02/19/14 02/19/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! this was not a fair choice. >> cece mcdonald is being punished for surviving a hate crime. >> this is unacceptable. serving 19 months in prison, the african-american transgender activist cece mcdonald is free. she was arrested in 2011 after using deadly force to protect

herself from a group of people who attacked her on the streets of minneapolis. her case helped turn a national spotlight on the violence and discrimination faced by transgender women of color. she joins us in our studio today along with laverne cox, the transgender actress and activist who stars in the hit tv show, "orange is the new black." >> trans woman of color are not supposed to survive. -- so often people seem to prefer us to be dead. we have our transgender day of her membranes where it seems like one of the few times where people seem to speak the names of trans women are usually trans women and trans woman of color. cece mcdonald survived. >> we will speak with alisha williams of the sylvia rivera law project edge fights discrimination against gender nonconforming people. all of that and more coming up.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. clashes between police and antigovernment protesters are continuing in the ukrainian capital kiev in the deadliest episode since protest began three months ago. at least 25 people have died, including at least nine police officers and more than 200 have been injured since tuesday when protesters clashed with police near parliament. in the evening, police closed in on the protesters encampments in independent square, spurring protesters to set fire to the promoter in a bid to defend the site. the protests erupted in november over the decision by president yanukovych to strengthen economic ties with russia instead of europe. opposition leader kiev said talks with the president have broken down. the am very unhappy because president did not want to listen

to the opposition do not want to listen. it is just one way. stop.otests have to right now it is very important to make a break and no more fighting. is thely klitschko opposition leader who u.s. diplomatic cables was recently caught on tape discussing in a hacked phone call. the leaked conversation, she says -- european foreign ministers are holding an emergency meeting on ukraine today in brussels where they're expected to discuss possible sanctions. alsoy crashes -- clashes rooted in thailand tuesday as police their attempted to clear protest sites. five people were killed and at least 65 wounded. protesters in bangkok had been

calling for the resignation of the prime minister, accusing her of being controlled by her brother, former prime minister indicative corruption, now living in self-imposed exile. ruleding britain has police acted legally when they detained the partner of glenn greenwald at heathrow airport in london under an anti-terrorism law. david miranda was carrying documents leaked by nsa whistleblower edward snowden when he was detained for nearly nine hours while acknowledging the detention marked "indirect interference with press freedom." the court upheld its legality. the ruling comes just days after glenn greenwald and three other journalists won the george polk award for the reporting on the nsa. greenwald said the court ruling makes it clear the top british spy agency was monitoring "the communications of myself, david, and/or the guardian." he said --

in venezuela, right-wing opposition leader leopoldo lópez has turned himself into the national guard after authorities issued a warrant for his arrest last week, accusing him of inciting deadly clashes. protests by opponents of maduro left of the street people dead last week. his supporters and opponents held rival rallies tuesday in the capital caracas. maduro has accused the u.s. of backing the unrest and expelled three u.s. diplomats. white house press secretary jay carney denied the claims. >> we have seen many times the venezuelan government tries to distract from its own actions by blaming the u.s. or other members of the international community for events inside venezuela. these efforts reflect a lack of seriousness on the part of venezuelan government to deal with the grave situation of faces.

the allegations against our diplomats are the venezuelan government are baseless and false. >> u.s. border patrol agent shot and killed a man near san diego, california tuesday after the agent was hit in the face with a rock. officials say the agent was pursuing a group of people suspected of crossing the border from mexico. when a mantra rocket him, the agent opened fire and killed him. the agent suffered minor injuries and decline hospital care. a september report released by the department of homeland security's inspector general showed u.s. border agents have been involved in 20 fatalities since 2010, eight of which involved rockthrowing. an uncensored copy of the report obtained by the center for investigative reporting showed it featured a recommendation from a think tank that agencies restraint when dealing with rock throwers. it in the copy that was publicly released, the recommendation was blacked out. a former u.s. soldier convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl in iraq after

