Supporters rally for Chrishaun McDonald, demand "Free CeCe! Drop the charges!"
September 24, 2011
By Luce Guillen-Given, Lex Huran, Kris Gebhard, Billy Navarro Jr., Katie Burgess and Jill Bartel
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2011/9/24/supporters-rally-chrishaun-mcdonald-demand-free-cece-drop-chargesMinneapolis, MN – A young African American transgender woman was attacked by a group of white men outside of the Schooner Tavern on Lake Street in South Minneapolis, early on the morning of June 5, 2011. Chrishaun (CeCe) McDonald and her friends were on their way to the grocery store when they were attacked by patrons of the bar with transphobic and racist slurs, and one person bashed Ms. McDonald's face with a glass beer mug. Although Ms. McDonald was the target of a hate crime, she was singled out and charged with second degree murder after one of the attackers was killed.
After her arrest, she was held for two months in solitary confinement for her 'protection.' She was denied adequate medical attention for those two months during which the wound on her face, which punctured her cheek, abscessed to the sized of a golf ball. Ms. McDonald and community members rallied for her transfer from solitary and she was moved to an all male psychiatric wing for about a month. Last week she was sent back to solitary confinement again, for unknown reasons.
