HoneySuckle Magazine
No Result
View All Result
  • Culture
  • Gender & Sexuality
  • Racial Politics
    • Black Lives Matter
    • Politics
  • Environment
    • Spirituality
      • Honey Drip
    • Health & Wellness
SHOP
Honey Suckle Magazine
  • Culture
  • Gender & Sexuality
  • Racial Politics
    • Black Lives Matter
    • Politics
  • Environment
    • Spirituality
      • Honey Drip
    • Health & Wellness
No Result
View All Result
Honey Suckle Magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home Racial Politics Black Lives Matter

Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau Must Remind Us That Black Women Deserve Better

September 4, 2020
Reading Time: 3min read
0
Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau Must Remind Us That Black Women Deserve Better

exc-5f0436e521c804731ba69eeb

RELATED POSTS

We Must March Until “Freedom Rings”

Hearing the Silent Cries

Flashback: Integrating Long Island

ADVERTISEMENT

In early June, 19-year-old activist and Black Lives Matter protester Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau was kidnapped and murdered.

On June 6, Salau posted a series of tweets about a sexual assault she had endured at the hands of a man who promised her a ride and a safe place to sleep. She detailed the location of the assault, along with identifying details of her abuser—this was the last time anyone heard from her.

The Tallahassee Police Department found her body, along with the body of 75-year-old Victoria Sims, on June 13. The man who confessed to kidnapping, assaulting and murdering Salau, Aaron Glee, 49, has since been charged with her murder.

There is a crucial lesson here to be learned. A story as harrowing as Salau’s demands the kind of space and attention that Black women deserve, and rarely get, while they’re alive.

Black women make up only around 7% of the U.S. population, Black girls and women together account for around 64,000 of all missing person cases. According to The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children, this is around 10% of all reported missing person cases.

The conversation begins there and must evolve to simultaneously address the trans Black women whose lives are written out of the story. Especially in the middle of a pandemic that is disproportionately harming Black bodies, we should call for revolutionary steps to advance the ways in which we show up for Black women.

Doing so means deep, possibly uncomfortable introspection: pulling up the roots of a system white people have benefitted from daily, and taking a look at the marks that determine the way we view our world.

I, as a white Latinx queer person, have been asking myself the difficult questions: How do I uplift the lives of Black women around me? Does that include queers and trans Black women? How do I protect their bodies? What will I do next? What do I demand of my white peers?

For the sake of Black women, unequivocally including Black trans women whose lives deserve to be cherished and taken care of, it’s time for the rest of us to get honest. We haven’t done enough, and there’s no way to be sure of what enough even looks like. There is much to do.

But the responsibility of where it starts falls upon the shoulders of folks benefiting from a system. We must ask ourselves now: How do I continue practicing allyship once the headlines aren’t running anymore? Who do we fight for when nobody’s watching? How do we advocate for the lives of Black women before they become hashtags?

Before her life was brutally taken, Oluwatoyin Salau showed up for her brothers and sisters, voice loud and strong, in the ways she could—without a sure place to rest her head, Salau made her way into spaces where she could advocate for her right to live.

We owe her life the same.

Tags: BLACKOluwatoyin "Toyin" Salau
ShareTweet
Alexis Perez

Alexis Perez

Related Posts

freedom-rings-2
Racial Politics

We Must March Until “Freedom Rings”

Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau Must Remind Us That Black Women Deserve Better
Black Lives Matter

Hearing the Silent Cries

Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau Must Remind Us That Black Women Deserve Better
Uncategorized

Flashback: Integrating Long Island

Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau Must Remind Us That Black Women Deserve Better
Black Lives Matter

 An Evening with Adekunle Gold is an Afro-Pop Dream

Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau Must Remind Us That Black Women Deserve Better
Black Lives Matter

There Is Healing in the Soil:  A Reflection on Being Black in Agriculture

walking-while-black
Black Lives Matter

Walking While Black: L.O.V.E is the Answer

Next Post
Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau Must Remind Us That Black Women Deserve Better

Boss Weed: Ballot Box by Higher Ground and Saints Joints Gets You Registered to Vote

Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau Must Remind Us That Black Women Deserve Better

Queer Voices, Queer Stories: An Interview with Pier Kids’ Director Elegance Bratton

Recommended Stories

Best of 2020 movie collage.

This Year’s Wrap Up: The Best Movies of 2020

Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau Must Remind Us That Black Women Deserve Better

Our Epilepsy Hero: Greg Grunberg on CBD Benefits

bodai-2-2

“Channeling Mind, Body and Spirit”: DJ BODAI’S Earthy and Ethereal Sound

Popular Stories

  • On Secret Sex Work, Cardi B, and Finding Liberty

    On Secret Sex Work, Cardi B, and Finding Liberty

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Unbound: King Noire on Kink, Porn, and Polyamory

    291 shares
    Share 291 Tweet 0
  • Illegal Cannabis is Unconstitutional: Hiller PC Takes Landmark Case to Supreme Court

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Michigan Department of Corrections Under Fire for Failing to Take Appropriate Measures to Combat Covid-19

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Power of Your Life Path Number

    14 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 0
Honeysuckle Magazine

Honeysuckle Magazine provides an outlet that emphasizes diverse perspectives and creative expression. Wise, yet provocative, we aim to normalize the discussions of taboo topics.

Recent Articles

  • “Proxy” Film Review: A Bleak Glimpse into Emotion as Occupation
  • CBD Gummies & Other Tricks to Pamper Your Valentine
  • Is Biden’s US Citizenship Bill a Turning Point for Immigration?

Download the Apps

Honeysuckle on Apple App Store
Honeysuckle on Google Play Store

About Honeysuckle

  • About Us
  • Team
  • Press & Awards

© Copyright 2020 Honeysuckle Magazine, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

No Result
View All Result
  • Culture
  • Gender & Sexuality
  • Racial Politics
  • Sustainability and Environment
    • Spirituality
    • Health & Wellness
  • Honeysuckle Studios
  • Honey Pot
  • Shop
  • Honey Drip

© Copyright 2020 Honeysuckle Magazine, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?