Day 10 - Last Words: Mya Hall

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Mya Hall, unknown - 2016

The morning of March 30, 2016, transgender sex workers Mya Hall and Brittany Flemming were driving a stolen Ford Escape through Baltimore, Maryland. Hall made an errant turn that led to an entrance of the National Security Agency at Fort Meade. She drove the car through NSA gates as police officials began shooting into the vehicle.

The car accelerated and collided with a police cruiser. Fleming was wounded in the incident. Mya Hall was killed. Her last words are unknown.

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In the early 1970s James Baldwin gave a speech in Britain to protest Black children being put into "subnormal" schools. A woman from the crowd cried out, and Baldwin responded to the crowd with these words:

"Let me say one thing: that woman’s voice, that woman’s voice is what you have to hear."

-James Baldwin, “Speech from the Soledad Rally,” 1971

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God, our lives are so crowded with so many things. Even #BlackLivesMatter becomes crowded, and we cannot always hear the names of your precious children.

So many dead.

So much violence.

Silence in us the noise of the crowd. Help us to hear the voices of the ones who go unheard, even as they cry out.

Let us whisper their names on our lips.

Mya Hall, your beloved, dead too soon.

Have mercy on us, O Lord. Amen.