Written by Monica Black
CeCe McDonald’s story is the story of a lucky exception.
McDonald, who will be speaking in Bemis Great Hall this Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7:00 p.m., has overcome many struggles as a trans woman of color: she was homeless, suffered sexual assault at a young age, and experienced suicidal ideation and job discrimination. As a child, she was forced to turn to prostitution in order to combat the oppressive poverty she endured.
In St. Paul, Minn., on a late-night run to grab some groceries and avoid the daylight stares she was used to getting, McDonald and four friends were provoked and attacked by Dean Schmitz outside a bar. He yelled racist, transphobic comments at them, to which McDonald verbally defended herself.
After delivering a blow to McDonald’s face, Schmitz charged again. In the course of the altercation, McDonald stabbed him in the heart with scissors. She was sentenced to 41 months in a men’s prison, partially on account of limited self-defense laws in Minnesota. She ended up serving 19 months, and was released on good behavior.
The of-the-moment lecture will consist of McDonald’s story, as well as her thoughts on mass incarceration and the queer and trans liberation movements. She will also host a workshop for interested students on Friday from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Glass House on self-care, intersectionality, and activism.
“Colorado College students have brought the campus community’s attention to the issue of violence against trans women of color through protests and education about #blacktranslivesmatter,” said Liliana Delman, the Coordinator of Mentoring and Diversity Initiatives at the Butler Center. “We thought that bringing CeCe to campus aligns with a national narrative that demands justice for this community.”
Delman is referring to the protests last fall in the Colorado Springs area led by Colorado College students, as well as the uproar surrounding the screening of Stonewall last November, which focused on the exclusion of trans woman of color Marsha P. Johnson from her historically important role in the event.
In a day when these issues are becoming more widely acknowledged, the CC community has begun to engage with them. However, Delman emphasized the work students have yet to do.
“CeCe McDonald has an inspiring story, and hopefully the CC community takes in what she has to say and begins to think about their role in the work of social justice. We are all bound up in each other’s liberation,” said Delman.
McDonald herself, in a past interview with Prison Abolition UK, challenged those with privilege to make changes. Hiring, being friends with, and protecting trans women is of paramount importance to the cause. Being a true activist, she said, is when “rich white people can call out their other rich white friends when they say something wrong.”
The protest movement #freecece that McDonald’s imprisonment inspired confronts the injustices that trans women of color suffer daily in this country. 67 percent of anti-LGBT homicide victims are trans women of color. Nearly one in six transgender people have been incarcerated at least once. One survey reported 38 percent of black trans women are sexually assaulted in prison and one-fifth are denied hormones, more than any other racial group.
CeCe’s story fits many of these molds. Relevant evidence produced by her pro-bono attorney was rejected, including testimony on the lives of trans women in the United States. She was incarcerated in a men’s prison, placing her well-being at risk. With “male” and a felony on her job applications, no one has hired her despite her celebrity.
In light of the first-hand experience she has with violence against trans women, racial injustice, and the prison-industrial complex, she is working on a documentary film entitled FREE CeCE!, co-produced by Orange is the New Black actress Laverne Cox, who claims her role as Sophia Burset on OITNB is in part inspired by McDonald. Through McDonald’s story, FREE CeCE! explores the epidemic of violence against trans women of color.
It was through connections to co-producer Jacqueline Gares that the Butler Center brought McDonald to campus for the first of the Craig G. Campbell Lecture Series. McDonald’s attendance was made possible by the Butler Center, alumnus Craig G. Campbell ’73, and the Craig G. Campbell Lecture Series.