killing her parents and younger sister has been found dead in his prison cell in arizona. steven dale green was found hanging in an apparent suicide. in 2006, he and three fellow soldiers went to the home of an iraqi family, where green killed three people, then join his colleagues and engraving a 14-year-old girl before killing her. three years later, green was sentenced to life in prison. he was the first u.s. soldier convicted under a 2000 law that allows you a soldiers and contractors to face prosecution for crimes committed abroad. warning:fficials are ash from a spell by duke energy has blanketed the bottom of north carolina's dan river. the u.s. fish and wildlife service says it had discovered a mound of toxic sludge in the river that stretched about 75 feet long and up to five feet deep. coal ash was found up to 70 miles away from the spill site.

report came a day after state environment regulators in a duke energy executive told north carolina state lawmakers that the spill does not pose an immediate threat to public health. president obama has announced a new round of steps to develop tighter fuel efficiency standards for trucks. on tuesday,maryland obama said he has instructed federal agencies to develop higher standards for medium and heavy trucks by 2016. >> heavy-duty trucks account for just 4% of all the vehicles on the highway. i know when you're driving sometimes, it feels like it is more him a but they're only 4% of all the vehicles. but they're responsible for about 20% of carbon pollution in the transportation sector. improving gas mileage for these trucks are going to drive down our oil imports even further, which reduces carbon pollution even more, cuts down on businesses fuel costs -- which should pay off in lower prices

for consumers. >> president obama is in mexico today for the so-called trace amigo summit with canada and mexico. the three north american leaders are expected to announce an easing of border controls for corporate executives and to promote the neoliberal reforms the mexican president pena ni eto, who recently opened the country's oil sector to foreign companies. this week hundreds of mexican teachers marched on the highway therd the summit to protest education reform. the meeting comes as president obama faces pressure from the canadian prime minister stephen harper to approve the keystone xl oil pipeline, which sandscarry canadian tar oil to the was gulf coast. the pipeline has faced mass protest in the u.s.. another likely focus of today's summit is the transpacific

partnership, a secretive deal among the pacific rim countries to establish a free-trade zone encompassing nearly 40% of the global economy. rick say the tpp would further entrench the failures of the north american free-trade agreement, which went into effect 20 or's ago and caused mass displacement in mexico. >> members of the russian protest group pussy riot have been released following the attention in sochi, russia were the winter olympics are underway. they have been attained three times in three days. -they have been detained three times in three days. >> every day they detain us. we haven't spoken out about it. today went overboard. they accused us of a crime. the police came for me today and, specifically i was accused of theft that took place at the

hotel where i'm staying. >> five members of the group emerged from the police station tuesday wearing brightly covered hoods and singing the new song. in the u.s., and 84-year-old nun has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison for infiltrating a nuclear weapon site in a protest for peace. activists,peace calling themselves the " transform now plowshares" broke into the nuclear facility in oak ridge, tennessee. they cut holes in the fence to pace -- paint he slogans and through blood on the wall, revealing major security flaws of the facility, which processes uranium for hydrogen bombs. war than two hours later when security guards finally arrived, they found the protesters singing. the three were convicted last year of damaging a national defense site and two of the activist received five-year sentences while the 84-year-old megan rice received 35 months.

outistleblower who spoke about safety concerns at another nuclear weapon site in washington state has been fired from her job. donna busche had complained of retaliation after filing safety complaints related to the cleanup of the hanford nuclear site, which is the most polluted nuclear weapon site in the united states. she was fired from the firm urs corp. on tuesday. at least two other top project officials at the site have reportedly been fired or left under pressure after raising safety concerns. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. hasurn today to a case that turned a national spotlight on the violence and discrimination faced by transgender women of color in the u.s. that's the case of cece mcdonald . on june 5, 2011, cece mcdonald and two friends were walking past a minneapolis park when they were reportedly accosted with homophobic, trans-phobic

