[FlyingBrickAnnouncements] Endorse the Campaign to Free CeCe McDonald!

[Nathan Stickel]

Hey y'all, I really think the Flying Brick should endorse this! Look it
over, and let me know what ya think.

“DO THIS.

“Become an Endorser ** SAMPLE LETTER ** please circulate widely:

“CeCe’s Committee is working on getting different people and organizations
to stand is solidarity with CeCe by either signing on to the letter
provided at the end of this e-mail or creating one of your own. Please read
on and let me know if this is something you or any and all organizations
you are associated with can do.

“Early this past summer, a young, African-American, transgender woman
survived a violent attack motivated by racism and transphobia in the heart
of South Minneapolis. After one of the attackers was stabbed and bled to
death at the scene, Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald now stands falsely accused of
two counts of felony murder. First the target of a racist, transphobic
assault and since, the hostage of a legal system incapable of fairly
serving transgender people and people of color, CeCe needs support from the
community in order to achieve justice. Your organization’s endorsement of a
letter of support calling for the charges against CeCe to be dropped could
free CeCe and end this tragedy.

“Many people are unfamiliar with what happened to CeCe that night and the
extent of the oppression she continues to face in the criminal legal
system. While there are varied accounts of what happened that night, CeCe
and her companions all agree on the following details. Late at night, CeCe
was walking to the grocery store with some friends, all young,
African-American, and queer or allied. As they passed a local bar, a group
of older, white people standing outside the bar’s side door started hurling
racist and transphobic slurs at them without provocation. One of the white
women smashed her glass into CeCe’s face, puncturing her cheek all the way
through and lacerating her salivary gland. During the incident, one of the
attackers, Dean Schmitz, was fatally stabbed.

“Even though CeCe was the subject of an utterly unprovoked and
unjustifiable assault, she was the only person arrested that tragic night.
Instead of receiving adequate medical attention for her injuries, she was
interrogated for hours before being placed in solitary confinement, where
she stayed for her first month in jail, and was consistently denied
adequate further medical care. Although she was released on bond after a
few months, she was recently taken back into custody because of allegations
that she violated the terms of her conditional release. Despite this new
hurdle, CeCe continues to prepare for trial, which is currently set for
April 30th, and her supporters across the nation and throughout the world
continue to demand that the charges be dropped and the injustices against
her be stopped.

“Please, join with CeCe and her supporters to bring an end to this tragic
injustice, which began months ago with an unprovoked hate crime that
resulted in the lamentable death of Dean Schmitz and has only continued to
worsen as she has been denied the opportunity to pursue her education,
heal, and move on with her life.

Your organization’s endorsement of a letter of support for CeCe and
insistence that Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman drop the charges
against her are equally essential to achieving justice for CeCe and to
creating a Minneapolis that is safe for trans people of color and all other
residents. We have included the letter we are asking you to sign on to,
below, but we also encourage its use as a guide for creating a statement
that more specifically represents your organization’s values and commitment
to CeCe, justice for her, and justice for all trans people of color.

“Please send us your endorsement, or let us know if you would prefer to
proceed with an individual letter of support. Your endorsement, as well as
any questions, can be directed to Billy Navarro Jr., mntranspr at gmail.com.

“As an entirely volunteer-run support committee, we understand the
importance of coming together as a community to stand for justice and
demand an end to racism and transphobia. As such, we appreciate the
opportunity to work with you and the rest of CeCe’s supporters across the
globe in the struggle to end oppression against CeCe and other trans people.

“Thank you,

“The CeCe McDonald Support Committee”

+++++++++

SAMPLE LETTER:

Mr. Michael Freeman
Hennepin County Attorney
C-2000 Government Center
300 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55487

Mr. Freeman,

We, the groups and individuals listed below, are aware of the hate crime
that was committed against Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald and her friends on
June 5th, 2011, and of the developments in her case in the months since. As
organizations committed to justice, we are standing with Ms. McDonald and
her sizable support community in demanding the charges against her be
dropped.

We are also aware that your office has stated its commitment to pursuing
justice in this case. Justice demands that the charges against Ms.
McDonald, the victim in an unprovoked attack, be dropped, so that she may
recover, return to school and go on with her life. The racism and
transphobia that fueled the hate crime against Ms. McDonald and her friends
are not acceptable to our community or on Minneapolis streets. Although the
tragic events of that night led to the lamentable death of Mr. Dean
Schmitz, continuing the injustice against Ms. McDonald does not serve the
community’s interests and we support you choosing to drop the charges.

