Free Cece McDonald

Cece McDonald, a black trans woman in Minnesota, has been in jail over a year for defending herself against a racist and homophobic attack.  She is due to be sentenced early next month.  The excerpt from the below article is an introduction to her story:

From http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/20/2012/4586

Cece McDonald is a 23 year old black trans woman who was out with friends one summer night in 2011 in Minneapolis, MN. As they passed in front of a bar, they were attacked by white people who were obviously racist and transphobic, based on a swastika tattoo and language used that night. The fight left Cece severely wounded by a glass to her face and one of the attackers dead.

The fight began when the white supremacists began yelling racial and transphobic slurs at the friends at about 12:20am. The attack became physical when one of the white supremacists put a gash in Cece’s face with a glass, damaging Cece’s saliva gland. It is believed by prosecutors that Cece then fatally stabbed one of her attackers.

Cece was charged with two counts of 2nd degree murder. Upon her arrest, Cece was denied adequate medical treatment for her wound, interrogated for hours, and put in solitary confinement. The woman who assaulted Cece was not arrested or charged.

JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON MARTIN

17-year old, unarmed Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by self-appointed, unofficial “neighbourhood watchman” Zimmerman who has a history of stalking innocent young black boys. Zimmerman is over 100 pounds heavier and 11 years older than Trayvon who was walking away when Zimmerman began to chase him. Trayvon was returning to his dad’s girlfriends house from the local store having brought Skittles and some Ice Tea. He was on the phone to his girlfriend.

In an almost incomprehensible on-going injustice, the police have allowed Zimmerman to walk free, not even arresting him, as the murderer has admitted to shooting dead the innocent teen but has claimed “self-defense” saying he felt threatened and describing Trayvon as “suspicious” during his 911 call. Under the controversial “Stand Your Ground” laws in Florida, this is apparently all a murderer needs to say to be completely let off. But how does someone half your age and half your size who is walking away from you threaten you? Since when did wearing a hood when it is raining become a justifiable reason for murder? Why did police do a “background check” on Trayvon as he lay dead on the floor but not on the murderer Zimmerman? Why was Trayvon’s blood tested for alcohol and drugs but not Zimmerman’s? Why did police “correct” witnesses who said Trayvon lay screaming for his life?

As the 911 tapes are released and more witnesses come forward to speak to the media, it is increasingly apparent that this was a hate crime, an act of racist violence, which has been defended by a racist police force who seem to be actively protecting the murderer.

Community rallies are taking place and media coverage is growing as mass public outrage also increases. There will be a “Million ‘Hoodie’ March” tonight (Wednesday 21/03/12) attended by Trayvon’s parents in NYC to demand an end to racist profiling. People who can’t attend are being asked to upload photos of them in a hoodie to social networking sites show support. UPDATE:  Trayvon protest in Oakland SF Trayvon’s parents at protest in New York

Please sign and share the petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-our-son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin

Visit Trayvon’s website:

http://www.justicefortrayvonmartin.com/

for info on what you can do, events, people to contact & how to spread the word.

Please read/share the following links:

White People, You Will Never Look Suspicious Like Trayvon Martin

The crime of killing a black person still is not greater than the crime of being black.

Listen to the 911 tapes which prove Trayvon was the victim not the aggressor

Trayvon Martin and the fatal history of American racism

White Denial and Trayvon Martin

REPEAL THE STAND YOUR GROUND LAWS

END WHITE SUPREMACY

The End of Poverty? (2008 film)

For our final post of 2011, we would like to thank all of the readers who have made Sisters of Resistance a success in our first year by sharing with you this important film that we believe captures or touches upon many of the issues of injustice currently facing the world at large.

How to Stop the #UKRiots #LondonRiots

Written by Fahim Ahmed and originally posted on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/notes/fahim-ahmed/how-to-stop-the-riots-10-point-program/10150334265811979 Please share widely.

1. We must get out on our streets and make sure that no one is brutalised by the police or our young people, that no homes are threatened by fire, and that the elderly, disabled, sick, pregnant and young are protected.

2. We, the community, must take RESPONSIBILITY for solving our problems.

3. We must promise our young people that we will listen to them and nurture them, and build hope for the future.

4. We must demand that the police drop charges against everyone being prosecuted, and declare an amnesty on all those who are being investigated. It will be a disaster if we let hundreds of children and teenagers go to prison. It is not a safe or positive place for them.

5. We must demand that the police stop killing our people, and end the culture of lying whenever they do kill our people.

6. We must demand that the police publicly admit the unlawful killing of Mark Duggan, Smiley Culture, Kingsley Burrell, Demetre Fraser, Ian Tomlinson, Jean Charles De Menezes, and the hundreds of others they have killed over the years. They must apologise to the families & pay reparations.

7. We must help the police to purge themselves of racist and ageist attitudes. We must encourage people to come and criticise the police constructively. We must hold the police accountable to the community.

8. We must demand funding for youth projects, youth clubs, better education, and investment in industry and infrastructure regeneration projects. This must be provided by the financial industry, especially the banks bailed out by public money.

9. We must demand the prosecution of politicians for engaging in illegal wars and committing expenses fraud, bankers and brokers for massive financial fraud, the tabloid media for phone-hacking, and police officers for killing people unlawfully and colluding with the tabloid media in phone-hacking.

10. We must believe in our strength, our ability to solve our problems, and our ability to negotiate these demands from the government, financiers, media and police.

US Day of Rage #USDOR #Sept17 #Occupywallstreet

In light of the current #UKriots, we will be posting an in-depth article tomorrow. In the meantime, let us direct our energies and anger at those who caused the currect economic crisis and thus are directly responsible for the unrest on the streets tonight.

US Day of Rage is a mass mobilization scheduled for September 17th in New York that will bring people to occupy Wall Street and turn it into the next Tahrir Square. The event page is here: https://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=144937025580428 Concurrent events are being planned in London, Spain and Cairo.

Please help by showing your support for the event by spreading the word across Facebook and Twitter. Let the world know that  US citizens are united with global struggles against police brutality and political repression, and ready to speak truth to power.