NBJC Stands In Solidarity With CeCe McDonald and Community-Transgender Assault Victim Accepts Plea to Reduced Manslaughter Charge

TransGriot Note:  The May 3 NBJC press release concerning the McDonald trial

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Reports out of Minneapolis reveal that CeCe McDonald, a Black transgender woman who was allegedly attacked with racist and transphobic slurs, has accepted a plea deal to second-degree manslaughter due to negligence.

Supporters have rallied at the courthouse all week, saying that her case is a blatant example of institutional biases against Black and transgender people. The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the nation’s leading Black LGBT civil rights organization, stands in solidarity with CeCe McDonald and community members.

“CeCe’s case is a sad reminder of the injustices transgender women of color face,” says Sharon Lettman-Hicks, NBJC Executive Director and CEO. “Where do we get off blaming the victim in what was clearly a hate- and bias-motivated attack? It’s unthinkable and it’s un-American.”

Just yesterday, NBJC released a statement about the charges in the hazing death of Robert Champion Jr., a gay drum major at a Historically Black College and University that was pummeled to death:

The sad reality is that justice drags its feet when a Black life is at stake. There’s even less outcry when it is the life of someone Black and gay. That is why we must continue to proactively advocate on behalf of Black LGBT people who are victims of violent crimes.

That unfortunate reality rings true in McDonald’s trial and represents a larger system of violence towards Black transgender women. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs has found that violence against LGBT people is up 23 percent, with people of color and transgender women as the most likely targets. Of the victims murdered in 2010, 70 percent were people of color while 44 percent were transgender women.

“It is unfortunate that in this case, as in so many, the hate crime itself is overlooked entirely," explains Kylar Broadus, NBJC Board Member and Executive Director of the Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC), a national organization that promotes the interests of trans people of color. “We must continue to rally for fair and equal treatment for our Black trans sisters who are disproportionally targeted and killed because of who they are.”

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The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) is a civil rights organization dedicated to empowering Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. NBJC’s mission is to eradicate racism and homophobia.  

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Kimberley McLeod
Director of Communications
National Black Justice Coalition
P.O. Box 71395
Washington, DC 20024
(202) 319-1552 (office)
(202) 319-7365 (fax)

I Repeat-Diversity Is Sorely Needed In Our Houston Trans Community

I'm a native Houstonian proud of our Lone Star traditions, our trans community, its history and being one of the people who helped make some of that history.   I'm also exceedingly proud of the award winning leaders that we have produced locally that have in some cases achieved a statewide, national and international footprint and following.


I wrote a post last year discussing the hard, solid thinking I was engaged in about the state of the national Black trans community.  I pointed out more diversity was needed in our Houston and Texas trans community ranks and what I said back in March 2011 bears repeating once again.  

As I mentioned, I was blessed to get the opportunity of attending the 20th annual Houston Transgender Unity Banquet for the first time in over a decade last weekend. While I enjoyed seeing everyone who was at the Sheraton Brookhollow and meeting some new rainbow community folks and allies in the process, I was still concerned about the lack of diversity in the room. 

This is the Houston trans community's signature event and the Unity Banquet reminded me once again how monochromatic and vanillacentric in outlook my hometown trans community leadership ranks have become in terms of the folks who are out there representing its public face.  I also believe the 'pay to play' activism model has had the deleterious result of creating a fiscal participation barrier and shutting out low income GLBT people from shaping the Houston GLBT community and the policies it advocates.   

In non-white communities there is already the ossifying impression that the GLBT community is an overwhelmingly white one, and that perception plays into some of the pushback and resistance the entire  rainbow community gets in its human rights fights.  That perception problem is one our right wing opponents are increasingly trying to exploit and use as a wedge issue as they oppose our human rights push. 

In a multicultural city of over 2 million people such as Houston, when we are contemplating fighting for a rainbow community human rights city charter referendum that will require the votes of a multicultural coalition of progressive Houston voters in order to pass it, that's a problem that needs to be fixed now before that ballot initiative gets rolled out and taken to the voters if we wish to win that fight.   Failure to seriously address this problem will result in another electoral loss for this community and I don't want to see that happen to legislation we desperately need.   .

Frustration is brewing among Houston's non-white transpeople.   It's fueled by not only the ongoing killing of our transsisters and the feeling that no one cares about it, it's also the lack of visibility and seeing trans role models who look like them.  Visibility matters and is necessary, especially to the people who don't see themselves represented in the organizations that are purported to represent them and speak for them.

If you think this status quo situation is okay, or you think that identity politics shouldn't be part of this rainbow community rights movement, you're naive or being obtuse about the fact that race matters, even in our little trans subset of society.   We get microaggressive behavior aimed at us every day by the parent society and our rainbow community subset of it, and just because we transitioned doesn't mean it stopped. 


But back to what I was discussing.   Diversity is sorely needed in our Houston trans ranks and it's sad I have to repeatedly state what is so no-brainer obvious.  

It's on you peeps that make up the leadership of these groups to ensure there is representation in them that reflects the ethnic diversity of Houston, the state of Texas and its TBLG community and but your behinds working to make that a reality.   

