Category: Discussion 6

The film that I watched was “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson” by David France. Marsha P. Johnson was an African American transgender activist who played essential roles in the Stonewall Riots and the gay-rights movement. Her body was found in the Hudson River in 1992, and while the police labeled her death a suicide, many in the community believe she was murdered. Johnson represented a thread to those with a limited mindset. Those that believe that “biology is destiny,” this is the way nature intended. However, this view fails to account for human intervention. As human beings, we have an impact on the social arrangements of society. Transgender and other LGBTQ groups have been oppressed and dehumanize through history. One example of this is CeCe Mcdonald; she was bullied and dehumanized by people that considered themselves as “normal.” McDonald was arrested and charged with second-degree intentional murder all because she tried to defend herself. It all started when a group of at least four white people outside a bar began harassing McDonald and her friends, calling the group, all of whom were African American, “niggers”, “faggots” and even saying “look at that boy dressed like a girl tucking her dick in. It is very evident that McDonald’s was a victim was, and it was never seen as a big deal, refusing to give medical treatment. Because she is transgender, it was automatically assumed that McDonald will be sent to a men’s prison. The state did its own determination of McDonald’s gender showing the ignorance and suffering of African American transgender.

Furthermore, people who consider themselves as normal most definitively has privilege compare to someone who identify themselves as transgender. The terms utilized like cis sexual orientation is alluded to an individual recognizing as the sex they were relegated during childbirth. In the perusing, it discussed the benefit of cissexual orientation individuals and trans. The individuals who decided to be named as cissexual orientation have a superior possibility of being acknowledged and called ordinary instead of being marked extraordinary. This proves that the oppression and discrimination of normal people toward transgender have led to many issues in society when it comes to equality for the trans community. It is unfortunate for the assaults and crimes that are targeted against the LGBTQ community. We, as a society, need to become more aware of the ways in which gender is created, maintained. How it is changed through cultural expectations, that is why it varies with different cultures and interactions. This plays a massive part in the way we all communicate because we all participate in helping creating norms and expectations. Not only that, but society also creates expectations that are very limited, and it excludes some people that identify differently. Moreover, society has created social assumptions/ stereotypes that have dehumanize and devalue women opinions and other minority groups like the transgender community.

I watched the interview with “Free CECE”. It was great here from a perspective of a trans person because I got to understand the emotional part, mental thoughts, and just overall the feelings of trans people. I want to start talking about how Cece said she did not know what activist was at one point. Admitting this conveys that knowledge is power. Lack of knowledge or lack of wanting to understand different perspectives/ideas is what the problem we have in society. I also love Cece’s story because it shows why black people, and specifically black women are afraid to protect themselves. So we live in world that doesn’t protect us, and we cant even protect ourselves or else we go to jail. This is a big issue in society right now.

Watching the film “Free CeCe!”, opened my eyes even more to just how bad the criminal justice system is and how someone sentence can be determined through their gender, race, and sexuality. It is disappointing that even though she was just defending herself and you could clearly see she was, they still charged her harshly; with second-degree intentional murder. This is the world we live in, a world where we can’t even feel safe in our own homes, where we don’t even feel comfortable walking outside, and feeling like you are putting yourself at risk. Discrimination because of the presence of skin color, sexuality and gender have always been present in society throughout the years and is only getting worse from what I have voluntarily seen (I don’t like to watch the news or see the cruel realities of this society) but there is no way to get away from it. Being a trans of color, in my opinion, is seen as a criminal offense and should be punished; do I agree of course not if someone doesn’t feel right/comfortables who they are and they take that big step in changing, then DO IT! No one should be judged because of that it isn’t right, that is not how society should act or view a person just because of their sexuality, race or gender; at the end of the day that is their choice and their choice alone and doesn’t affect the outsider and their personal life. NO ONE should have to go through or even experienced in the tiniest fraction of what CeCe went through, the underprivileged shouldn’t be treated with inequality and deserve to be treated as humans and be given their rights as such. They deserve to live life without fear, shame, disrespect because they are still human, and bleed the same blood as everyone else.

 

I cannot even imagine what McDonald CeCe went through. Watching her interview and movie “Free CeCe” made me angry, towards the “Justice Systems”. For myself, I would not be as brave as CeCe if I had gone through what she had.

