When award-winning actress Laverne Cox and celebrated activist CeCe McDonald took the stage at the Music Box Theatre Nov. 5, the packed audience for the Chicago House TransLife Care Program benefit Transreelization erupted into a prolonged and deafening standing ovation.
Prior to their arrival, those who attended the Chicago premiere of the powerful Jac Gares documentary Free CeCe! which centers around McDonald's actions of self-defense in June 2011, her 41-month imprisonment in a men's prison in Minnesota and her life after release, had reacted with tears, gasps and often rage at the tyrannical idiocy of the judicial system as McDonald's story played out anchored by Cox's interviews with her, the activists who worked for her release and those who work to hoist the experiences of transgender women of color from the endless depths of discrimination, injustice, imprisonment and violence to public awareness, empowerment and the freedom to live which the privileged take for granted.
It was precisely the kind of reaction Gares had hoped to invoke—something echoed by TransLife Care Program Director Josie Lynne Paul when she challenged the audience to reexamine "our hearts, minds and the way we look at the world. We're really called with this film to think about what the privilege is we have and how we add to systems of oppression or how we work to use that privilege to better those who don't have it."
"We're not all facing police oppression in the same way Black and particularly Black transwomen are facing in our culture and our society today," Paul added. "How can we lend our voices to speaking to that and to support those who are in need? I encourage you to think differently about the world presented by the experiences of CeCe McDonald. How can we make this world a different place? How can we support the resilience of an amazing, creative, fabulous community?"
The reception Cox received as she returned to Chicago to honor McDonald with the Transreelization Keeping it Real award can only have been further amplified by Paul's words and the preceding 90 minutes.
"In the three-and-a-half years since I have got to know CeCe McDonald, my life has changed so much," Cox said. "When we started this film, Orange is the New Black was starting to become this international thing and I am so blessed to be a working actress in Hollywood right now but also to be a proud, Black transgender woman."
"Our community is filled with unsung stars," Cox added. "When I met CeCe McDonald, I met someone who is a star. When we started doing this documentary, we were so pleasantly surprised to find this charismatic, articulate, passionate young woman who is filled with love. CeCe McDonald is a superstar who endured some really intense stuff that so many people around this country are enduring: Black people and trans women of color are being profiled by police, are being targeted for violence but CeCe's story is a reminder that we can fight back, that we can survive and come out on the other end and tell our stories."
McDonald accepted the award with a deep breath seemingly taken aback by the level of enthusiasm with which she was greeted.
"The struggle continues," McDonald said "Through all my hardships that I went through and am going through, I am dedicated to this movement and to my God. Now that I can really utilize this platform, what that looks like for me in challenging the status quo and getting other people to challenge the status quo with me is so important. I love this work. I love the work that I do."
That love is shared by the staff, volunteers and the advisory board of the TransLife Care Program.
At a VIP reception hosted by the advisory board and award-winning filmmakers Lana and Lilly Wachowski at their Kinowerks studios, TransLife Care Program Project Manager Channyn Lynn Parker shared some of the vital progress the initiative has made even in the face of some of the overwhelming challenges which Free CeCe! illustrated.
"We must understand how issues like racism and transphobia and even then prison industrial complex and legal systems greatly reduce the lives of trans women of color," she said. "The average life expectancy for a trans woman of color is 35 years. The average income of a trans woman of color is less than $10,000-per-pear. Transgender women of color are six times more likely to experience physical violence or interactions with police than lesbian, gay or bisexual individuals. Trans women of color are among the most discriminated against when applying for jobs. Trans issues are our issues."
To that end, the Trans Life Care Program has established a robust trans health initiative, scattered site housing for transgender individuals, the Trans Legal program which provides holistic and affirming legal services, self-help, legal assistance and education to trans people and employment assistance that includes a series of skill-building workshops, career-coaching, mentorship and internship opportunities.
For more information on the TransLife Care Program, visit www.chicagohouse.org/causes/translife-center.
