The family of Cashay Henderson, a 31-year-old transgender woman who was murdered in Milwaukee in February, is not letting up their call for justice.
At a press conference held at Diverse and Resilient, a nonprofit working on LGBTQ issues in Wisconsin, her sister Ada Henderson spoke with Chloë Cheyenne, the founder of COMMUNITYx.
“She was my only sibling,” Ada said through tears.
COMMUNITYx has now set up a website, Justice4Cashay.com, that aims to keep her memory alive and continue the call for justice in her case. There is also a place to donate to Diverse and Resilient in her honor.
“All across this country, we are seeing an attack on trans lives,” Cheyenne said. “And quite frankly, we’re sick of it.”
Henderson’s cousins first reached out to Cheyenne for her organization’s support, and the 33-year-old founder of COMMUNITYx worked with them and later, Ada Henderson, to establish the website and hold the press conference on the eve of the first major milestone in the criminal case related to Henderson’s killing.
Cordell Howze was out on parole for one day before he allegedly shot and killed Henderson in her apartment. The apartment was then lit on fire in an attempt to cover up her death. Howze will appear in Milwaukee County Court on Thursday, June 15, for his arraignment on homicide and weapons charges.
Henderson was the third transgender woman killed in Milwaukee within a span of nine months – and the sixth trans woman killed this year in the United States.
“Black trans people deserve to live,” Cheyenne said. “Black trans women deserve to live.”
Henderson’s family wants Howze charged with a hate crime – and Ada Henderson plans to be present at his arraignment after driving to Milwaukee from her home in Atlanta, Georgia.
That’s not the only problem that the family has with the investigation. While Howze was arrested within weeks of Henderson’s killing, the initial communications from Milwaukee police misgendered her.
“Something as simple as that sends a message to the trans community that the systems in place that are designed to support them or that are here for them should they experience something like this do not see them as full human beings, as the trans individuals that they are,” said Chris Allen, President and CEO of Diverse and Resilient.
Sgt. Guadalupe Velasquez is the LGBTQ Liaison with the Milwaukee Police Department, and she says MPD is working to change the procedures that lead to this. MPD has also issued an apology regarding the misgendering in Henderson’s case.
 “We understand this is not the right way to maybe possibly do this right now and we’ll continue to work to improve those the way our guidelines are,” she told our news partners at TMJ4 News.
Beyond the criminal case, Henderson’s family is hoping that people will donate to the fundraiser in honor of Cashay’s memory in order to benefit the causes she felt strongly about during her life.
“We have committed that anything we receive through this campaign will be donated to our trans programming,” said Allen. “Programming that provides emergency financial support to individuals who are experiencing violence or experiencing housing instability.”
The hope of Cheyenne, Allen, and the Hendersons is that situations like what happened to Cashay never happen again.
“She was a great person,” Ada said. “She was very kind, very loving, and she didn’t deserve this.”
