redupnyc:

While most available reports focus on 43-year-old Darren Vann’s history of sexual violence and the possibility that he may have been preying on victims for 20 years, I wonder if this case will…

“We owe much more to these women, to the sex workers who face the prospect of outsider-approved violence with each passing work day. Whether they struggle with or embrace drug use, or if they love or resent their work. These brave souls deserve to be respected and when cut down tragically, remembered for who they were: Mothers, sisters, friends, aunts, homegirls, human beings. People who are worthy of care and compassion, who did not ask for your judgment in life and certainly don’t deserve it in death.

Sex work didn’t kill Afrikka, Anith and Teaira, Darren Vann did. And we mustn’t forget that. “