On January 13, CeCe McDonald was finally released from St. Cloud Minnesota Correctional Facility. She had been held in a men’s prison for 19 months for defending herself against a group of racist, transphobic assailants. The many supporters of this brave woman are celebrating her early release.
The racist, sexist and transphobic “justice” system that imprisoned McDonald did not suddenly have a change of heart and decide to release her. Her strong network of support, and the continuous nationwide struggles for awareness organized in her name, are what we have to thank for her freedom today. McDonald’s supporters will continue to stand by her as she regains her rightful place in society with dignity and overcomes the remaining hurdles thrown at her by the state.
Cece McDonald’s case
In June 2011, CeCe McDonald, a young Black transgender student, had been walking to the grocery store with her friends—all people of color and LGBTQ or allied. On the way, they were harassed and followed by a police officer. Soon after, they walked by Schooner Tavern, where a group of white people stopped them and began to yell racist and anti-strans slurs., then moved in to assault them. One of the men, Dean Schmitz, had a swastika tattooed across his chest. McDonald and her friends attempted to escape, but were stopped when a woman in the group of bigots, Molly Flaherty, took a glass of alcohol and smashed it into McDonald’s face, leaving her bleeding profusely from many deep cuts. When her friends tried to defend her, the other bigots joined the assault. When McDonald attempted to leave the scene to tend to her wounds, she was followed by Schmitz. The struggle between them resulted in Schmitz being stabbed with a pair of scissors carried by McDonald.
Instead of charging her assailants with hate crimes, the “justice” system charged McDonald with second-degree murder, which was reduced to second-degree manslaughter when McDonald took a plea bargain. The judge, Daniel Moreno, ruled that Schmitz’s Nazi tattoo and his three previous convictions of violent crimes were not admissible as evidence of his violent disposition. McDonald had to relinquish her self-defense argument as well as a trial by jury. She was given 41 months in a men’s prison. Today, as a result of pressure from organizers and supporters, she is being released after having served 19 months of that sentence. Additionally, in April, under pressure from the community, Molly Flaherty was charged with third-degree assault—but no hate crime—and given six months of jail time, then given credit for 135 days served in jail. None of the other bigots were charged.
Justice for LGBTQ people
CeCe McDonald’s case is no outlier. Transgender women and women of color are among the most oppressed sectors of the working class, and the “justice” system makes every effort to remind them of that fact whenever they are attacked. Instead of punishing their attackers, courts across the country imprison people of color and transgender people for defending themselves.
A recent case tragically reminiscent of McDonald’s is that of Jewelyes Gutierrez, a bullied transgender high school student in Hercules, California who was attacked by three students and charged with battery for defending herself. None of her attackers were charged. A struggle for justice for Gutierrez is underway as valiant fighters for LGBTQ rights and women’s rights join together.
At the same time, police and courts look the other way when it comes to bringing perpetrators of anti-trans violence to justice. Every year, one in 12 transgender people are murdered. Of those victims, 83 percent are women of color. Most of their murderers never answer for their crimes.
In the case of Islan Nettles, a Black transgender New York student who was beaten to death just outside of a police station, investigators gave up very quickly, released Paris Wilson, the man who had assaulted her, and told people to “call if they have any information.
There are countless cases like these. The lives destroyed by unpunished bigots are rememebered every year across the country, and tragically, every year the list grows. It is only a new system, one that is not premised on bigotry and divisiveness, which can ensure equality and rights for transgender people, ending both their economic oppression and the widespread bigotry and violence against them.
