Trinece Robinson describes her childhood as a road map of missing years, broken promises, and violence. She can’t vividly describe the emotional weight of growing up in an abusive household. She can, however, recall how old she was when the lights first went out in her home. Stories like these illustrate the patterns leading to the recent killings of Black women.

“I don’t remember most of my childhood because of how traumatic it was,” the 26-year-old said. But the abuse at the hands of her father haunts her. Her mother got the brunt of it as Robinson and her siblings watched.

Triggered by the murders of Black women this month alone, she is speaking out in hopes of addressing what she and others call a silent public health crisis impacting Black women: Black femicide. Coverage of Virginia dentist Cerina Fairfax’s murder is part of a larger pattern of Black women murder victims being erased in their own tragedies, women’s advocates and domestic violence researchers say. Headlines about Fairfax’s husband overshadowed who she was and the trauma her children will endure.

After many years of silence, Robinson began opening up about being a survivor of domestic violence and motivated by the underreported murders of Black women in recent years.

“It’s just very hard and it kind of frustrates me because I feel like, although I remember the good parts of my childhood, I hate the fact that I can’t remember so many important details … and I feel guilty,” Robinson added.

While researchers typically define femicide as the murder of women motivated by their gender or gender-related issues, experts argue that the recent killings of Black women and Black femicide, a phrase coined by activist Rosa Page, is a bit more nuanced.

Shatema Threadcraft, associate professor of gender and sexuality studies at Vanderbilt University, defines femicide as “misogynistic murder,” violence driven not solely by gender, but by gender-based violence facilitated by structural racism.

“It can be both active and passive,” Threadcraft said, regarding the recent killings of Black women. “So one is intentional killings and the other is deaths of neglect, like maternal mortality and lack of abortion access.”

Read the full article about femicide against Black women by Jonathan Franklin at Capital B News.