Prison reform activist CeCe McDonald spoke in the latest lecture of the University of Idaho Black Lives Matter Speaker Series Wednesday night. She shared her experiences with the criminal justice system and why she decided to become an activist after her time in prison.
In June 2011, McDonald, a Black transgender woman, was arrested after being attacked by white supremacists. One of her assailants was killed in an act of self-defense. She accepted a plea to second degree manslaughter after attempting to fight the case in court. Despite identifying as a woman, she was incarcerated in male prison facilities throughout her time in prison.
McDonald was released from prison 19 months into her 41 month sentence. Campaigns for her release began just days after she was arrested and a documentary, “Free CeCe,” was created to share her story.
While discussing her incarceration, McDonald reminded listeners she was not the only one suffering. She talked about using the privilege which came with the widespread knowledge of her story to bring awareness to other peoples’ stories.
“I see all the time how society can pick and choose which Black people they want to celebrate,” McDonald said. “If you don’t think that all Black people are deserving of a chance to thrive and succeed regardless of whatever criminal activity, past or present or future or whatever the case may be, then your idea of Black Lives Matter sucks.”
While discussing the current BLM movement, McDonald said a lot of blame for the current inequalities Black people face is directed towards President Donald Trump, but not always the people who voted him into office.
“We can’t blame just one person because power is in numbers,” McDonald said. “So that’s what this call to action is about. How long are we going to be our own blockade? We can’t even see that we are our own issue. Not Trump, not Trump supporters.”
Change will only come if people are a part of the change, McDonald said. Being active within her community and pushing for things she wants to see was why she became an activist.
“I’m tired of managing my life in a world where I see people who can rape and kill and steal and destroy and dispense of the lives that are seen as unworthy or disposable and unable to navigate life as easily,” McDonald said.
The culture of calling people “Karen” and posting on social media is not enough to end the fight against racism, McDonald said, because America upholds the idea that white women are always the victim even though they have played a major role in building the structure of racism.
To McDonald, people are looking at the looting and rioting of previous BLM protests the wrong way. Black ancestors wouldn’t care about rioting and the looting, she said. They would care about the major inequalities instead.
“I think that the reality that I see is that people place value more in material things than they do in lives,” McDonald said.
Although McDonald focused her discussion on racism, she also addressed transgender rights and how traditional belief systems teach transphobic and homophobic ways of thinking.
McDonald said others often have problems accepting the identities of transgender people. She mentioned the issue of parental support of transgender and genderqueer people specifically, saying if her mother had accepted her, she would have become an entirely different person.
“It does become an issue for me when your belief system tramples on my existence and my survival,” McDonald said.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5