For those who are still stubbornly maintaining that the assault on a young woman in a Baltimore area McDonalds had nothing to do with her status as a transgender woman, irrespective of her surgical status, and was solely a racial matter, let's shine a bright spotlight on a few facts.
The following are excerpts from an Associated Press article, dated April 26, 2011:
The woman beaten, 22-year-old Chrissy Lee Polis, told The Baltimore Sun that before she was attacked she heard a teen say Polis was a man using the women's restroom and accused Polis of talking to her man. The 14-year-old told police that she and Brown fought with Polis over using the restroom, according to charging documents.
Vicky Thoms said she walked into the restaurant to find the two teens beating Polis..........When she stepped up and asked the girls to stop, Thoms ended up getting punched in the face herself, she said.
Afterward, a man behind the counter asked Thoms if she realized that the person being beaten was a not a woman and was transgendered. "I told him, 'No I didn't and I don't care,'" she said. "He said he worked with her and she had a smart mouth — in other words, she deserved it."
You can see the entire article here.
The bold highlighting for emphasis is mine.
While racial hatred may have exacerbated the problem, clearly the prime motivation for the confrontation was Ms. Polis's transgender status and the fact that she used the women's restroom, as admitted by one of her attackers.
21 comments:
Where have we come as a nation? I don't care if she was TG or not...she's a HUMAN BEING and didn't deserve what happened to her.
Nobody came to her aid...the cameraman kept recording even when she was convulsing on the floor. That person should be convicted of failure to stop and render aid. I hope the "perps" are charged with assault. I doubt if they will be though. Good grief!
@ Suzi
Actually an elderly white woman (Vicky Thoms) did come to her aid, and got punched in the face for it. The two "perps" have been charged with multiple counts of assault, and the District Attorney is considering adding hate crimes charges.
If you are willing to read the reports with an open "unedited" mind, you MIGHT find that the additional "hate crimes enhancements" being considered by the DA, are racially based despite the hew and cry of the GAY activists
@ Anne
Can you provide a link to an article, stating that any pending hate crimes charges will be racially based?
ok
give me a few...
OK...Sorry it took so long but I had to dig back through all the "narrative engineering" to one of the initial, LEAST EDITED reports.
Heree you go..."While the incident remains under investigation, local police told the Baltimore Sun they were looking into whether or not there was racist motivation.
State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said hate crime charges were being considered.
'If there is evidence that the crime was racially motivated, we will take a look at those charges and see if we meet those elements. We have the ability, if the facts are there, to upgrade the charges at a later date,' Shellenberger said.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1379691/Transgender-girl-beaten-seizure-McDonalds-attack-victim-hate-crime.html
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1379691/Transgender-girl-beaten-seizure-McDonalds-attack-victim-hate-crime.html#ixzz1Kh1j7rKX
Melissa... This is what I read Saturday, which gave me the impression that they were considering prosecuting this as a racially-based hate crime.....
The video received widespread attention part because of the racial dynamics of the attack – the attackers were black, and the victim is white. State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger, who said he was unaware of the gender-related issues, said the racial dynamics of the incident could result in hate-crime charges.
"We just received this case, and the Police Department is continuing their investigation," Shellenberger said. "If there is evidence that the crime was racially motivated, we will take a look at those charges and see if we meet those elements. We have the ability, if the facts are there, to upgrade the charges at a later date."
The full article can be found here.
I've spent a good amount of time today trying to locate a copy of the video I saw Saturday evening, Ms Polis' first interview, because in it she claims she didn't hear anyone yell "that's a man", and she said nothing about the attack having anything to do with her being trans-anything. Unfortunately I've been unable to find a copy that has NOT been subject to subsequent editing.
That IS the problem. The "prevailing narrative" is being EDITED and "nudged" in order to fit and agenda.
Much as it was done here...http://anna-es-asi.blogspot.com/2011/04/inconvenient-truth.html
@ Anne and Angel
Thanks for the links, even though they add nothing new to the story. The prosecutors had just received the case when those articles came out, and hadn't had time to thoroughly review all of the evidence.
Anne the story in the British tabloid that you linked to, only says Polis "hinted" that it might be racially motivated, when The Baltimore Sun has her saying she heard the teen say she was a dude before the attack began. As I already said, racial tensions may very well have exacerbated the problem once it already started, but according to the police report, one of the attackers said the reason they set upon Ms. Polis, was because she used the restroom. The creep that videoed the whole thing said the same thing on his Facebook page, emphasizing that it was because she was a man, not a woman, and used the women's restroom. Now those are admissions straight from the horses mouths, and kind of hard to refute.
Anne, your last link really has nothing to do with this post.
Sure Mel....WhatEVER...you say...
Another POV....It's Not All About "trans".....http://midwestgenderqueer.com/index.php/archives/2445
These are nothing more than philosophical arguments. The bottom line remains, that one of the attackers and the guy in league with them, who videoed their assault and spurned them on with his transphobic mouth, said it was because of her perceived gender status, and the fact that she used the womens restroom.
Those who are NOT blind, can SEE without assistance.
Those who ARE blind CANNOT see, no matter ANY assistance.
Believe what you will, Mel. Never let simple facts or REALITY dissuade you.
At least you're consistent, Anne. You never let facts dissuade you. And your acquaintance with reality is fleeting, (heavily) filtered and discriminatory. :-)
I think the record speaks for itself - the attack was transphobic, not racist. Those two people didn't attack her because she was white - they attacked her because she's transgender or transsexual (I've not seen anything to indicate anything either way, so I hesitate to say.) What you're arguing is that the racist element is more important than the transphobic element, when it's clear that the attack was transphobic first and foremost.
From what I've read, the DA is trying to figure out if the beating fits into Maryland's definition of a hate crime.
You're on the wrong side of that one, Anne. :-)
Carolyn Ann
I guess I must be dense or something, because the thing I am having a hard time understanding is this... If the attack was over the fact that the victim was trans-something-or-other, then why is it that the first thing out of the attacker's mouth was an accusation that the victim was trying to talk to her man, and nothing about her using the wrong bathroom?
It seems to me that the attack was neither racially- nor gender-based. The 18 year old has a history of this sort of thing, so she was likely scrapping for a fight, and the victim was sadly in the wrong place at the wrong time.
@ Angel
There is no doubt that the two were itching for a fight, they are a couple of violent thugs, and that's what violent thugs do. The fact remains that they told the police that it was because she used the rest room. They may have known her. The creep who videoed it and kept saying she was a dude certainly knew her, because he said he worked with her before and didn't like her. None of us has all the details, but we do have the police report, where the 14 year old said it was over the restroom, and we have the guy saying the same thing on his Facebook page, and emphasizing (erroneously) that she was a man using the women's restroom. I will be very surprised if hate crimes charges based solely on race are ever lodged. Black thugs beat up white people over heated words all the time in this country, and that hardly ever happens.
You are too right.. just thugs.. uneducated, violent thugs.. i shut the video off, it was just too painful.. i do believe in karma, and i pray that they will be blessed with it soon.......
Naukishtae
Anne, this discussion has reached its conclusion. You can have the last word on your blog, but not on mine. And please don't complain about me deleting your posts. You do the same thing on your blog.
I agree with Naukishtae, karma rocks! It is sad, however, that any trans persons are routinely discounted by laws. Humans make these laws and humans interpret them. One day, hopefully, we'll ALL be able to sing Kumbya. Till then I'm carrying a taser!
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