Rodney Whitaker in Memphis, TN, Part 2

Memphis, TN - Tears well up in Claudia Blair's eyes when she thinks about her 20 year-old cousin, Rodney Whitaker, as a child.

"I used to change his diapers," she says. "He was a good child. How all this ended up...abandoned building, clothes everywhere, condoms...he didn't have to die like that. He didn't."

Claudia and her 19 year-old daughter Porshia, say whoever killed Rodney, killed a young man with a heart of gold. A young man, they say, whose family always suspected he was gay.

"Yeah, because we would do cheerleading moves together," says Porshia. "And once when I went over there, Bring It On had just come out and he knew the moves better than the girls in the movie. So I knew he would be different."

Porshia and her mom did not know until after Rodney was found shot to death behind a Southeast Memphis daycare on Tuesday, July 1, 2008, in a parking lot littered with used condoms, that he'd been turning tricks for money since he was 16. They also didn't know he was a transgender.

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=fa1a880a-fc1...

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• hate
• crime
• Rodney
• Whitaker
• Memphis
• Tennessee
• TN

[andria23mem]

@prettyerica901 thnks erica i miss ebony so much.......sad,but i'll never 4get ebony nor tiffany(in dis same vid)

[prettyerica901]

he was a beautiful transgender. he still didnt deserve what happened to him..may god bless u and ur fam...

[andria23mem]

thank u all for showin your concerns for ebony r.i.p. i will never forget u

[traceNY]

i'm sorry for your loss... they will be missed and are in a better place now... this world is hard for trans people and it is so sad the way the police just don't care... we have to do something!!

[AriesRenard]

nah it aint. ion hate nobody. each his own. i t was wrong though. real talk

[sweetismami28]

I agree but those guys know trans exist murder is'nt the answer!

[andria23mem]

tiffan berr was by bestfriend and to see this about her and ebony(whom was very close to use) hurts me so much.imiss dem both.tiffany was 21 and i found m best friend dead in my apt.they caled my hotel room and woke me about ebony.may they rest in peace.

[AriesRenard]

ay i live n memphis kinfolk. u can call this a hate crime if u want but u gotta know whut da news aint tellin u 1st b4 u decide.Yea dat mane wus a tranny or wuteva. Luked just like a real girl. I guess das why she decided she could fool dudes on da beat the real girls walk. a trick picked her up & she aint tell him. Of course dat shit wasnt rite but the girls need 2 stop hoin & get a real job 1st off. 2nd u cant b foolin no dude into thinkin u sum u aint cuz dis is wut will happen

[malaysia318]

this is a sad story.living the life of a transgendered woman is very difficult because a lot of people are close minded when it comes to topics like transsexuals.Me being a a transgendered woman i know how hard it is out there,because this is a very cruel worl to woman like myself.