In the movie “Free CeCe”, when actress Laverne Cox states that” CeCe was attacked because of her race and gender. Gift for her survival was a prison sentence when she was defending herself” and she has also stated, “Anyone could be CeCe McDonald”. How strongly and clearly, she has stated how brutal was the justice system and what CeCe has to pay to defend herself. And this is true there are other hundreds and thousands of CeCe walking all over the world and anyone could be the victim for not being the gender or color or race of what actually our society has approved for.

Another thing that touched me was, being a transgender of black color was a very strong reason to make them criminals. How is that fair? And even when CeCe was being interrogated, the officer was not trying to focus on the fact that CeCe was just defending herself. And the best reason for that was it was a fight that between whites and black(transgender), the reason for fight began as white groups began with assault and whites were a privileged group so of course it gave the solid reason to anyone to make a CeCe(black transgender group) to be the criminal.

In the movie, how CeCe has explained coming from the privileged group, enjoying the places where people were murdered, or raped or punished (Especially people of black or underprivileged community) but it’s not okay for the one who has become the real victim of discrimination, being judged just because of their color or race and it’s not okay without knowing the history or what was the reality, (privileged) people enjoying those places.

In my point of view, discrimination was there in the past and it’s in the present, but this must be eradicated from our society from its root. No colored or transgender should go through what CeCe went through. No color or transgender should be given the title of a criminal. Underprivileged should not be treated with inequality. They deserve every right as a human. They deserve to live a free life. They deserve to live a respectful life. And lastly, they deserve to have their real identity.

 

The reading emphasized the privilege of being cisgender, assumptions created by cisgender people, and the challenges these create for transgender people. It additionally explained the deeper challenges some face because of race, social class, etc. A horribly perfect example of this was CeCe McDonald, who was a victim of this unjust system. Not only were transgender people criminalized by authority through CeCe’s story, but her experience was not validated because of her social class and race. Watching the film, the interview and then reading the scholarly article (in that order) made me better understand the situation. Listening to her story and her experience made me understand her point of view, the film gave CeCe a voice which educated me not by mass media but by her truth. I saw this injustice that is knitted into the system, her sadness, anger, but passion to make this a better world resonated with me. The interview about the film gave her a voice to better explain her feelings without any editing. Finally, to tie off, I understood how big this problem is because of the reading. The reading further analyzed this story to unveil a criminal justice system and society that is abundant with ignorance and prejudice. Debunking all these ideas created by an unjust system and making me aware of my privilege is something very powerful. The stereotypes of African Americans as people who are mad, denied CeCe the proper medical care and the humane treatment by authority. Being put in solitary confinement and then being put in a jail for men only denied her identity. Reading and watching her story made me wonder how many other privileges I have that I am not aware of. Black people are often criminalized by the government, mass media and criminal justice system but thanks to all the protests and movements, the world can see they are just as human as anyone else. This current time has been about reclaiming power, people are crying out their fears, and talking about these injustices, something that the criminal justice system does not often portray.

After watching the YouTube interview with Cece Donald “Free Cece” and also watching the documentary “Free Cece ! it definitely made me very emotional because of all the events that took place and how they were handled.

In the interview something was said that caught my attention and that is “A beautiful day in the park is different for a black trans woman”. Hearing this made me really upset because it true to some extend. How unfortunate that this society makes people feel unsafe. Also it was said that when we see injustice we have the power to take action, which is true but like Cece mentioned she was worried for her supporters because they could experience the same situation she was experiencing just for supporting her. I definitely believe that as a group we do have power to change and injustice. Now while watching the documentary made me mad at some point because of people’s ignorance and making Cece seem as she was at fault. In this documentary there were a lot of things that were said that really makes you think “wow we really live in a messed up world” well at least that’s what came to my mind. Cece mentioned her attacker seeing the fear in her eyes and it was as if her fear made him validate his white supremacy ( privilege), this is very sad because the fact that a person can literally see someone in fear and still have the audacity to feel superior and keep harassing that person because they know they can get away with it’s ridiculous and cruel. “Black bodies transgender or not are assumed to be criminals” it also a very good point because in this situation it was not only about being transgender it was about being a woman of color that triggered these racist people who knew exactly what they were doing and because of their stupidity of being judge mental and feeling so superior a person was killed not intentionally but for self defense. If they didn’t start calling names or even putting their hands on Cece and would’ve let her go her way a lot would’ve been prevented.

