Free CeCe, the girl who lived

Thanks for this- she offed a nazi? what a girl! Let's try to keep her safe while she is in the nick. Keep her name fresh in peoples minds. I guess her biggest threat inside is from nazi prison gangs. Pressure on her captors is about all we can do to protect her.

[youtube]z24iKqIBHIk[/youtube]

She's being held in St. Cloud? I didn't know- I'll see what I can do to help organize something locally.

Jasmine Malina spoke about Cece's case and violence against trans women today on KPFA's The Morning Mix radio show after the Free CeCe rally in Santa Rosa, California. It starts at 19:10 minutes.

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Some updates:

There's a Cece McDonald zine here which groups and/ or individuals may want to freely distribute.

Cece's own writings can be seen here.

Support groups have sprang up in Leeds (UK) and New York (USA) if anyone wishes to get involved.

Graffiti from Marais dist, Paris and a gay pride event in Athens, Greece respectively:

There were demonstrations in London and Paris, but as yet no photographs. x

There were demonstrations in London and Paris, but as yet no photographs. x

Video of the London solidarity demonstration outside the US Embassy - 16th June

Photos from the CeCe McDonald solidarity rally in Paris - 16 June 2012

(there are more photographs if you just click on the link above)

Edit: There's an event being held at Wharf Chambers in Leeds on Thursday, 5 July. See further details here.

Why we should be fighting for Cece McDonald

A support committee has been formed in Glasgow.

Posted yesterday:

Dear CeCe Supporters,

Two of CeCe’s friends & community organizers got to see CeCe this weekend which was wonderful.

She is still in St. Cloud (a men’s facility). Although technically off of reception status she has not yet been formally placed. This means that she now has an approved visitor list of 24 people (before she could only have two visitors). She has her own cell in a general population unit. They finally gave her a bra and a t-shirt, as opposed to the oversized button-up shirt she was required to conceal herself with because the administration is afraid of her breasts.

She is fairing fine - that is, she is kicking ass and taking names. She easily gets along with the other prisoners; it’s the guards and administration that are fucking with her relentlessly - and they say it’s for her “safety” against the rest of the prison population. All of her issues thus far are with guards and admin trying to control and regulate her gender as if it is outlaw. We could say more here, but she is promising to send out blog entries to post so I’d prefer to let her tell it in her own words.

After three weeks of not receiving her hormone treatments (which are mandated by the court for her to receive, at the dosage level she was prescribed prior to intake), she finally got her first dose this week….but it was for 6 milligrams as opposed to the 20 milligrams that she is prescribed. This was like a slap in the face, and she has asked us to begin a call-in campaign to demand that her medical treatment be respected and accurately followed.

She is avidly reading, most recently a couple of books by Mumia Abu Jamal. She has a book wishlist on Amazon if you are interested in sending her books. http://supportcece.wordpress.com/get-involved/send-cece-books/

And of course, keep writing. She is catching up on replying to letters, now that she has pencil and paper. But she is still getting used to the regulations around sending mail (as well as many other rules), so please be patient about getting responses from her. http://supportcece.wordpress.com/get-involved/write-cece/

Keep checking her blog and her facebook, tumblr and twitter pages for updates.

FREE CECE

http://freececemcdonald.tumblr.com/post/26834960331/dear-cece-supporters-two-of-ceces-friends

Demand that Chrishaun CeCe McDonald be administered the 20 milligrams of hormones that she is prescribed and allowed by court order!

CeCe is doing well in St. Cloud, even though she is putting up with a lot of harassment from guards and administration.

It took three weeks for her to begin receiving her hormones, and we learned yesterday that they are only giving her 6 milligrams instead of the 20 milligrams she is prescribed. This is egregious and insulting.

CeCe is asking her supporters to call-in to St. Cloud Health Services Director Cheri Meyer, MN DOC Health Director Nanette Larson and St. Cloud Psychological Services Director Bruce Hedge. Please CALL ALL THREE!

Demand that Chrishaun CeCe McDonald be administered the 20 milligrams of hormones that she is prescribed and allowed by court order!

Cheri Meyer (St. Cloud Health Services Director): (320)240-3077

Nanette Larson (MN DOC Health Services Director): (651)361-7280

Bruce Hedge (St. Cloud Psychological Services Director): (320)240-3030

Call today, call tomorrow, and leave messages. Fill their voicemail boxes and let them know that we are watching and that CeCe is not alone!

Please be firm but courteous when you call. Remember that prison administrators have enormous control over CeCe’s treatment, and antagonizing them could be harmful to CeCe.

Thank you for yr support of CeCe.