and racist slurs. cc was hit with a bar glass that cut open her face, requiring 11 stitches. one of the people who confronted cece mcdonald and her friends, 47-year-old dean schmitz, was dead from establishing a police they came from a pair of fabric scissors in cece mcdonald's purse. at the time, the murder rate for gay and transgender people in this country was at an all-time high. the national coalition of anti-violence programs documented 30 eight-related murders of lgbt people in 2011, 40% of the victims were transgender women of color. nearly a year after the incident in minneapolis, cece mcdonald stood trial on charges of second-degree manslaughter. the judge in her case rejected key evidence, including a swastika tattoo on schmidt's positive chest and his three prior convictions of assault. facing up to 80 years in prison, cece mcdonald took a plea deal that sentenced her to 41 months

behind bars. mcdonald was held in a men's prison, even though she identifies as a woman. in the eyes of her supporters, cece mcdonald was jailed for defending herself against the bigotry and violence that transgender people so often face and are so rarely punished. this is part of the video that was crowd sourced with the voices of different supporters forece mcdonald, appealing her freedom while she was still behind bars. on the video, they come together to tell her story. >> last june, a minneapolis woman was attacked on her way to a grocery store with her friends. >> a group of onlookers assaulted them. >> yelling obscenities and smashing a glass in her face. >> fearful, she did whatever she could. >> a pair of fabric scissors. >> they saved her life. >> when a man lunged at her and was stabbed will stop >> unfortunately, she was arrested for the man dying because of it. >> she's been accused of murder

and faces upwards of 80 years in prison. >> sound ridiculous? it gets better. >> the main attacker who was killed -- white male neo-nazi. >> gibson did these were just any obscenities. >> [bleep] >> a hate crime. this was a hate crime. >> why then is cece mcdonald behind bars? >> because the district attorney and the court did not see it that way. but they rejected the following bible evidence. -- >> they rejected the following viable evidence. >> those little statistics that -- >> tradespeople are more at risk . transpeople are more at risk.

>> three previous convictions for assault. and alcohol in his system of the attack. >> how she "channeled for scissors in an unreasonable way" -- >> and what she wrote a bad check. >> because the usable evidence was so void of actual substance -- >> the odds were stacked against her. >> she was forced to make a choice. >> face the charges -- >> likely facing years in charges -- >> going to get slapped with an 80 year prison sentence. >> or plead guilty. >> and only spend three years in prison. >> she chose the latter. >> was it really a choice? >> when it became not a matter of innocence or guilt -- >> the degree of guilt -- >> when the path of freedom will down to the lesser of two evils -- >> really guilty or someone guilty? >> no, this was done a fair

choice and not a fared trial. >> this is unacceptable. >> when people like cece mcdonald are being killed almost monthly. >> governor, you're the only one with the power to stop this injustice. >> these parted cece mcdonald -- >> and show her and the world that bravery like this -- >> should be heralded and not punishable. looks a bit of that was crowd source with the voices of different supporters of cece mcdonald. cece mcdonald walked out of prison earlier this month after serving 19 months. she was also given credit for nine months of time served before her trial. and she joins us here in our new york studio. we are also joined by one of cece mcdonald's most well-known supporters am a laverne cox, actress, producer, activist, transgender woman who was there with cece mcdonald the day she left prison. some fans might be used to seeing laverne cox in prison attire. she plays a character on the

popular netflix show, "orange is the new black." her character is a transgender woman imprisoned for credit card fraud, which she used to finance her transition. laverne cox is producing a forthcoming documentary about cece mcdonald called "free cece ." it feel to be free? >> first and foremost, it is a feeling that i really can't express, but i can tell you is a huge load off my shoulders. it is really good to be able to get back into doing everyday things, being a woman, living life. panele other day, i did a for the antiwar committee and someone asked me how is it for

andto come out of prison regain your life? isold that person, every day a journey. each day i have to pick back up a piece of me from where i left off two years ago. it kind of touched everybody because it is a true statement. you have to get back into everyday things on top of things related to my transitioning and career-situated things. you know, having down time with my family and being able to hug them without someone watching over us are having a time limit to love someone, i really can't put that into words. i can just say it is a really,

