Ce Ce Acoff Case Links

Ce Ce Acoff's funeral was yesterday, and as you know I've been on this story since I first got the word about our fallen transsister and how she has been grossly disrespected by the Cleveland media. 

I'm going to make it easy for you to follow the TransGriot coverage of this ongoing story by putting the links to the posts I've already written here.

Another Black Transwoman Dies And Is Dissed In The Local Media

Three More April African-American Transwoman Deaths

Acoff Murder Updates

CeCe Acoff Rally Today At 3 PM

Rally For CeCe Acoff

Y'all Must Think We're Stupid Cleveland Plain Dealer

Arrest Made In Acoff Case

Why The Negative Plain Dealer Coverage May Result In Cemia NOT Getting Justice

Why The Negative Plain Dealer Coverage May Result In Cemia NOT Getting Justice

As I noted yesterday, the police in the Cleveland suburban hamlet of Olmsted Township have arrested 36 year old Andre L. Bridges,who is accused of the murder of 20 year old Cemia Dove Acoff.

Cemia's funeral is going to be this morning at 10 AM EDT at The Temple Baptist Church in East Cleveland, OH and there will also be a vigil held afterwards at the AIDS Taskforce of Cleveland.  It's a local organization in Cleveland according to Zoe Lapin that has heavy trans POC participation levels and significant POC trans involvement .

While the police and FBI capture of Bridges is a wonderful development in this case and as Olmsted Township Police Chief John Minek noted there is still an active investigation going on, I fear the damage has already been done that will ensure that Cemia may not get justice when this case finally goes to court.

While I hope and pray that when it goes to trial, it's proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Bridges did it and he spends the rest of his life getting three hots and a cot at the Ohio Iron Bar motel for what he's allegedly done, I fear that the Plain Dealer's transphobic coverage may have already poisoned the well and tainted the Cleveland area jury pool in the direction of Cemia NOT receiving justice for what was done to her.

If it happens that Andre L. Bridges gets a ridiculously low sentence or walks, you'll only need to look back to the day that the Plain Dealer's rabidly transphobic coverage of CeCe's death was unleashed upon the world..

For starters, the Plain Dealer went too far in ignoring the AP Stylebook guidelines and erasing Cemia trans feminine status.  Instead of reporting the murder of a trans feminine woman, you stripped her of any dignity by misgendering her, commenting on what she was wearing when the body was discovered, and categorizing her as 'it'  Then on top of that, you used her old name in the story, used mugshots of her and dragged her old criminal record into it   

Way to go in your first class efforts Cleveland Plain Dealer to dehumanize her.

Because you set the demonizing and dehumanizing framing of the story, that meant the other Cleveland area media outlets followed your transphobic lead to the point where the Lanigan and Malone morning team at Majic105.7 cracked jokes (around the 7:00 minute mark) about this killing. 

That initial negative framing led to a television interview with a family member that obviously wasn't down with Cemia's gender transition.  That family member constantly misgendered her as old male pictures were shot without balancing the story out with people who knew and loved her as CeCe and pictures reflecting that. 

Never mind the fact that Cemia was the victim in this and isn't the one that should be on trial.  And when the backlash started, instead of correcting the story, you started wallowing in white male cis privilege, circled the wagons and blamed everybody else but yourselves for the fracked up coverage you justifiably got called on and kept on digging that transphobic hole you started with. 

Even in the article you claimed was an apology, you are still using the jacked up photo of Cemia when there are more tasteful feminine photos of her and trying to stick to using her old male name which isn't germane to the story.

Tina Turner's old name is Anna Mae Bullock.  Do you call her by that name in any story you write?   See how fast you get another interview with Cher if you insist on repeatedly writing Cherilyn Sarkisian in that article or Reginald Dwight in one for Sir Elton John.   

 But back to focusing on the transphobic news coverage.   What it did was basically paint Cemia in a negative light, and it's something that Bridges' defense attorney will possibly exploit now that you media peeps did all their work in demonizing Cemia for them.

You've laid the groundwork for Bridges' defense attorney to possibly deploy the 'trans panic' defense and make the murderer look like a everyday and twice on Sunday church attending choirboy vis a vis the 'crazy tr---y' who 'deserved what she got'.  

Oh my bad, you refused to acknowledge that she was a trans woman.

And when that trial starts, we'll have an empaneled jury whose minds are already compromised by marinating in the anti-trans media negativity stirred up by that journalistic hate crime.   We already know the odds are going to be long (but not impossible) for obtaining a murder conviction of a cis person who kills a transperson.

Worst case is he walks, best case is he gets life in prison pending the evidence and skill of the prosecuting attorney.   What I wouldn't be surprised that happens in this case is we possibly get a plea deal for aggravated manslaughter.

Your transphobic reporting has pretty much framed this trial one it starts as a Black cisman kills 'deceptive' Black 'man' or in the minds of many people not well versed in the lives of trans people a 'freak who deserved to die for tricking an unsuspecting cis man'.

