The Lives and Deaths of Tony McDade and Malik Jackson
McDade and Jacksonâs tragically intertwined lives tell the story of a society that feeds on and maintains oppression through punishment, violence, and isolation. They also show us a way out. Malik Jackson and Tony McDade, illustrated by Richard A. Chance.
On the morning of May 27, 2020, two days after George Floydâs murder prompted an uprising against anti-Black state violence, thirty-eight-year-old Tony McDade was shot and killed by a Tallahassee police officer, after McDade fatally stabbed twenty-one-year-old Malik Jackson.
McDadeâs name rang out at protests across the United States last summer. He was even invoked by former President Barack Obama. McDade was a trans man, and LGBTQ+ activists connected his death to those of other trans victims. Still, his name faded in comparison with other victims of police violence like Floyd and Breonna Taylor.