really good feeling to be back with everyone and to actually use this platform that i have now to educate people in to inform people about the violence thenst transwomen, about prison industrial complex to let people know about hatred towards women and transwomen and to be open to helpand people understand what it is like for me and for other transwomen who are in prison and people in general who have to and martiallicies law of prison, i should say. >> laverne cox, why was cece's case so important to you? >> first of all, i'm just so here to be here with cece

in new york city. i'm so happy to see you. it was moving to see all of those voices in support of a transwoman of color. so often our lives are treated as if they don't matter. i think that is what -- why her case has meant so much to me. i could have easily been cece. i was kicked once on the street. easily that could've escalated into a situation that cece mcdonald face. too many women of color face. the act of walking on the street is often contested, not only from citizens, but from the police. i had the wonderful pleasure visiting a young group -- group of young people in new orleans louisiana called breakout. they were formed a few years ago to do with the criminalization of lgbtq youth of color by new orleans police. a few weeks ago, a wonderful actress on "arsenio hall" talked

about being in new orleans and basically witnessing repeated ents of profiling of transwom of color by the police. i think is important -- she drew a lot of controversy because she used language that a lot of trans folks find offensive, but the takeaway should be, we have the wit this to the police brutality that so many trans people face all over this country. >> were going to take a break and then come back to this discussion. our guest are laverne cox, the actress on "orange is the new black." ,nd we also have cece mcdonald who last month was released from prison after serving 19 months there. back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

>> one of cece mcdonald's favorite artist. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are joined by the african-american transgender activist cece mcdonald. released from prison in january after 19 months. she was arrested in 2011 after using deadly force to protect herself from a group of people who attacked her on the streets of minneapolis all stop her case help turn a national spotlight on the violence and discrimination faced by

transgender women of color. also with us, laverne cox, the actress, producer, activist from a transgender woman who was there with cece mcdonald the day she left prison. she stars in the tv show, "orange is the new black." and we're joined by alisha williams, staff attorney for the sylvia rivera law project and director of the groups prisoner justice project. in 2012, democracy now! spoke to rai'vyn cross, one of cece mcdonald plus best friends. she described the harassment she and cece mcdonald face for years. lives we've of our been together, we've had a solid friendship of eight years, we experienced this on a daily basis when we wake up and go to sleep. in a public place or just transphobicod, slurs, racial slurs -- i mean, we best to do with the just by keep going and staying strong.

>> that was rai'vyn cross. in fact, she is in the new york studios today, but not on the set. comes for the first time since she was freed from prison to new york will stopcece, what was your time like in prison? you're also a prison activist and have been. very dark anda bad place, basically. i had to deal with a lot of discrimination -- more so than any of the other male inmates. >> you were put in a men's prison? >> yes. >> you chose not to fight that, to be put in a women's prison? >> yes, and my reasoning was after educating myself on the prison industrial complex and the history behind

african-americans in incarceration, i felt like sending me to any prison would not stop my issue. men's prisons, women's prisons, they are prisons and they're not good. i felt like instead of focusing of the supportgy and the people involved, telling them we can use that energy we can make sure that i'm not being discriminated against and to make sure that i was safe wherever i went. and so by me doing that, people thought i was kind of crazy because it was like, well, you know, you deserved to be in a women's prison. me personally, i felt like it would solve any problems. it wouldn't change the fact that

now i'm a felon, it would not change the fact that i have to be under these harsh and cruel policies that everyone has to deal with. -- that everyone has to deal with who is in prison. i stepped back from trying to figure out whether i wanted to be in a men's or women's prison because it would have helped. it would not make me happy. it would not take away that pain i was dealing with. i just kind of let that go and focused my energy on other things. >> alisha williams, can you talk about the situation of transgender women in men's prisons and what are the issues nationwide that they face? >> oftentimes what we see is when transwomen are incarcerated, their place in a men's facility because the facilities basically use their assigned sex to determine where they should be placed. we have new laws being passed at the prison rape limitation act.

