Member-only story
Black Trans Woman Diamond Jackson-McDonald, 27, Murdered in Philadelphia on Thanksgiving
Pennsylvania was home to the most recent victim of anti-transgender violence terrorizing our nation. Her name was Diamond Jackson-McDonald. She was 27-years-old when she was murdered on Thanksgiving. Diamond was a Black trans woman.
Shahere “Diamond” Jackson-McDonald was found shot to death inside her mother’s apartment on the 400 block of Manheim Street in the city’s Germantown neighborhood on the morning of November 24. Investigators said the door to the apartment was open and there were no obvious signs of forced entry. Jackson-McDonald was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene.
Diamond went to Simon Gratz High School. Her friends describe her as “a very easygoing loving person She really was the life of the party.” Her life was touched by tragedy — she lost her brother in August. And she was close to another Black trans woman in Philadelphia murdered in 2020, Dominique Rem’mie Fells who was also 27 at the time of her death. In January 2022, her family was devastated by the loss of 12 members, 9 children and 3 adults, after a fire.
And now her friends and family must bury Diamond. How do you endure so much? You take a year of horrible loss, add a violent unexplained death on a holiday so entire families are gutted and destroyed…
