A Somali woman was remembered Saturday at the second annual March for Black Women in Lincoln Park.
The event was to raise awareness of the issues facing black women, especially transgendered black women, including alleged police brutality, deportation, sexual violence and domestic violence.
Among the victims being remembered was Muna Kuri, 36, who was found dead in the City Heights apartment she shared with her husband. Police were still searching for him. Her family believes it was a case of domestic violence.
“The most disrespected, neglected, unprotected woman in this world is the black woman,” Kuri’s cousin Hamdi Mohammed said at the rally before the march.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black women are killed nearly three times the rate of white women.
“We talk about police brutality, gender violence, it’s often black men who are in the spotlight,” Nyisha Green Washington, the march’s co-organizer, said. “But we have numerous, numerous of police custody brutality toward black women.”
The marchers had four demands: Challenge and acknowledge the violence, end the abuse, increase access to health care and have economic justice for low-income women.
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During the march, which started at the intersection of Euclid and Logan avenues and ended at Kennedy Neighborhood Park, marchers chanted, “Say her name, say her name. Muna Kuri, Muna Kuri.”
“We are fighting to get justice for her,” Mohammed said. “It’s been a really painful process. Muna was a really caring person who was a mentor to many young blacks through her daycare center she had.”
