Let's Talk About Sabina Nessa

CW: Death, murder, police brutality, trans death, Black death

It has taken a long time to write this piece.

Sabina Nessa, a 28 year old British Bangladeshi woman was murdered on a five minute walk to a pub, in Kidbrooke South East London. Her body was found 24 hours later.

There have been a lot of discussions around her actions before her death - where she was going and why. As an Asian woman, maybe it wasn’t discussed as clearly, but it seems she may have been walking to meet a first date with an old friend at the The Depot bar in Pegler Square at around 8:30 in the evening.

There’s a lot to be said about Sabina’s murder and much has been speculated already. Some of the articles and conversations have been about racial politics - because while Sabina was brutally murdered, the coverage of her case wasn’t as widespread as Sarah Everard, a woman killed by a police officer in March 2021.

While people make these comparisons and battle the political field of danger to women, Sabina becomes less of a person and more of a statistic. She becomes a woman of colour attacked, murdered and not discussed enough.

The media landscape has historically been consciously racist with its coverage on news, and it comes to no surprise for many that the outrage wasn’t as loud for Sabina. The discussions became about her race instead of her as a person, and this is what happens to women of colour. We become another statistic.

The problem is, the outrage over the lack of coverage is righteous - every woman and especially woman of colour, especially queer and/or trans people should get the same coverage as white people. There should be coverage, not for the sake of coverage, but because the police rely on the public’s help.

Since Sabina’s murder, a man has been arrested - Koci Selamaj, a 36 year old from Eastbourne in East Sussex.

We found out more details about her murder and it hurt a lot of people deeply to hear what happened. It’s the same feeling with every woman we discover has been murdered but I feel the difference within the Bangladeshi community was stronger. Their desperation in grief was heard loudly, but ignored by many.

As this is something we do know and acknowledge, there needs to be a way we report on women of colour who are killed, in a way that doesn’t diminish their humanity. Let’s not forget the many Black women and trans people become statistics, unreported and consciously ignored. This isn’t about white people having more coverage, because we know this - this is about how we make sure the voices of the marginalised are heard.

Sabina Nessa isn’t another woman of colour who was killed, she is Sabina Nessa. Every single woman of colour and trans person who is killed, is a name not a number. So, while we discuss the case, we can’t remove Sabina from it.

While we talk about the racial politics in media coverage and police brutality, we cannot forget her name.

We aren’t pitting these women against each other, with who has been given the spotlight - we are making sure that everyone is given the chance for justice. Because the horrible truth is these women are dead, brutally murdered by men and it means every woman out there remembers that they are not safe.

These women aren’t people we can discuss without pain in our hearts - every woman who has been killed. Every woman of colour who has been ignored, every Black woman who wasn’t given justice and every Black trans person who has been forgotten.

While Sarah Everard’s murder was about police injustice, so was Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, two Black women whose dead bodies the police took selfies with. Our outrage is vital - let’s make sure it’s as loud for everyone for the sake of justice. For the lives lost by the hands of men.

Let us recognise that women of colour are ignored and fight to make them heard.