According to the Huffington Post –
“A federal judge in Memphis has declared a mistrial for a former police officer charged with beating a transgender prisoner.
The mistrial was declared Monday after jurors began deliberating last Wednesday in the case against Bridges McRae. He was accused of violating the civil rights of Duanna Johnson, a biological male who lived as a woman.
Johnson was repeatedly hit in the face with handcuffs as she was being booked into jail on a prostitution charge in February 2008. McRae testified Johnson pushed and scratched him and he was trying to control her.
The 43-year-old Johnson was shot to death later in 2008 on a street corner near her home. No one has been arrested.
Prosecutors say they plan to charge McRae again. He will stay free on his current bond.”
There is more on Duanna’s case in a New York Times article here.
There is so much to be angry about here. There is rage at the beating Duanna experienced. There is fury at her unsolved murder. There is exhausted anger at the justice system, yet again, failing to serve the people.
Where does our anger go? Is it possible to transform it into a stronger love of our communities and a renewed commitment to create something different? Can it turn into the power to keep fighting and standing up against the white supremacy and heteropatriarchy of this system? Can our fists and tears be tools to bang out something transformative?
What does justice look like in this situation? Would there be solace if he was convicted and thrown into prison? It is in these moments that we must find our greatest creativity to give rise to something different. Maybe this man needs to be stopped another way. Maybe he needs real people to show him that he cannot get away with such hateful beating of another human being. What do we do now?
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