For Poe
I’ve been thinking a lot about the ways we remember people once they’re gone. Not in the abstract, but in the details. The way someone laughed, the way they moved through the world, the things they were hoping for. We lose that first. Then the world reduces a person to the moment of their death, or to the way others describe them, or to the headlines, if they got headlines at all.
Poe Black was 21 years old. He was a young trans man building a life in the desert community of Slab City. A place where people on the margins have historically gone to make their own world when the existing one didn’t fit. He was creative, gentle, curious. He was searching for belonging, like many of us do. And in May 2021, his body was found in a canal outside of Slab City. His case remains unsolved.
(Early research mapping. This board helps organize questions and patterns, not conclusions. This work is ongoing, careful, and community-centered.)
His story was misreported. His identity was mishandled. And then, like so many stories involving trans people, especially those living without stable housing or traditional support, it slowly disappeared. Not because it didn’t matter. But because the structures that are supposed to investigate, protect, and tell the truth often decide that some lives are too complicated, too inconvenient, or too far outside the center to pursue.
But Poe mattered. He still does.
I’ve started the second phase of a full investigation into Poe’s death. The kind that should have happened when he was first discovered, and in the months after. This work involves traveling to meet people who knew Poe, speaking with those who lived in Slab City at the time, accessing public records, reviewing archival material, and documenting not only the case itself, but the context that shaped it.
This is not sensationalized true crime. This is not an attempt to turn tragedy into content. This is trauma-informed, community-centered investigative work, grounded in care, respect, and the belief that every person deserves to be remembered with dignity.
To do this work, I need support.
I’ve launched a fund to cover:
Travel to multiple states to interview community members and witnesses
Safety support during fieldwork in remote and high-risk environments
Public records requests and archive access
Honorariums for community members who share their time and emotional labor
A research stipend so I can dedicate full-time attention to this work over the next few months
If you are able to donate, your contribution directly supports this investigation.
If you cannot donate, sharing the fundraiser is just as meaningful. Visibility matters, and it helps keep Poe’s story from being erased again.
Here is the fundraiser link: https://gofund.me/10ecf58d0
This is Phase Two. I have already spent the last few months doing interviews, reviewing evidence, and conducting endless research. There will be more to come. Including documentation, more interviews, and narrative work that does justice to Poe’s life and story. I’ll be sharing updates and reflections here as the investigation unfolds, with transparency and care.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for reading.
Thank you for witnessing.
Poe deserved a full investigation. Help me give him one now.
— TJ