Commentary
Another trial that Minnesotans should be watching
by Haddayr Copley-WoodsHaddayr Copley-Woods, Minneapolis, is a copywriter, blogger and mother. She is a source in MPR News' Public Insight Network.
When I reached the courthouse the morning Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald was supposed to have her pre-trial hearing on a charge of second-degree murder, I saw news trucks lined up at the curb.
Wow, I said to myself. Someone is finally paying attention to CeCe McDonald. I was so naive.
They were there for the Amy Senser trial, which started that day. They were continuing their endless coverage of a rich white woman who allegedly struck and killed an innocent pedestrian and drove away.
The level of media interest is very different when it comes to a young, poor, black transgender woman who gets involved in a desperate midnight fight over in my part of town.
Perhaps, in the yawning media silence regarding this case, you haven't heard of CeCe McDonald. Last June, CeCe and a few of her friends had a clash with white bar patrons who reportedly hurled racist and transgender-phobic insults at them. Somebody bashed McDonald's face with a broken bottle, lacerating her salivary gland. And, in the struggle, one man suffered a fatal stab wound.
This is a complicated story; McDonald is pleading self-defense. The second-degree murder charge suggests that the authorities think they've got it figured out, but many of McDonald's friends say they've got it wrong.
These are people who not only know McDonald — they know the facts about the violence and harassment transgender people face. Nearly half of them report having been violently assaulted. One recent study found that among black transgender people, nearly half had been harassed and more than a quarter had been sexually or physically assaulted — and that's just at work.
This story offers a window into the kind of violence transgender people face and what might happen to them if they try to fight back. It may also offer a look at complicated legal issues. Despite calls from all over the world, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman is sticking to his decision to charge her. Perhaps the facts are more complicated than they seem.
This alone should make the case important to cover. But more than that, we should be having a national conversation about the treatment transgender people get from individuals, the police and our legal system. We should be discussing this case at the kitchen table, around the water cooler. It should matter.
But those media trucks didn't crowd around the government center to cover CeCe McDonald. As the major media in town give us saturation coverage of Amy Senser, only a handful have shown any interest in McDonald.
But her case matters. She matters. The transgender community matters. And we should all be paying close attention to how the justice system treats this case.
Comments (8)
Thank you for your thoughtful commentary, Haddayr. As a transgender woman, I truly appreciate that you have chosen to speak out publicly in support of CeCe and the rest of us.
As a young transgender person, it's an incredible relief to hear thoughtful, impassioned, explicitly pro-trans coverage of CeCe from somewhere far outside of the radical queer/trans blogosphere, which is important but has a limited audience.
Some major facts were left out, though:
-CeCe has been kept in long-term solitary confinement "for her own safety," despite repeated requests to be put in general -population. Long-term solitary is widely considered torture due to its tendency to inflict (sometimes quite heavy) mental illness.
-At least one of the assailants is reported to be a known white supremacist with a swastika tattoo.
-Only CeCe was arrested and charged; the assailants weren't even arrested.
Another fact that was left out: Cece confronted them, not the other way around. She had to walk across the street to confront someone that called her names. That made her the aggressor. She pulled a weapon, and stabbed someone to death. That TG people are often harassed is no excuse for stabbing someone. Like the Trayvonn Martin incident, this is something that could have been avoided if only people would not become aggressive. Like Zimmerman, there is reasonable evidence that this was murder.
if it's justice you want, then let her prove her innocence in a court. someone got killed. having the charges dropped is no form of justice for anyone. innocence isn't proven by a dead person's alleged tattoos or generalized statistics about the trans lifestyle. nor are those facts. criminal records are facts. everyone does has access to : http://www.mncourts.gov/default.aspx?page=1927 feel free to look up both McDonald and Schmitz's prior criminal records if it's facts you are after.
I agree that we should not jump to conclusions in this case before all evidence is available. This is definitely a trail that merits public attention.
But one quibble with dddoofus. In our country, defendants don't have to prove innocence. Prosecutors need to prove guilt. That's the way it should be.
This is a great article shedding light on an important case concerning a defendant who will face daunting bias because of her gender identity. Thank you for writing about it.
Thank you for such a wonderfully written article on an important subject. I think this trial deserves more coverage as trans people are subject to harrassment and intimidation too often. I hope some medium will cover it.
This trial is definitely a trail that merits public attention.
Thank you for pointing out the lack of coverage. Nevertheless, I would like to see some more coverage discussing which motions were granted and denied on Monday (http://www.prettyqueer.com/cece/page/2/). I would like to see MPR speaking up on why there is no "jury of your peers" when it comes to some communities and identities. If this case had involved a white, non-trans woman of the same age, being chased down the street by a drunken black man in his 40s, after having glass smashed on her face, we all know she would not be in jail. Why have most media avoided this story? Why did Freeman drop the charges in similar cases? Why did the judge speak to CeCe the way he did yesterday? Would he have said the same thing to his daughter/mother/sister in the same circumstances? There are so many issues in this case that people do not want to talk about. Apparently, when we survive, it is harder to accept that we might also treasure our lives, as much as non-trans, white folks. It is white and cis privilege to believe that CeCe could have had a fair trial after she faced injustice at every turn within the system. I would love if MPR was courageous enough to talk about these issues. Thanks.
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