Last week, Chrishaun “CeCe”
McDonald, a 23-year-old Black
transgender woman, was sentenced
to 41 months in prison for second-
degree manslaughter despite clear
evidence of self-defense. Making
matters worse, she is now being
forced to serve her time in a men’s
prison.

On June 5th 2011, McDonald, a Minnesota based college student, was out having a good time with her friends. They walked past the Schooner Tavern, where McDonald and her friends were harassed and verbally assaulted by two White women and Dean Schmitz, a White man, who referred to them as “n*ggers,” “f*ggots,” and “chicks with dicks.”
The assault quickly became physical when one of the women hit McDonald with a cocktail glass, puncturing her cheek and salivary gland. A fight ensued that resulted in the stabbing death of Schmitz. McDonald was arrested, charged, and ultimately convicted of the crime. She was the only person arrested that night.

Despite considerable evidence -including medical evidence, toxicology reports, eyewitness accounts, and unrefuted testimony that Schmitz initiated the altercation- McDonald’s self-defense claim was dismissed by prosecutors[...]The court even refused to admit Schmitz’s criminal record into evidence, not to mention the swastika tattooed on his chest, as evidence of his history of violence and bigotry.

Originally Posted by Always@night