That's not me spouting over the top rhetoric, that's the gist of the comments running around in the comment threads on the various posts.  A mentality that may seep into the jury deciding Andre L Bridges fate.  

So Cleveland trans community, if Bridges walks or gets a ridiculously low sentence, you'll know where it started.

 

Arrest Made In Acoff Case

Thanks to Zoe Renee Lapin, I was happy to find out from her that the Olmsted Township, OH po-po's have made an arrest in the Cemia Dove Acoff case.   

What I'm NOT happy about is the continued blatant violations of the AP Stylebook trans reporting guidelines by the stenographers at the Cleveland Plain Dealer and their ongoing disrespect of my young trans sister that is setting the tone for the jacked up coverage of this case by the Cleveland area media.  

Since they have basically lapsed into a 'we don't care' attitude concerning how to write a story that properly reflects the AP Stylebook and respects Cemia without erasing her trans identity, I'm going to show the stenographers there how it's done 

(Moni cracks knuckles)

***
OLMSTED TOWNSHIP -- A Parma man was arrested this morning (May 4) for the murder of Cemia Dove Acoff, the 20-year-old transgender woman whose body was found in a pond on Mackenzie Road April 17.


Andre L. Bridges, 36, is being held in Olmsted Township jail following his arrest by Olmsted Township police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Fugitive Task Force.

Acoff was reported missing by her family in late March, and her body was found by a resident who lives in the apartment next to the retention pond. There were multiple stab wounds on her body, and a chain and a concrete block were attached to her waist.

There is still an active investigation going on with this case, according to Olmsted Township Police Chief John Minek.

***

See Cleveland Plain Dealer how easy that was?    If you had done that from the beginning, you would have saved yourself a lot of unnecessary drama unless that was your intention in the first place.

But at this point happy to see that the alleged perpetrator of this crime has been captured.   My Cleveland trans peeps and their allies will be keeping a close eye on this case and watching it to see that Cemia and her family gets justice.

Rally For CeCe Acoff

The rally for Ce Ce Acoff in Cleveland that was organized by Zoe Lapin got moved to the steps of Cleveland 's City Hall yesterday on a gorgeous spring day with the trans flag flying from the City hall flag post.  

The rally was covered by several news stations who sadly continue to use the mug shot and other unflattering photo of Cemia and misgender her.

In addition to Zoe being one of the speakers for the rally that started at 3 PM EDT, another one was Cleveland City Council member Joe Cimperman, who has called the murder a hate crime.. 

Cemia lived a trouble life of acceptance,” said Councilmember Cimperman in a

news release on Wednesday. “While Cemia struggled, she did not deserve to die as what is likely a hate crime. Too often we lose loved ones because of fear or hate. Violence should not be tolerated against anyone regardless of race, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.”

If I find any video of the event I'll add it to the post...

Y'all Must Think We're Stupid, Cleveland Plain Dealer

When GLAAD, HRC, a host of other allied LGBT organizations, people in the trans community from Cleveland, Ohio, around the nation and the world tell you that the two transphobic articles you wrote in the Cemia Acoff case are deeply offensive, it would stand to reason that you would at least change them. 

Here we are three days later and the offensive headlines and paragraphs in the two awful hate crime stories penned by John Caniglia are STILL there.

And no, these two stories aren't even close to meeting AP standards for reporting on trans people. If you think Cleveland Plain Dealer we didn't notice the little stunt you pulled, just advising you we transfolks have above average reading comprehension.

And it's why you're getting called out on this in the first place.  

Bloggers by simply talking to people in the Cleveland trans community quickly established that Ms Acoff's name is Cemia.   From that we found pictures on her Facebook page.   Another friend of Cemia's created the RIP Ce Ce graphic that is up on my blog so I don't need to put up the mug shots that you disrespectfully continue to keep up on those two jacked up posts.

And you think we didn't notice you:

* Still have those jacked up titles for both articles
* Still kept the mugshots in both articles
* Still refuse to excise the criminal record that is not germane to the story
* Still are refusing to refer to Cemia as she, with female pronouns or as a transgender female.
* Still refuse to use her chosen name as part of the AP Stylebook guidelines you claim to have followed. 

Digging your heels in and hoping this will blow over is only serving to piss off the Cleveland, Ohio, US and  international trans communities, along with our allies in the United States and around the world.  

With each passing hour you continue to look like transphobic jerks for not doing the right thing and simply making the edits to the stories that will treat Cemia with the dignity that you stripped her of.

And if you think posting at the bottom of the offending article that you 'amended' it to comply with AP Stylebook standards, I have waterfront property along I-10 between Breaux Bridge and Baton Rouge, LA in the Atchafalaya Swamp I'd like to sell you

I could go on, but I'll let Dr. Kelley Winters give you her take on your wastes of bandwith articles.

The barely edited article is not at all within the AP Stylebook guidelines.

It states, "Transgender: Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly."