it is a federal law. it is not mandatory for states to comply with, but if they don't comply, they risk losing federal funding. pria states trans people should be -- >> prison rape limitation act. yes. when trans people are incarcerated, their individual assessment of where they would be safest should be taken into consideration along with other factors. the court show the prison system a lot of deference. being asee pria as solution, necessarily, but it is something advocates have now under toolkits to use to advocate for safer placement for people and as cece said, it should be up to the individual. >> i want to turn to laverne cox and your character from the netflix show, "orange is the new black." laverne's care your -- character

is sofia, in prison for credit card fraud she used to finance her transition. in this clip, she is speaking with a prison doctor. >> listen, talk, i need my dosage. i am giving $80,000 and my freedom for this. i'm finally going to be who i'm supposed to be. do you understand, i can't go back? >> i'd like to help you. unfortunately, you have elevated levels which could mean liver damage. >> that could mean anything. >> we are going to take you off your hormones entirely until we can schedule an ultrasound and get a clean read. >> but that could take months. >> i can offer you an antidepressant. >> offer you an antidepressant. that is laverne cox in "orange is the new black." she plays the prisoner sofia. talk about your role and how

come --, and this experience is. >> first of all, i wanted to state around cece's choice to stay where she was housed initially. it is estimated 49% of sexual assaults that happen in prison happen as a result of prison staff. we know the matter where you are placed, that is really a huge issue that needs to be addressed. sophia, i've often said in some ways she is privileged because she gets to serve her time in a women's prison. the issue we just saw in the clip is basically sohpia being taken off her hormones. that is something that cece talks about having experience to prison. >> where is she in her transition in prison? >> she is been placed in a women's prison because of her surgical status. she is had gender reconstructive surgery. because of that, she is in a

women's prison. depending on the state you are in, you will be placed in women's prison based on her surgical status but some states genesbased solely on the your place with that birth. it is a major health concern for trans people. it is devastating. for me as a trans woman, there are hot flashes, a weird sort of menopause that happens, but it is really bad for your help if you're not producing hormones are, as my character wasn't, austinu're at risk for process or other conditions that women would face if they're taken off hormones. >> talked about the research that goes into your character. you are remarkable figure because you are a remarkable actress, but talk about how this character now we understand when is the next season going to premiere? >> june 6. we just announced that for those

who have been anxiously awaiting, as have five. the second season premieres june 6. the research i did for my character, much of it had to do with me and my own lived experience as a trans woman, but have been researching trans folks in prison because of cece's story before even found out about "orange is the new black." it just sort of all aligned. >> when you talk about your own life, it is truly fascinating, even in the film and the part where the flashbacks to you s,ophia is married to a woman and has a child, those flashbacks are played by your actual identical twin brother? >> the pre-transition flashbacks, she was a firefighter before she transition. those moments were played by my identical twin brother. he is a musician. >> and this is in relax. >> yes, he is a brilliant musician.

he is amazing. i am a twin. i am very lucky i have a loving family and i feel very blessed. it is very unusual to see a trans woman playing a trans character on tv. i've heard a lot of people have tweeted to me and folks at dinner parties think, is she really trans? i think people are not used to seeing real trans playing trans roles. i think is really important people to see reflections of themselves in media. i think that can begin to shift the conversation. i think so many of the issues that trans folks face has to do with policies but also how our stories are told in the media. how we treat more multidimensional, fully humanized stories of trans people in the media. to get tocan be a way know someone. >> tell us your story. >> what you want to know? >> talk about growing up. there is you and your identical twin brother.

