Journalist Andy Ngo had the audacity to reveal actual facts and Twitter has jumped in to action to make sure that it never happens again.
Ngo has been temporarily suspended from Twitter, as reported by The Post Millennial, for violating its rules on “hateful conduct.” The lockout resulted from his Nov. 20 reply to Chelsea Clinton’s tweet on the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
She shared LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign’s message, stating, “Since 2013, more than 150 trans people have been murdered in the U.S., the majority Black transgender women. On #TDoR2019, we remember and honor the lives lost, hold their loved ones in our hearts and must commit to doing all we can to end this epidemic of violence and hate.”
Since 2013, more than 150 trans people have been murdered in the U.S., the majority Black transgender women. On #TDoR2019, we remember and honor the lives lost, hold their loved ones in our hearts and must commit to doing all we can to end this epidemic of violence and hate. https://t.co/c1pYPPmpxD
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) November 20, 2019
While Twitter did not specify which part of Ngo’s tweet constituted “hateful conduct,” a review of what he said demonstrates his statement was entirely factual. Forbes reported that in 2019 (data from Oct. 1, 2018, to present), 331 transgender people were killed worldwide. Of these murders, 130 occurred in Brazil and 63 in Mexico. The United States had 30 reported murders.
Of the murders occurring in the United States, only one, the murder of Paris Cameron, fits the description of a bias-motivated killing. Cameron was one of five victims in a Memorial Day mass shooting at a house party in Detroit. Devon Robinson committed the crime, also murdering two gay men and two other victims in an attempt to target LGBT people.
The United States is, in fact, one of the safest countries in the world for transgender people. From 2015 to 2019, the “Human Rights Campaign reported 118 transgender murders and after careful review, four cases fit a bias-motivation.” In 2018, the murder rate was 5.0 per 100,000, or 15,498 murders nationwide.
Clinton specifically mentioned the majority of U.S. trans murder victims are black transgender males, and this is true. Of the known murders between 2015 and 2019, 67 percent were black. But the point Ngo makes is also factually true: 92 percent of the known killers of these victims were also black.
Ngo mentioned this fact, pushing back on the continued narrative that transgender victims’ race must be a factor in motivating violence against them. But observing the race of both the victims and the killers, and considering the vast majority of victims knew their killers as sex partners, race itself becomes entirely irrelevant — which matters in this discussion.
Essentially, no part of Ngo’s tweet was factually incorrect or offensive. So why did Twitter consider it to violate its policy? A journalist stating verifiable facts on a public platform should not be at risk for removal from that platform due simply to a minority of people who take arbitrary offense.
