Black Transgender Woman CeCe McDonald to be Housed in Male Prison - COLORLINESCeCe McDonald, the young black transgender woman who accepted a plea deal and pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter last month will be incarcerated by the state of Minnesota as a male. McDonald was arrested after she stabbed a white male who was part of a group of that physically and verbally attacked her with transgender and racial slurs.
The plea agreement calls for a sentence of three years and five months in prison, according to the Star Tribune.
For those who don't know, CeCe's prosecution is an exceptional case study in how poorly the criminal justice system in the US serves people of color and queer individuals. If you think Trayvon Martin's case was exemplar of systematized prejudice, here's a bit of history on CeCe:
Background « Support CeCe!There are varied accounts of what happened on June 5 [2011], but CeCe and the people she was with all agree on the following details. Around 12:30 am, CeCe was walking to the grocery store with some friends, all of them young, African American, and either queer or allied. As they passed a local bar, the Schooner Tavern, a group of older, white people who were standing outside the bar’s side door began hurling racist and transphobic slurs at them, without provocation. They called CeCe and her friends ‘faggots,’ ‘******s,’ and ‘chicks with dicks,’ and suggested that CeCe was ‘dressed as a woman’ in order to ‘rape’ Dean Schmitz, one of the attackers. When CeCe approached the group and told them that her crew would not tolerate hate speech, one of the women said, “I’ll take you bitches on,” and then smashed her glass into CeCe’s face. She punctured CeCe’s cheek all the way through, lacerating her salivary gland. A fight ensued, during which one of the attackers, Dean Schmitz, was fatally stabbed.
The only person arrested that night was CeCe. She is now being falsely accused of murder.
(The link contains more regarding her treatment after being incarcerated and other details.)
So basically, CeCe is being put in prison for not getting killed by a bunch of hostile cis scum assholes. Good job America. As a genderqueer trans person, this whole case makes me really angry and sad. Supporters have been lobbying for CeCe to be granted an alternative sentence of house arrest as incarceration in a male prison puts her at major risk for sexual abuse (as well as invalidating her gender), so we'll see. Here's hoping.
Relevant links:
Updates on the CeCe McDonald case « Stuff Queer People Need To Know
planetransgender: CeCe McDonald to be Sentenced For Not Being Murdered: INjustice Done
cece mcdonald | Tumblr