FREE CECE

http://freececemcdonald.tumblr.com/post/26836053684/demand-that-chrishaun-cece-mcdonald-be

If anyone is shy then here's a sample script that you can use:

"This message is for... My name is... , and I'm a friend of Chrishaun Cece McDonald.

I'm calling to request that CeCe receive the full 20 mg of hormones she has been prescribed and allowed by court order.

It's very important that she be permitted to continue her medical hormone treatment in full.

For her safety and wellbeing, please administer CeCe's full 20 milligram dosage ASAP.

For any questions, contact me at..."

Cruel and Unusual (2006, 66 minutes) is an unflinching documentary on the lives of transgender women in men's prisons. Shot over three years, this high-definition documentary film challenges the viewer's basic ideas about gender and justice through braids of poignantly graphic stories, vibrant landscape portraits and stark prison footage.

http://transcendboston.org/en/t-411/cruel-and-unusual-documentary

Women such as Cece and those featured in this documentary are amazing, so fucking courageous!

TRIGGER WARNING—transphobia, racism, rape, sexual assault/ harassment, gruesome descriptions, self-harming... just about everything.

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3/ Part 4/ Part 5/ Part 6/ Part 7

When someone hears their name called by a prison guard during mail call it can be a powerful reminder that people on the outside care about them, and it sends a message to guards and other inmates that this person has support and isn’t forgotten.

How to write your first letter to someone in prison

Afaik, Cece still hasn't received her hormones so folks in the US please call (again)!

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Some ways you can help more generally:

- Write letters & send books to CeCe in prison to show her yr love.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/freecece-mcdonald/cece-admitted-to-st-cloud-send-her-mail-today/288290337933203

- Write letters to the editor asking them to write responsible articles about CeCe's case. We NEED to keep her story in the news.

- Write yr own articles and blog post, post, re-post, forward, spread her story far and wide.

- Start a CeCe Support Committee in yr area!
http://supportcece.wordpress.com/get-involved/start-a-support-committee/

- Organize a contingent in yr local PRIDE Parade to carry signs of support and hand out flyers telling folks about her case.

- Organize a fundraiser for CeCe. It cost a lot to survive in prison. She needs money for commissary, phone calls, writing materials and to fund trips for her family and supporters to visit her. She is also being forced to pay for her attackers funeral! Let's not let her start her new life in debt to the state.

- Donate to her. There's a link on her website www.supportcece.wordpress.com.

Hello CeCe Supporters!

The Call-In campaign for CeCe to get her correct dosage of hormones was an incredible success! The prison's health administration were so "inconvenienced", they were compelled to clear the issue immediately.

CeCe is doing fine and looking fabulous. She is steadily devouring the books that everyone is sending - currently she is reading Angela Davis and is totally inspired.

She spoke a bit about the push from some supporters to launch large-scale campaigns to get Gov. Mark Dayton to pardon her, and/or to have her moved to a women's facility. She talked about how these campaigns would not only not benefit her, but how they exceptionalize her in a way that she doesn't want.

The pardoning process would not only be painful for her, but were she even to get considered, it wouldn't be until after she served her sentence. She thinks about people incarcerated for much longer terms than she, and for incredibly minor offenses (mostly drug related). Even if the emotional hardship of the process was something she felt up for, and even if the slim chance of it working actually succeeded, the outcome of her getting a pardon while others sat in prison is antithetical to her values and the whole reason she is struggling against this racist system in the first place.

As for being transfered to a women's facility, her thoughts are: Prison sucks. Period. CeCe is not safe in any prison, women's or men's. Prisons are not safe for anyone. Period. CeCe asserts (as do we) that incarcerated individuals should be able to decide for themselves where they would be safest within the system. For now, CeCe is fine being in a men's facility. For supporters to push for her to be transferred from one hell to another only serves the purpose of misdirecting energy away from the real problems of incarceration in america, and the problem of the Prison Industrial Complex as a whole.

To sum it up: CeCe does not want supporters to launch long-term campaigns on her behalf that exceptionalize her situation. Also importantly, these specific campaigns: a pardon from Gov. Dayton and getting transferred to a women's facility, wouldn't actually be beneficial to her at all. Short term campaigns such as call-ins to administration, and media blasts, are targeted efforts that let the DOC know that CeCe has widespread support, and it sends a message that we are watching them and will respond to prisoner's needs - CeCe's today, and other incarcerated transpeople tomorrow.

CeCe sends her love and gratitude to everyone who called-in on her behalf. She wishes that every wrongly incarcerated person had the same incredible support that she has, and prays for a world without bars, a world without cells.

Towards Justice,
CeCe Support Committee

First picture of CeCe from prison!

The Call-in worked, thank you Community!

[youtube]oKHf1YVATfk[/youtube]

That song is awesome.

CeCe’s back in St. Cloud: Show her some love!