And yeah, y'all ain't the only people I'm going to call out on this state of affairs.  I'm going to put the non-white Houston trans community on blast too in a separate post. 

Here's the first suggestion as to how to create that diverse community.  Ask us.   But you'd better do it fast because the clock is rapidly ticking on your opportunity to do so with a fed up non-white trans community.    
What I can tell you is that if the diversity problem isn't dealt with, you will find yourself staring at a situation in which non-white transpeople will say frack it and form their own trans organizations designed to represent their interests and won't look back.

Rest In Peace, Paige

While today is a happy day for me, it's tempered with the sadness that a young transwoman in Chicago will not get the chance to experience her 50th birthday, much less her 25th, 30th or 40th ones because some waste of DNA callously took her life..

Paige Clay is being buried today, so Chicago rainbow family, if you can, pay your respects to her later this evening.

As a gentle reminder, it will be held at the Acklin Funeral Home, 1325 W. 87th St. in Chicago.   The wake will run from 3-4 PM CDT with the funeral services commencing shortly after the wake from 4-5 PM CDT

One of the things I want to see happen along with my trans brothers and sisters is witnessing the person who committed this crime be brought to justice.

Paige Clay Rally Tonight

For those of you in the Chicago area, there will be a 'Justice For Paige' rally tonight hosted by the Taskforce for Prevention and Community Services. 

The rally will be held from 6:30-9 PM CDT at their offices located at 9 N. Cicero Ave.

The wake and funeral for Paige Clay if you wish to attend it will be held at Acklin Funeral Home, 1325 W. 87th St. in Chicago on Friday, May 4.   The wake will run from 3-4 PM CDT with Funeral services commencing shortly after from 4-5 PM CDT

Trial of Victoria Carmen White's Alleged Killer Starts Today

Today would have been Victoria Carmen White's 30th birthday, but unfortunately she's not around to celebrate it because of the actions of Alrashim Chambers, the man who is alleged to have killed her in September 2010 

Chambers trial will start today in Newark and he facing murder, weapons and bias intimidation charges as this trial gets underway.  If he is convicted he faces life in prison.

White was shot by Chambers multiple times in her Maplewood, NJ home after meeting the model at a club in Irvington and discovering she was a transwoman.   The reason you didn't hear much about the Victoria Carmen White case is because it was blown off the news pages by the subsequent suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi and the massive news coverage that followed it.

One of the star prosecution witnesses besides the two women that were in White's home in different rooms and heard the shots and the transphobic comments aimed at White is Marquise Foster.   He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for his testimony in this trial.

Will be keeping an eye on this case along with Victoria Carmen White's friends and family.   Might be a wonderful gesture for you transpeeps in the Newark and NYC area to show up at the Essex County courthouse and pack the courtroom in solidarity with her family.

Thanks Angelica!

Wanted to take a moment to thank Angelica Ross for inviting me to participate in her inaugural 'Miss Ross Live' podcast that happened in the 4-6 PM CDT timeslot yesterday afternoon . 

That two hours seemed like it just flew by, and it was also cool to have Isis King, Janet Mock and Kyle on the show as well as we talked about not only the CeCe McDonald and Paige Clay cases, but touched upon a number of issues affecting the African-American trans community

It's also nice to know that y'all think as highly of me that I do of all of you, and as I've said more than a few times, our community is going to be in great hands with up and coming leaders like you

Listen to internet radio with AngelicaRoss on Blog Talk Radio

Looking forward to the next time my schedule allows me to participate on your show.

CeCe McDonald Hearing Tomorrow

The struggle to free CeCe McDonald, who 'stood her ground' after she and her group of Black gay and trans friends were subjected to racist, transphobic and homophobic slurs and then attacked by white supremacists while walking past a bar in Minneapolis will play out in a court pretrial hearing tomorrow at 9 AM CDT.

The pressure is mounting on Hennepin County attorneys to drop the charges as this case gets additional international scrutiny and attention.   There is also a Support CeCe McDonald online group that has sprung up with the goal of getting CeCe released as well..

If that doesn't happen during the pre-trial hearing tomorrow, the trial will start on April 30 and will probably last for up to two weeks.   If you live in the Twin Cities area and can come to the Hennepin County Government Center to support CeCe, please wear purple to demonstrate to the judges and supporters that the community has Cece's back.

TPOCC Needs Your Story

Calling all transmen of color, TPOCC, the Trans People Of Color Coalition needs you.

If you have a compelling story to tell please contact my friend and colleague, Kylar Broadus as soon as possible.  He's working on several projects of human rights importance to the community and needs your story.   You may e-mail him at  kylar@transpoc.org 

I know the last time I posted about TPOCC happenings they had been engaged in conducting a series of town hall meetings to talk about the issues of importance to trans persons of color in those areas..

And while you are doing your part to help advance the case of trans human rights in our community (and I thank you for that) you can hit the TPOCC website or follow them on Twitter and check out what's going on as this organization continues to build the critical mass we need to become the representative organization for the issues of trans people of color.