When a significant sociopolitical
event occurs in mainstream media, my friends and I go to work making funny memes,
unapologetically tweeting our opinions, and liking everyone's Facebook status (that agrees with us). When I learned
that Cece McDonald was released early from prison, I immediately attributed it
to millennials spreading awareness about her
story. McDonald is a young,
beautiful, black and transgender woman. One night, while her and her friends were walking near a
bar, a group of older white people
taunted and provoked them. They spat disgusting homophobic and racial
slurs. Eventually the argument turned into a physical altercation that resulted in a fatality of one of McDonald’s
attackers. MacDonald was arrested and pled guilty to second degree manslaughter.
Her attackers were not punished.
She was released after serving 19 months of a 41 month sentence.
McDonald's story touches my heart because it is another example of a black person provoked and punished for not allowing their body to be ridiculed or harmed. McDonald’s story also highlights a group that is constantly not mentioned in the mainstream LGBT narrative. LGBT activist Laverne Cox expressed her empathy for McDonald’s experience and said, “CeCe's story in so many ways encapsulates the intersectional issues that lead to far too many of us experiencing violence.”[1] When someone posted a petition link, which demanded McDonald's immediate release, I immediately signed. As I signed, I wondered, “will this make a difference?”
McDonald's story touches my heart because it is another example of a black person provoked and punished for not allowing their body to be ridiculed or harmed. McDonald’s story also highlights a group that is constantly not mentioned in the mainstream LGBT narrative. LGBT activist Laverne Cox expressed her empathy for McDonald’s experience and said, “CeCe's story in so many ways encapsulates the intersectional issues that lead to far too many of us experiencing violence.”[1] When someone posted a petition link, which demanded McDonald's immediate release, I immediately signed. As I signed, I wondered, “will this make a difference?”
It made a huge difference. Countless petitions circulated around different social media sites. I signed a change.org petition that ended up receiving 18,000+ signatures! I saw various online media avenues feature the story. However, it was our generation that went to Facebook, twitter and tumblr discussing the story, the obvious racism and the sincere yearning for justice in these high-profile racial justice cases. Maybe the millennial generation’s passion has been influenced by major sociopolitical events in the past 10-15 years. We were in middle school during 9/11. We were finishing high school when we watched "refugees" begging for life during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Now, as we enter the work force, we are still excited and motivated by our passion to abolish the “isms.” We are motivated to abolish blatant social injustice such as the trials for Oscar Grant and Trayvon Martin. We witness these events while simultaneously using social media to connect to our friends abroad to make change. We are at the precipice of a social justice movement.
Cece McDonald’s victory is
just a small piece to this larger movement. We are at a moment in history where
we have the power to juxtapose our obligation to social justice and ability to partner
with other well-connected millennials to change the world. I am focusing my
passion and energy into a nonprofit organization. CMB Professional Development
Agency is committed to providing an avenue for women of color in college to
learn, network and succeed. I urge you to identify your strengths and use them
to improve the world.
[1] http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2014/01/trans_woman_cece_mcdonald.php?fb_action_ids=10100178094903252&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
