What happened to the 20-year-old woman at the 16th Street BART station on April 1 could have been seen as just another late-night robbery. But after the two men took the woman’s cell phone, they continued to kick her as she lay on the ground, and made derogatory comments about her status as a transgender woman.
Eyewitness accounts resulted in the arrest of two men, Lionel Jackson and Maurice Perry. Also based on those eyewitness accounts, Jackson and Perry were charged with a hate crime in addition to suspicion of robbery, conspiracy and aggravated assault.
This past Friday, April 15, a crowd rallied in support of the woman and against those who attack people like her. Mission Loc@l was there.