Free CeCe
From Original Plumbing:
"On the night of June 5th 2011, an African American Transgender woman named CeCe McDonald was walking with a group of her friends to the grocery store. Everyone in her group was young, black and queer. In the immediate proximity to the grocery store there’s the Schooner Tavern. Some Schooner patrons (without being provoked) began hurling racist, homophobic and transphobic slurs at her group. When CeCe bravely approached them, she was attacked with a glass beer mug. Her cheek was punctured all the way through to her salivary gland which was lacerated in an assault that one could easily describe as a hate crime. Dean Schmitz, who instigated this attack, was stabbed and died in the resulting fight.
The only person arrested that night was CeCe. She was picked up out of a pool of her own blood, given 11 stitches and taken to an interrogation room. Sleep deprived, reeling from the traumatic events of the night, and manipulated by the detectives interrogation techniques, she waived her right to an attorney and was taken to jail. CeCe would spend the next several months incarcerated, where she was denied adequate medical attention."
From the petition:
"Amazingly, in the aftermath of this racist and transphobic attack, the only person facing charges is CeCe McDonald- the victim. Michael Freeman, the Hennepin County Attorney, has charged CeCe with two counts of second degree murder. Because of these charges, she has been unable to recover from the attack and prevented from continuing her studies at the Minneapolis Community Technical College. Considering that County Attorney Michael Freeman has dropped charges in similar situations this year and that he has advocated strongly for programs to keep kids in school, arguing "We all know that when kids miss school they don't learn," why is Michael Freeman ruthlessly going after this young student?"
From an interview at Pretty Queer:
Tom: So, I know a lot of people are probably wondering what the can do. What can people who want to help you do?
CeCe: One thing you can do is go to the Support CeCe website. There’s a list of events there. A lot of these events are dealing with white supremacy, LGBT rights and just so much that’s concerning this case. Not even just this case, but you know, our wellbeing and our justice and how we are treated and in our communities and in society.
Tom: So, I know that you’re saying people can show up to events and that’s awesome and obviously, people who are local should do that. If people aren’t local to Minneapolis, what can they do to help? Do they send money, do they send letters? What is it that’s going to make the biggest difference in your life?
CeCe: Well, as far as finances and things like that, the people who are in charge of the Support CeCe funds are still taking donations for the cost of events and, you know, organizing stuff.
Tom: People who want to give money to you for like living expenses, they can send money through that, and you are getting cash through that?
CeCe: Yes.
CeCe's web site