Michael O. Freeman who is a county attorney said things such as how Cece had other alternatives than stabbing him with a dangerous weapon on his cheast and he also said something about if you want to be successful avoid the conflcit and flee. His words made me feel anger because it doesn’t mention how the white group of people should’ve kept quiet and not be racist or how they should’ve never hurt Cece with a beer bottle. There are a lot of things that must change in society in order to live in peace, you may not like something but as long as it is not affecting you personally then its best to be quiet and live your own life. We as human being should be protecting each other but instead we are destroying humanity with the thought of others being more privileged and superior than a certain sex or race.

I chose to watch the Documentary “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson” This film was about the LGBTQ movement and rights. The Gay liberation movement was focused upon by outspoken activists. The Gay liberation movement is a social and political movement that was birthed in the 1960s this movement was established due to societal discrimination towards lesbians and gays. Society wanted gays to refer themselves as cisgender or cissexual which is claiming that they are their assigned sex at birth. Marsha Johnson took a stand to use her voice, her boldness came with sacrifices and consequences. Through out the documentary a trans activist by the name of Victoria Cruz started to investigate the events of how Marsha Johnson died. Unfairly law enforcement claims that Marsha committed suicide however I believe some one possibly attacked her and killed her, similar to the attack CeCe McDonalds experienced. Again I believe the lack of effort to bring justice to Marsha Johnson and the mistreatment of McDonald relates to their race. Being a Black man and/or women in society has its difficulties when it comes to opportunities, having a voice or even just simply given respect.

In the interview with CeCe McDonald he discussed the challenges he had to face including the LGBTQ  community.  When it comes to being a black man or women in the world the numbers in statistics are different compared to other races. I gained knowledge in the fact that 47% of people in the juvenile system are transgender and  60% are people of color. This is clear evidence of injustice and unfair treatment , not only are they pushed towards imprisonment but they are also striped away from the access of medical care. If this continues so will death and violence.

 

According to Johnson, there are many groups of people who identify themselves as transgender. Transgender is just an umbrella that consists of people who challenge gender normativity, which include people who claim to be Transmasculine, transfeminine and transsexual, genderqueer, Two-spirit, female to female and cross-dressers. Transgender people do not identify with their gender of birth and used medical procedures or surgeries to align themselves with their desired identity. However, in any context, transgender is considered problematic since many people do not accept or are not familiar with the concept of transgender (Johnson, 2). An example is when black people, being transgender is a sigh of whiteness and complete erosion into westernization by the whites. Also, black society considers transgender people as weak and unaccepted in the community. For some people, transsexual and transgender are the same, but some consider transgender as a political position that seems to undermine the medical establishments that pathologies transness. Generally, scholars in transgender studies try to eliminate the standard norm where people define gender in alignment with the physical characteristics of a person. Some scholars argue that the term ’transing’ is used in many transgender contexts to undermine gender’s discreteness. At some level, transgender studies help in understanding culture since it addresses a non-normative identity and coins down a name that can be used to address this identity (Johnson, 3).

In transgender studies, the words cisgender and cissexual are used to resist how a man or a woman can mean a transgender man or transgender woman by default. The prefix ‘cis’ is used to show that things are on the same side. If someone’s morphology matches with his or her sexual identity, she or he is said to be cissexual while a person whose morphology matches the gender is said to be cisgender. The definitions emphasize how people frequently define gender in relationship to a binding to the society, but the categories in gender and sex are performed and constructed. The labels cissexual and cisgender show that there are trans persons who retain their gender identities, despite going through procedures to make a physical appearance to change their selfhood. The two terms are also significant in explaining how various privileges work in society. People who receive cisgender privileges have a morphology that aligns with the community’s expectations of a particular sex. Some opportunities of cisgender people include having proper identification from the government that accurately represents a person’s identity, avoiding being asked questions about one’s genitals, and avoid violence in places such as prisons and homeless shelters. Notably, Cissexual people are denied some rights by the society, since people do not easily accept them as they walk the streets like normal people. This make it hard to create friend or have a normal relationship with another person.

