[Monica Roberts reading the names of Black transgender women who have been killed in 2019 in background]
JUJU CHANG (HOST): Joining activists like Monica Roberts, who says it all starts by saying their names.
MONICA ROBERTS (TRANSGRIOT, FOUNDING EDITOR): It is important to not only be respected in death, but by doing that respectful coverage it helps catch the people who are killing us.
CHANG: For 13 years, her blog TransGriot, an homage to African storytelling, has made it a mission to correct every news article and police report that misgenders trans women.
ROBERTS: I wanted to role model what a story looked like to the media that respectfully covered trans folks.
CHANG: Only then, she says, can the tragic stories of these women enter the mainstream consciousness.
ROBERTS: Claire Legato, 21, Brooklyn Lindsey, 32, Zoe Spears, Muhlaysia Booker.