The Murder of Sakia Gunn | True Crime

About this episode

This episode explores the murder of Sakia Gunn, a young Black lesbian teenager, and the social implications of her death.

Sakia Gunn was a 15 year old girl from Newark, New Jersey, whose life was taken in the early hours of the 11th of May 2003. This episode follows the case as we unpack the final moments of Sakia’s life, the confrontation at a Newark bus stop that changed everything, and the devastating moments that followed. We explore the investigation into her murder, the arrest of the lead suspect, and the legal questions surrounding hate crime legislation in the early 2000s. We also look at the wider social context of the case... what it meant to be a young Black lesbian teenager in 2003, the realities of navigating identity at a time of far less acceptance, and how Sakia’s death sparked outrage, activism, and lasting calls for change. But what happened to Sakia Gunn didn’t end at that bus stop… and the questions her death raised are still being asked more than 20 years later. Newark Pride Alliance, donate here: https://www.newarkpride.org/donate Sign up for the free REDRUM newsletter, full of all things true crime, as well as a run down of all the latest REDRUM cases. This will only ever come to you once a month... I'm no fan of spam. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/W79H87S Instagram…

People in this episode

Host: redrumpodcast

Topics covered

• murder case
• hate crime legislation
• identity
• activism
• social context
• true crime

Keywords

• Sakia Gunn
• true crime
• Newark
• hate crime
• activism
• identity
• murder investigation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Newark Pride Alliance

Places: Newark, New Jersey

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