Oluwatoyin Salau is a 19-year-old ‘Black Lives Matter’ activist who was killed in Tallahassee, Florida. On social media, people spread the news on June 15, 2020, that Salau had been found dead. The term ‘RIP Toyin’ and ‘Justice For Toyin’ have been trending on Twitter. However, the Tallahassee police have not updated their releases and are still calling her a missing person. They announced that they found two bodies while investigating a missing person’s case, but they didn’t name the victims or specify the case.
Here are 5 things you should know about Oluwatoyin Salau:
1. Oluwatoyin was a social and human rights activist: She wrote about race, police, and other issues on her social media page. She also joined ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests in Florida, lending her voice to the cause. She fought for justice for the trans men who were murdered saying, ‘I don’t want their names gone in vain’.
2. She wrote about being sexually assaulted the day she went missing: On June 6, 2020, on her Twitter page, just hours before she disappeared, Salau wrote a series of disturbing tweets. She explained how she was molested by a black man (disguised as a man of God) who had offered her a ride and a place to sleep.
‘Anyways I was molested in Tallahassee, Florida by a black man this morning at 5:30 on Richview and Park Ave. The man offered to give me a ride to find someplace to sleep and recollect my belongings from a church I refuged to a couple of days back to escape unjust living conditions. He came disguised as a man of God and ended up picking me up from nearby Saxon Street,’ she said.
She also wrote about a previous assault in March tweeting, ‘I told him about a sexual assault situation that happened to me in March. It involved Ivan, a 32-year-old Ghanaian man, who currently schools at FAMU and lives at 211 Jakes and Patterson (I am currently 19 years old) who tried to force me to give him oral sex and then continued to harass me through text and knocking at my door for days.’
3. Tallahassee Police declared her missing on June 9, 2020: Tallahassee Police classified Salau as a “missing adult”. They gave her name as Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau. A missing person’s poster released by the police describes her as ‘19, 5 foot 7 inches tall, weighs 120 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes’. The post says, ‘Salau was last seen on June 6, 2020, in the area of Orange Avenue and Wahnish Way in Tallahassee.’
4. Before her death, she was in search of a safe place: According to tweets from Toyin, she had been seeking refuge at a church. She said that she had to leave her previous living space to ‘escape unjust living conditions’. A Twitter user claims that Toyin had been getting abused. She tweeted, ‘Toyin was abused and taken advantage of her whole life and she STILL had the energy to fight for what was RIGHT. She was an inspiration and she deserved better.’
5. A relief fund was created for Toyin before her body was found: After she went missing, a GoFundMe account was opened by a friend to pool resources for her. The GoFundMe page reads, ‘The funds gathered will be allocated directly to Toyin to be used at her discretion for resources she may need to feel safe, secure, and supported when she is found, and to assist financially in her healing process’.
Oluwatoyin Salau was a young black woman interested in helping others and determined to be heard. Her death is a big blow to the black community and she will never be forgotten.