you decidedout how to transition, how you felt when, i assume, people called to "the boys" all the time, that you felt, no. >> i was always a creative person. i started dancing at a young age. i was very feminine. i was chased home from school almost every day because i was very feminine. i never fit neatly into the boy role. i don't think i ever really had male privilege because i was so feminine. i never really was in a boy situation in terms of my story. for me, it was about getting -- moving past denial. i told the story million times to my third grade teacher who called my mother and said, your son is going to end up in new orleans wearing a dress if you don't get him into therapy right

away. i was just in new orleans a few days ago during a talk at tulane. it took over 20 or sport my teachers for addiction -- over 20 years for my teachers prediction come true. because of the policing of my gender that happened, i have a lot of internalized transphobia. it wasn't until i moved to new york and met trans people i was able to debunk a lot of those misconceptions i had about trans people. a lovebegan to develop for myself, i was able to accept myself and transition. >> cece mcdonald, what about your story? >> well, my story is similar to laverne's. >> where were you born? >> chicago, illinois. i moved to minnesota when i was 18. prior to that, i was very feminine. i grew up in a big family. my grandma and granddad had 18

kids, nine boys and nine girls. like laverne said, i grew up in a really heavily religious family, very -- as people called them, bible thumper's. there was a lot of policing .bout my femininity it kind of made me hate myself. it made me become, i guess, more rebellious the most teens would at that age. i pretty much had a hard life. i was out on my own since i was 14. from sleeping on park benches and couch hopping and trying to figure out what was going to do with my life, i really wanted to get a leg up but it didn't seem like there was opportunities for trans woman in chicago. it seemed like every place i went into slammed a door in my

face. it was really hard for me to figure out what i was going to do with my life. some major consideration, i decided to move to minnesota. it did notvited me take me very much time to take her up on her offer because it seemed like i had nothing to go for in chicago. me, you know, i can start over and there are more resources and i can get this help and that help. it sounded really tasteful. i wanted to expand my horizons and see what i can, you know, or how i could better myself. i moved to minnesota. that is when i actually started my transition as far as hormone therapy and finding a therapist and stuff like that. me build thisade

love for other trans women like you are because, you have this part of you that is unquestionable and it is a big mystery until you meet these people. you're like, yeah, i think i know who i am as a person. little badou get a advice, sometimes you get the best advice, but it was all helpful for me in my transitioning. and now i am here today. >> alisha williams, how common is the transteen homeless? , we have aebsite number of charts that explain the disproportionate representation of trans people in prison because of things that happen before hand, being forced into poverty and expressing homelessness. it could be from family rejection or the lack of support at school, being discriminated against and bullied by other students or by school

administrators or not having that someone tried to tell you you're going to the wrong bathroom. we have a lot of people who are rested on the streets because we work with low income people of color, living in neighborhoods that already are heavily policed. >> we have a chart right now to and got to go back through it because it is quite interesting. when you look at the number of arele who are in prison who trans, you have all trans persons, 16% have gone to prison or jail. black trans persons, 47%. american indian trans people, 30%. en 21%.m transmission, 10%. how do you change those numbers? >> definitely, even though we have a law in our name, we don't

believe the law is the answer. we have a lot of legal remedies that reduce harm to people in prison are facing, but the answers to keep people out of prison and to provide safe access to health care, safe spaces, save and plummet and education. we need to push for those policies in our neighborhoods to make sure were keeping trans people in low income people out of jail in providing safe access to the same systems other people have access to. >> laverne cox? >> the bigger picture, how do we begin to create spaces in our culture where we don't stigmatize transgender identity. it is so often acceptable to make fun of trans people, to ridicule them. when you look at the epidemic of people, soves trans many people think our identities are inherently suspect and we should be criminalized because of that. in arizona, they were trying to

criminalize going to the bathroom master. literally. that policy was overturned. people leadet trans the discussions in terms of who we are and what the discussion about our lives should be. >> defining ourselves. want to turn to that in the mainstream media to turn to a clip from television, the authoring transgender advocate janet mock who has written a book about her own life for recently joined piers morgan to .alk about that book after the interview, she said she felt piers had tried to sensationalize her story by saying "she used to be a man and was born a boy." on-screenyed an descriptor under her name saying she was a boy in such was 18. if invited her -- he invited her back onto the show. i want to go to a clip. >> with the greatest respect,

and i mean that, you have written a book "redefining realness." i have got here the article that started the whole media profile. " repeatedly inoy your words. >> it is not my words. i'm a writer. but let me ask a simple question -- >> i would like to ask you a question. >> ok, can i ask my first and then you can ask yours." my question is, do you dispute you were born a boy." >> i was born a baby who was assigned male leopard. i did not identify or live my life as a boy. as soon as i had enough agency my life to grow up, i became who i am. >> that is janet mock speaking to piers morgan. janet mock tweeted a photo of herself laverne cox and laverne cox reacting to her initial interview with piers morgan.