The language in Caniglia and Corrigan's article is only somewhat more gender neutral and nowhere respectful of Ms. Acoff as a woman who lived, died and publicly identified as a woman (a point the authors sensationalized, regarding her arrest because she affirmed herself as a woman to transit police).

Male pronouns remain in paragraph 3-- one in a quote and another not in a quoted statement. Hormonal transition care is maligned for all transgender and transsexual people as "dangerous drugs." The authors make a point to ridicule the underwear she wore when she died, a humiliation they would never inflict on a person of privilege. Ms. Acoff is described throughout the article as more criminal than her murderer(s).

The authors depict the victim with a mug shot, rather than a respectful photo of the young woman she was ( http://tinyurl.com/chgevw5 ).

While sensationalizing her past petty infractions, the authors neglect to mention whether the police have a suspect or are even investigating her death as a murder. This article typifies the victim bashing and stereotyping that so many transgender women, especially trans women of color, suffer in the media. It is a disgrace to journalism.

And hey, Dr. Winters was nice to you.   I called it a 'journalistic hate crime' and stand by what I wrote in light of seeing the 'frack you' half azzed edits you did. 

You can circle the wagons to shield yourselves from the caca storm your articles and disrespect of Ce Ce Acoff touched off all you want, but memo to you Cleveland Plain Dealer, John Caniglia and everybody else whose transphobic fingerprints are on this.  We aren't stupid, and the trans community isn't letting up or letting go on this blatant disrepect of a deceased transwoman. 

Neither am I until you address the problems in those articles because it's transpeeps who look like me that are taking the brunt of these hate crime killings along with trans Latinas.

It's fouled up stories like this that create the climate for people to think it's okay to kill transpeople in the first place.

Ce Ce Acoff Rally Today At 3 PM

For those of you in the Cleveland metro area there will be a rally for our fallen trans sister Cemia Dove 'Ce Ce' Acoff  later today in Cleveland's Willard Park.

The rally is being organized by local DJ Zoe Renee Lapin and will start at 3 PM EDT.  If you need further information about it get in contact with Zoe for further details about the rally.  

I hope you peeps in the area spread the word and can attend it, and here's hoping that we'll have allies and respectful media coverage there as well 

And speaking of respectful media coverage, still pushing for that to happen in this case, so stay on the Plain Dealer and the local TV stations and demand it.  They exist to serve the people in the Cleveland area, not the other way around.

TransGriot Update:  Rally was moved to the step of Cleveland's City Hall

Acoff Murder Updates

As I continue to get details about this senseless killing from people in the area, I'll post them to the blog.

Thanks to several readers, have discovered that the femme name for our fallen Cleveland sister that will be used in TransGriot stories from now on was Cemia Dove.  Cemia was also called Ce Ce by her friends and the people whose lives she touched in her all to brief 20 years on this planet.

Cleveland DJ Zoe Renee Lapin (and girl like us) was in the process organizing a rally in memory of Ce Ce.   The rally will be tomorrow May 1 at Willard Park in Cleveland at 3 PM EDT, so for any further details about this event get in contact with Zoe. 

I'm asking if anyone has nice pictures of Ce Ce, please send them to me or post them somewhere like Facebook so we trans bloggers can use something other than a mug shot for her.   That article was bad enough.   I don't want to participate (and neither do my fellow trans bloggers) in indirectly heaping more disprect on her by having the only photo of her be a fracking mug shot.

And for you peeps in the Cleveland area still pissed about not only the murder but the journalistic hate crime that happened after it, what you may wish to do is what the New York and Los Angeles trans communities did after their papers of record printed jacked up articles about deceased transpeople and refused or were recalcitrant about retracting or correcting them.

New York and Los Angeles are media centers that have GLAAD offices in both cities, so meetings were set up with their local papers of record to express their displeasure with their trans news coverage in New York and Los Angeles and suggest concrete steps to correct them.  

My suggestion to you trans peeps and allies in the Cleveland area since you don't have a GLAAD office there like the New York and LA trans communities did to help coordinate the meetings is you get in contact with your local and statewide TBLG orgs, the local NAACP chapter, your Cleveland city councilmembers, Ohio state reps and Ohio state senators, US Congressmember Marcia Fudge (D), your US Senator Sherrod Brown (D) over Ce Ce's murder and have them help you get that meeting with the Plain Dealer.  

Once you get the meeting to discuss with the Plain Dealer's managers, editors and the stenographers Caniglia and Corrigan the horrible coverage of the Ce Ce Acoff story, you point out the problems and how hurtful and triggering it was to the local, national and international trans community. 

You also get the Plain Dealer to commit to from this day forward to making immediate and long term corrections in the way they write trans stories up to and including hiring an openly trans reporter.  

Following the AP Stylebook guidelines on covering transpeople would be a mandatory minimum standard so that journalistic hate crimes like the Acoff story don't happen again to another Cleveland area trans person.  

That would be one way to honor Ce Ce's memory and ensure something positive comes out of this for the Cleveland area and Ohio trans community.