Three minutes and 2 seconds. That's how long a McDonald's employee in Baltimore stood by on April 18, videotaping as two young customers attacked Chrissy Lee Polis, a 22-year-old transgender woman, punching her in the face, pulling her across the floor by her hair, and kicking her in the face until she appears to have a seizure.
This incident has received widespread attention, and rightly so. In an assault this brutal, there is so much to be disturbed by -- from the youth of Chrissy's teenage attackers to the gratuitous violence of their repeated kicks, slaps, and jeers, which seem never to end. But perhaps most disturbing is the fact that the video exists at all. Instead of intervening, a McDonald's employee stood by and filmed the attack while several others can be heard laughing and cheering in the background. Only one bystander, 55-year-old Vicky Thomas, tried to stop the beating, and was punched in the face in the process.
Violence is always unsettling, but the coupling of this brutal attack with the callousness of those who stood by and jeered adds a chillingly dehumanizing quality. That such an incident could happen speaks volumes about the place of transgender people in our society -- and about who must bear responsibility. In seeking to understand these horrific events, we must face the facts. Even before this attack, Chrissy had already been deprived of her dignity and humanity by living in a state, and a nation, that denies transgender people the most basic legal protections. In facing this reality, we must acknowledge our own complicity in failing to challenge the pervasive violence and discrimination against transgender people.
Every day, transgender women and girls in Maryland and other states are targeted by hate violence. According to a recent survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 53 percent of transgender respondents reported having been verbally harassed in a public setting, and 8 percent reported having been physically attacked.
And as experts in the field are well aware, violence against transgender people tends to be particularly brutal and severe. In 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reported that transgender women and girls account for 50 percent of the victims of fatal hate crimes against the LGBT community. Tyra Trent, a 25-year-old African-American transgender woman was murdered in Baltimore just two months ago, an apparent victim of a hate crime.
While people are right to demand that Chrissy's attackers be brought to justice, the issue of violence against the transgender community is a much broader issue and requires a much broader response.
Earlier this month, the Maryland Senate voted down a bill that would have provided much needed protections for transgender people against discrimination in housing and employment. It is not too much to suggest that it is no coincidence that such a gruesome attack came on the heels of a legislative statement that it is acceptable to treat transgender people unfairly because of who they are. Even if there is no direct connection, the public message sent by such a vote is unmistakable.
Chrissy deserved protection from that attack, but she also deserves the many other basic protections that are currently denied to transgender people. She deserves the right to work free from discrimination and make a living. She deserves the right to choose where she wants to live without worrying about being denied housing because of her gender identity. She deserves the right to walk into a restaurant without fear of being assaulted because of who she is. And so does the entire transgender community. Until our laws reflect that simple fact, the transgender community will remain vulnerable to this type of violence. When our laws deny a community's basic rights, the culture that is sure to result is one that denies that same community its basic humanity.
Before we rush to assign sole blame to Chrissy's teenaged attackers, we should take a hard look at ourselves. Until we stop colluding in the denial of these basic rights, we are scarcely less responsible for what happened to Chrissy than those who delivered the blows -- or those who stood passively by.
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Q... How would you Feel or react to this Incident if , Chrissy Lee was YOUR child or Sibling ?
In closing ,Seems like Poeple dont care these days unless it directly effects them personally, I'm sure those Lawmakers whom Voted " Agenst" the Bill to protect Transgender People would Vote Differeantly if this happined to be there child , or Sibling .... Sad ... I guess after seeing this Martin Luther Kings Dream , is Dead indeed , and sad to think , How We Forget When the Focus of Hate is put apon a Different Minority,
when other Minorities fought so hard to have Eqality For there own ..... Just Something to think about ...
The McD's employee is not obligated to help or intervene. The McD's employee actually did the cops a favor by securing evidence of the crime.
"McDonald's employees can't use physical force. They can however remove someone out of harms way and into a safe place, like an office.... They also can stop a co-worker from video taping an event that itself could have been stopped by surrounding and protecting the victim in the first place. There are many means to stop something that do not require physical violence or attack."
And:
"Defend them for the victim they they are, not for how you think they should be. We should be putting a wig on your heads and stockings on your legs or a tie with our shirt as a few heroes of WW II did when they put the Star of David on their clothes and shops. To identify with the victim, as they are, that is the message of Christ. I suggest we all read a few books by Dietrich Bonhoeffer."
I would say that qualifies as being an accessory.
Oddly, yelling "Get out of here, the cops are on the way!" probably isn't. Removing the attackers from the scene diffuses the situation and may have saved her life--even though that was not the intent at the time.
Once again, my original point was simply that the employee was not under an obligation to help, and the failure to help does not make you an accessory.
http://www.thetaskforce.org/reports_and_research/ntds
Be careful with statistics, though. Anti-LGBT groups use statistics (which they often make up) to further their cause.
For example:
Something-Family-Something: "The average lifespan of a transgendered person is 23 years old. It's an unhealthy lifestyle."
Translation: "The average lifespan of a transgendered person is 23 years old because we kill them, drive them to suicide, put them out of their homes, and/or place them into abject poverty at a young age."
The 8% who were physically attacked are certainly victims.
Sorry if that's hard for you to follow, but perhaps you don't want to try to understand. So I'll try one more time: Hateful environment creates greater potential for violence, not to mention what it does to the dignity and self-esteem of a transgender person.
"It is not too much to suggest that it is no coincidence that such a gruesome attack came on the heels of a legislative statement that it is acceptable to treat transgender people unfairly because of who they are." Actually, that IS too much.
Although I agree that those opposing such equal protections is an absolute failure to to do what is right, they are not to blame and this IS a coincidence. Unfortunately, the attacks (in both frequency and ferocity) against transgender people make such a coincidences possible.
Transgender people need equal protection under the law. But those laws will not prevent such attacks.
Once again Maya, this was a very well written and thoughtful piece that helps to inform and elevate HuffPo readers with sound articulation.
IT is very important that we pay attention to the messages, implicit and explicitly communicated in our policy and debate.
Thank you!
I remember the rush to tie Jared Loughner to "the right" as well. It failed there, and it fails here.
Yes, there are those who are rednecks and KKKer's but they are small in numbers. The Communist etc. however, are many and from the very start were (and are) leftist and intolerant. Look Lenin, Stalin, etc. Here is some food for thought found here, in today's HP:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-shermer/why-liberals-should-see-a_b_854697.html
It's gotten so I can barely read of these things. I could not watch the video, to do so might be traumatizing. But perhaps those who are complacent need to.