those who know her story, there is great power for change still waiting to be released until justice finally comes for Sakia–and for all queer youth caught in the national nightmare of violence against young people of color that just won’t seem to go away.

The narrative of her last night is chilling.  Sakia and her friends returned from a great day at the Chelsea Piers over in the Big Apple.  They laughed, joked, sneaked drinks, and held each other in a blissful freedom they did not know back home.  Late, late–or early, depending on how you keep time–Sakia and her friends stood waiting for a bus to pick them up at one of the busiest bus stops in Newark, when two older, much more powerful men drove by cat-calling at them, trolling for something young and vulnerable.  They recognized that the girls were Aggressives–gender non-conforming youth who lived the hip hop life as fully as they could.  And something snapped within Richard McCullough when his blandishments were rejected by Sakia.

When McCullough, much larger and stronger than any of the girls he attacked, moved against her friends, Sakia defended them with her life.  McCullough stabbed her in the chest with a switchblade knife, later lamely claiming that she had “run” onto the knife he somehow was wielding in self defense.  Neither the jury nor the judge bought his story, and he was convicted of manslaughter in a plea bargain and sentenced to 20 years (rather than face a murder charge and be subject to far more prison time).

Sakia’s funeral was huge.  Over 2,500 people attended the wake, though it was only slightly covered in the gay media, and virtually not at all in the mainstream press–a fact that has been controversial ever since her story broke.  Racism and sexism played their part in dampening the story, as did Sakia’s self identification as a lesbian Aggressive, effectively rendering her a minority within a minority.  A courageous filmmaker, Chas Bennet Brack, worked tirelessly to bring Sakia’s story to the big screen as a documentary.  “Dreams Deferred: The Sakia Gunn Film Project” became an award winner at film festivals around the country.  Sakia’s story became a subject of research, scholarship, and artistic interest, with plays, articles, and books dedicated to her memory.  Among them is the IPPY Award winning Unfinished Lives: Reviving the Memories of LGBTQ Hate Crimes Victims (Resource Publications, 2011), by Stephen V. Sprinkle, the founder and director of the Unfinished Lives Project.

Against the odds, Sakia Gunn intended on being a basketball star.  She found love and friendship in plenty during her woefully shortened life.  But her story persistently clamors for attention, crying out for justice for youth of color, queer people, and economically disadvantaged persons of all races and backgrounds.  Though she never wished it, she has become an ongoing inspiration–a brave young woman unafraid to be who she was in a hostile world, one who defended her friends.  What greater love can anyone have than that?

May 27, 2012 Posted by unfinishedlives | anti-LGBT hate crime murder, gay teens, Gender Variant Youth, GLBTQ, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Lesbian women, LGBTQ, New Jersey, Racism, Remembrances, Sakia Gunn Film Project, Social Justice Advocacy, stabbings | African Americans, anti-LGBT hate crime murder, gay teens, Gender Variant Youth, GLBTQ, Heterosexism and homophobia, Lesbians, LGBTQ, New Jersey, Remembrances, Sakia Gunn Film Project, Social Justice Advocacy, stabbings | 1 Comment