The issues affecting our community that are apparent in this case all show
the necessity of your choosing to drop the charges. These issues include:

-White supremacy, as the white adults who attacked Ms. McDonald and her
friends yelled racist epithets at them before assaulting them because they
are African-American. Additionally, Ms. McDonald’s friends and family
endured repeated threats and harassment from members of Schmitz’s family
and individuals from the scene of the June 5th incident for weeks
afterwards. In addition to numerous threatening phone calls, some of Ms.
McDonald’s friends were surrounded and chased in public, and told to “Go
back to Africa.”

-Transphobia, as the white adults also yelled transphobic slurs at Ms.
McDonald and her friends. One of the attackers even said that Ms. McDonald
was dressed as a woman in order to rape the late Mr. Schmitz.
Unfortunately, Ms. McDonald being targeted that night was just another
instance of the systemic oppression that transgender people, especially
transgender women of color, experience every day at the hands of other
community members and within governmental institutions. Transgender people
are ten to fifteen times more likely to be incarcerated at some point in
their lives than non-transgender people, because transgender people who
experience violence due to their gender presentation also receive little
understanding and respect from non-transgender police, jail and court
officials. African-American people are targeted by higher rates of racial
profiling and harsher sentences throughout the legal system; therefore
these numbers are even more egregious for African-American trans people.

As you can undoubtedly see, pursuing these charges against Ms. McDonald
protects white supremacy and transphobia at the expense of ensuring safety
for all members of our community. You have long been recognized for your
commitment to protecting the community and professional judgment when doing
so, as can be seen in these instances:

-Your work to protect domestic violence survivors, seniors and vulnerable
adults demonstrates your understanding that marginalized voices and people
are often in greatest need of protection. Ms. McDonald, as a young,
African-American trans woman, is similarly in need of our understanding and
protection, as she was violently attacked without provocation. Pressing
charges against Ms. McDonald increases the hardships she faces as a young
woman and sends a message that several large populations in Hennepin
county—young women, female students, African American youth, LGBTQ youth,
and transgender people—cannot rely on government officials to promote their
safety and security.

-In 2011, you exercised your professional judgment by declining to
prosecute at least three other cases of individuals who have been attacked
and whose attackers have been subsequently killed. We know you have the
ability to choose not to prosecute in cases of self-defense, and we support
your making that choice in this case. It is tremendously unfortunate that
Ms. McDonald was attacked, and even more unfortunate that she has not yet
been freed and enabled to recover from this tragic incident. We support
your choosing to drop the charges against her and standing up for the right
for people to protect themselves from hate-motivated violence.

-You have spoken multiple times about the importance of keeping kids in
school, citing that 98% of young people who commit felonies were truant
first. You have also said that staying in school is essential to young
people having a chance in this world. Our organization agrees
wholeheartedly about the importance of young people being in school, and we
are especially troubled that Ms. McDonald has already missed more than a
semester of college because of the murder charges she is facing after being
attacked. We believe that the right place for a 23-year-old woman is
college, not jail or prison. We have supported your commitment to keeping
kids in school and would support your choice to extend Ms. McDonald an
equal opportunity for this as well.

Once again, we want to express our absolute support of you choosing to drop
the charges against Ms. McDonald.

Sincerely,

[SIGNATURE LIST]

African-American and African Studies Department, University of MN
Anti-War Committee
Communities United Against Police Brutality
Department of Multicultural Life, Macalester College
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
House of Transfiguration
Leslie Feinberg, NWU/UAW, Co-founder of Rainbow Flags for Mumia
Minneapolis Autonomous Radical Space
MN Committee to Stop FBI Repression
TGI Justice Project
Tongues Untied, University of MN
Trans Youth Support Network
Transgender Law Center
Twin Cities IWW General Defense Committee Local 14
Twin Cities IWW General Membership Branch
Queers for Economic Justice
Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, Macalester
Women’s Prison Book Project
” —  http://freececemcdonald.tumblr.com/ (via
leslie-feinberg<http://leslie-feinberg.tumblr.com/>)


-- 
Always with Solidarity

Nathan
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