you both have your eyebrows raised. >> my initial reaction to the interview, and that was the night she was having her book party, which is an incredible book, my reaction was not to the interview but initially to the tweets sent out surrounding the interview. it seemed as if what was happening in the tweets was a suggestion she's to be a man and the sorts of things. janet would never tell her story that way. she is never described her experience that way. the important piece for the media to remember when telling the stories is we should let trans people take the lead in terms of how we describe ourselves. janet has written extensively about critiquing. critiques the marie claire article that piers morgan

refers to. you wrote saying, that article. >> and she did not. it was an interview. the editor of the magazine a few days later after the controversy with piers morgan, tweeted that janet and the writer of the article had issue with the title "i was born a boy." the attackers of the -- the editors went with that anyway. >> go with the title. >> i think the mainstream media over the past 61 years, since the first internationally known trans woman stepped off the plane, we have had certain narratives we have told about who trans people are. that narrative has been someone born a boy having sex or some assured jury in becoming a woman. -- and having sex reassignment surgery in becoming a woman. that is not everyone's story. we assign gender at birth. we don't know how people identify. gender is so deeply complicated. it is about more than genitalia.

we assign people genders at birth. no one is born anything. we name and impose that on someone. it is in port with trans folks to listen to how they describe their own experiences. the amazing thing to me about janet mock is she wrote this book to redefine how our stories are told in in this media moment, the interviewers and the producers of the piers morgan show relied on traditional ways of telling trans stories when janet has this wonderful document of a new way to tell our stories. >> it is very interesting when you talk about a baby, a person is born a baby. , what is so important the first question most everyone asks when they meet a little baby, is it a boy -- >> or girl? i say is it a boy, girl, or trans? i say that to disrupt the binary assumption and open the possibilities of, we don't really know how someone might identify.

binary model puts people in rigid categories that most of us don't fit neatly into. >> isn't more about how the person who is reacting should react to the little baby? i think studies have been done, years ago, baby x, eric decided not to reveal the sex of the child because they decided they didn't want people to respond to the infant in stereotypical ways , that that determines how we treat and intent. me, all ofresting to the bowling experience, the violence that so many trans folks experience, it is about policing gender. to make sure people fit neatly into two categories that most of us don't fit into, that we have to police gender constantly to retain this diner model. if we just let people be who they are, how amazing would that be? >> we have to take a break and

then come back to this discussion. i want to ask about facebook that has just expanded the gender identifications that people can use. we are talking with laverne cox, actors --actress, and cece mcdonald, her first trip to new york since she was freed from prison after serving 19 months. and we're joined by alisha williams who staff attorney at the sylvia rivera law project. we will be back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

>> the theme song of, "orange is the new black." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we talk about the violence

and discrimination faced by transgender women of color, i want to turn to a story here in new york. i'm january 30, a group of transgender women and their allies gathered outside the new york city police department headquarters to demand justice for islan nettles. nettles was a 21-year-old chance gender woman of color who was taunted with slurs and then inten to death in harlem august. i suspect was arrested on assault charges, but the case was later dismissed. so far, no one has been charged with her murder will stop protesters have accused police of mishandling the investigation will stop is are some of the voices from the rally. one of them in the middle of this piece is islan nettles' mother. no justice. >> no peace. >> there will be no justice. >> there ain't going to be no peace. >> i'm living in new york peace. i am as educated and lyrical and human because we are dehumanizing the trans community. this is a prime example of