According to Johnson, Cece Mc Donalds is persecuted for being transgender, and the people who offend her are not charged. In her case, her sexuality greatly impacted her life since it made her get imprisoned because of defending herself against people who were trying to harm her for being transgender. After being assaulted and killing one of the people attacking her, Mc Donald is arrested and jailed while friend to Schmitz, who was also in the attack, was left free by the court. This shows how the government is biased to transgender people in society by how they handled the Mc Donald case ((Johnson, 3). Accept from Mc Donald’s case, there have been many transgender people faced injustices, but the system refuses to grand the justice. Of all social institutions, the government is the least expected to engage in such activities.

Watching the YouTube interview with Cece McDonald and the Death and Life of Marsha P.Johnson videos were very emotional for me. I felt that we as a human being still far far away from being human with each other. The omnipresence of social exclusion based on race, ethnicity, and gender is very deceiving and alarming at the same time.
Being transgender ( a gender identity that doesn’t match the sex they were given at birth. Some people can be born with a vagina, vulva but they identify as male because they feel they belong to their bodies and vice versa), and being part of a minority not wanted by the community represents a lot of challenges and difficulties from being pushed to the side to being forgotten by the society due to the lack of privileges, social justice, and the injustice of the criminal system where transgenders were put in jail just because of their sexual orientation. Marsha P Johnson’s movie on Netflix was very touching as it showed the details of her death, the escalation of hate crime against the transgender community, and the creation of the transgender movement demanding their rights as citizens and human beings.
As Victoria Cruz, the crime victim advocate was stating how far the hate crime against the LGBTQ community has escalated to murders and where most cases were gone cold because these people were not an important element of the society. Marsha .P.Johnson was one of these cases when she was found dead back on July,5th,1992.
Stonewall was a bar owned by the mafia as stated per Sylvia Rivera, Masha’s closest friend and activist, and where guy people were not allowed because of their sexual orientation. Her case was ruled as a suicide but most people never believed that she could commit suicide, but it was mostly a hate crime against the transgender community. Marsha was the backbone behind the transgender ‘s rights and Star house for homeless kids. ”her mission was about spreading goodwill and peace” Agosto Machado.
Marsha said in the video” the price you pay is high..” and she was right. She paid her life as a price to bring awareness to transgender communities and to bring their rights as a human being. She was a butterflier full of happiness and joy.
CeCe McDonald’s criminalization, incarceration in all men jail, the denial of her rights because of her skin color, backgrounds, and sexual orientation as a transgender, sex binary still proof the lack of our justice system in treating everyone fairly based on their human rights that were attributed to them at birth, the fair distribution of rights, the deprivation of the qualities resources and opportunities for everyone to have a decent life. The idea that high rates of incarceration are socially concentrated in disadvantaged communities is very popular because of its relationship to poor economic level as well as very low levels of schooling. I believe that even when CeCe mentioned that about ninety percent of the people in jail are African American that doesn’t necessarily mean that all African American are violent and criminals, but it might suggest the need of improvement of resources toward this community, and the creation of policies and practices to minimize those differences between social classes based on skin color.
Public media spreads the images that most crimes are concentrated in low-income communities of color and therefore impact the mind of most viewers and their perspective ideas on these communities. Our society still thinks and treats each other differently based on their sexual orientation from being guy, transgender, or part of a small community not wanted or rejected by society. The gender binary of sex and gender-based on the body parts, hormones, and not based on how one feels about his/herself and if he/she fit in that body that was given at birth is very challenging. Why can’t we express our Gender identity and how we feel inside through clothing, behavior, and personal appearance without being judged or misunderstood.
both cases of CeCe McDonald and Marsha P.Marshall brought up light on the evolution against the gender normativity and the revolt against the mistreatment, the hate, and the misjudgment of transgender in our community.
Watching them destroying Sylvia’s house by the Hudson river gave me chills and tears in my eyes. the disparities are invisible to most Americans because they live it and see it every day. Only the people who suffer from it like CeCe McDonalds or Marsha P Johnson can educate us about it. How can we this insensitive to a human being and deny them their basic rights? How can’t we let everyone be who they are and be happy for ourselves and them? Why we have to fit certain criteria to be able to part of this community?