Today the long running farce of justice that has been the CeCe McDonald trial has come to a least a judicial close. Judge Daniel Moreno (dickhead), sentenced CeCe to 41 months in prison, as was expected as these were the terms of her plea bargain. CeCe has already been in custody for 366 days, but today the judge ruled that the time she spent under house arrest will not count towards her time served, and so she will only be credited with 275 days.
My friend Connie Kauppi posted on my Facebook wall:
But wait, it gets worse.
The state of Minnesota is ALSO going to be housing CeCe as a male. With all of the data, including new Department of Justice (DOJ) guidelines regarding sexual violence and safety in prisons, particularly as it relates to transgender individuals, the state making a decision to house CeCe with folks that are NOT of her gender, is a critical injustice and a violation (again) of her human rights.
I am so angry at this level of gross and inhuman justice and power expression that for the first time in my life I am ashamed of being a Minnesotan. I LOVE MY STATE. I have spent a good chunk of my life fighting to keep shit like this from going down in my homeland, my friends still are, and this flagrant injustice, masked in Minnesota nice (Mike Freeman, I would be quite content to never hear from you again, thank you), is just too damn much.
Lemme be clear. This is about racism, transphobia, class, poverty and heterosexism, but its mostly about maintaining hegemonic power. CeCe is being punished because she was never meant to survive. She is being punished because she was never mean to live. She is being punished because she stood up for herself and by doing so left the place designated for her in this world for a moment and took back the power that was snatched from her ancestors. For a moment, she stood in her own skin and said to the universe, I WILL live.
Not too long ago we strung up black men and lit them on fire for whistling at a white woman. CeCe's trial and sentence are just another type of lynching. Not only did she stand up for herself, but she committed the greatest sin a person of color can make, she killed a white man. In defense of her own life, she killed a white man, and POWER demands that CeCe pay the price. POWER would kill her if it could. If CeCe had been acquitted it would have meant that the basis of POWER in this country was eroding, shifting, changing hands. They gave us Barack Obama to provide the illusion that race had changed in the U.S. Not a damn thing has changed at the most fundamental levels. I will know real change has come when a woman of color is assaulted, has her cheek sliced completely through, defends her life and JUSTICE comes down on her side.
Mike Freeman and Judge Moreno, no matter how many emails you send or how well you sleep at night changes the fact that you did NOT serve justice today. You served up injustice with a smile and a light apology.
CeCe, I love you, we love you, and we will not abandon you. See you soon. YOUR coming out party is going to be so damn fierce.
My friend Connie Kauppi posted on my Facebook wall:
Freeman and Moreno gives me an idea for children's books: The Hammer That Thought It Was A Lawyer and The Screwdriver That Thought It Was A Judge. They think they are servants of justice and practitioners of law... They are but TOOLS.
But wait, it gets worse.
The state of Minnesota is ALSO going to be housing CeCe as a male. With all of the data, including new Department of Justice (DOJ) guidelines regarding sexual violence and safety in prisons, particularly as it relates to transgender individuals, the state making a decision to house CeCe with folks that are NOT of her gender, is a critical injustice and a violation (again) of her human rights.
I am so angry at this level of gross and inhuman justice and power expression that for the first time in my life I am ashamed of being a Minnesotan. I LOVE MY STATE. I have spent a good chunk of my life fighting to keep shit like this from going down in my homeland, my friends still are, and this flagrant injustice, masked in Minnesota nice (Mike Freeman, I would be quite content to never hear from you again, thank you), is just too damn much.
Lemme be clear. This is about racism, transphobia, class, poverty and heterosexism, but its mostly about maintaining hegemonic power. CeCe is being punished because she was never meant to survive. She is being punished because she was never mean to live. She is being punished because she stood up for herself and by doing so left the place designated for her in this world for a moment and took back the power that was snatched from her ancestors. For a moment, she stood in her own skin and said to the universe, I WILL live.
Not too long ago we strung up black men and lit them on fire for whistling at a white woman. CeCe's trial and sentence are just another type of lynching. Not only did she stand up for herself, but she committed the greatest sin a person of color can make, she killed a white man. In defense of her own life, she killed a white man, and POWER demands that CeCe pay the price. POWER would kill her if it could. If CeCe had been acquitted it would have meant that the basis of POWER in this country was eroding, shifting, changing hands. They gave us Barack Obama to provide the illusion that race had changed in the U.S. Not a damn thing has changed at the most fundamental levels. I will know real change has come when a woman of color is assaulted, has her cheek sliced completely through, defends her life and JUSTICE comes down on her side.
Mike Freeman and Judge Moreno, no matter how many emails you send or how well you sleep at night changes the fact that you did NOT serve justice today. You served up injustice with a smile and a light apology.
CeCe, I love you, we love you, and we will not abandon you. See you soon. YOUR coming out party is going to be so damn fierce.
Injustice anywhere equals injustice everywhere.
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