Asia Jynaé Harmason-Foster (22)
1998 - November 20, 2020
Asia was born in Houston. She was a black transgender woman and a community advocate. She attended weekly meetings at LGBTQ organization called Montrose Grace Place. Asia was passionate about fine cars, computers, volunteering and advocating for transgender rights. Asia was killed in Houston, Texas on November 20, 2020 as the result of a shooting. November 20 is Transgender Day of Rememberance (TDOR). It was started in 1999 by a transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. She left behind a large family, including her parents, grandparents, a sister, brother, cousins, aunts, uncles, other relatives and friends.People wept, hugged and bowed their heads at the noon funeral as they commemorated the life of a strong, confident and passionate young woman. During the service, the pastor read an excerpt from Alice Walker’s poem, “Hope is a Woman Who Has Lost Her Fear”. Her death is believed to be at least the 38th violent death of a transgender or gender non-conforming person in 2020 in the States. We say “at least” because too often these deaths go unreported—or misreported.