dehumanizing someone and their rights. >> islan nettles was beaten before she could -- until she could move no more. threes incarcerated in police stations where 10 different cameras aren't irking. this goes beyond discrimination. what about the safety of all new yorkers? how can you be in the middle of harlem and cameras don't work? it can happen anyone. if it happened to a white woman, it would we be standing in the freezing cold fighting for justice six months later? >> dorsey on the 17. >> dorsey. >> sergeant dorsey. >> he told me the only thing he could tell me was that the person was arrested. i said, half of my child's brains are out of her head and that is all you can tell me? and no one came from that precinct. but i thank all of you for coming. i appreciated it and that is all i have to say.

he was arrested, but he wasn't charged. i sat with his mom who is right there in court to listen to them sort of destroyed her as a person. it was disgusting. >> unacceptable. byare tired of waiting lesbian and gay folks to champion the policies and what they're interested. marriage doesn't impact us. we're targeting pushed away and disseminate it for access to jobs, education, housing. we have had enough. this is continual. this is not new. this is indicative for new york city policies. >> violence changes us all everywhere. whether it is cece mcdonald in minnesota or us here in harlem in new york city. >> trans people are no longer a

marginalize committed it, no longer a disenfranchised community. we are doctors and lawyers and taxpayers. we demand and deserve the exact same rights as everyone else. we're not asking for special rights, we are asking for human rights. people are being killed all the time and no one is being charged with them. >> no justice. >> no peace. but some of the voices at a rally calling for justice in the case of islan nettles. laverne cox, this is a case you are particularly interested in hearing new york. >> again, with this case, we see the safety of trans folks just walking down, having the audacity to walk down the street , and being questioned. --often the director of the so often they talk about how

folks who have been served by the center for transwoman who have lost to violence, their cases have not been solved. so often these cases of murder -- i think it reflects how so often our lives reflect how they're not treated as if they don't matter by police and society. >> this has to hit very close to home. yeah -- got watching that made me where i knowtime what it is like to have to always have this guard up because you don't know when someone will literally try to kill you for just think you want

to be. to know islan nettles' life was taken from her out of hatred and out of ignorance, it really i'm trans, andse all the people that i know who are trans that are really close to me, i always have this fear for them. i would never want someone to get a phone call saying i was dead or me getting a phone call saying one of my friends was someone just wanted to hurt them.

having this glorious life or she dies -- where she dies of old age or natural causes or whatever. usually for my own -- you know, me knowing about the history of violence against transwomen, i've yet to hear of a transwoman who is just lived her life happily. i am trying to be one of those women who tells other transwomen to educate themselves and to protect themselves and to be safe and to be cautious because people do not care. trans people are like props to people sometimes, i feel like, like we're just less than human. it is really ridiculous we have to live a life like this every day. transwomenny other who have dealt with violence

over the course of growing up, you know what i'm saying, i have to deal with this on a daily basis. and for me to have to watch that was really heartbreaking. it is another story. it is another name we have to add to the day of remembrance. i always encourage people -- we have to change that. we have to make trans day ever members of trans day of celebration. we need to celebrate our lives, -- itating human, but it is just so much. >> laverne cox, this must hit home for you, too. >> for me what comes up listening to her talk is the collective trauma that so much of our community faces, it is important to look at the intersection of fees, that we're usually talking about trans woman of color. there's something about black bodies are under attack and

black trans bodies are under attack. spaces ofcreate healing for ourselves as a community in the face of such oppression and in the face of such trauma? it is devastating. it is devastating to our community to continually hear about this kind of violence and it is pervasive. and the document, people can find it online, the documentary will look at intimate partner violence, the different elements of violence that surrounds the situation to hopefully find some solutions. >> i want to thank you all for joining us. we want to do a post-show after and will post it online were also want to talk about the new definitions or identifiers in facebook and more. our guests are cece mcdonald, who has just recently been released from prison, laverne cox, the actress who stars in "orange is the new black" and alisha williams.

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