Democracy Now!

Jessica Gomez

Democracy Now!

For this week’s Democracy Now! I watched two videos. The first video was “A Coup or a Revolution? Ukraine Seeks Arrest of Ousted President Following Deadly Street Protests.” President Viktor Yanukovych was driven out of his position forcefully by parliament. The Ukrainian parliament voted to remove Yanukovych from the presidency even though he was democratically elected because of the months prior where 82 people were murdered for peaceful protesting. Yanukovych himself feels that this was a coup, and it would seem that way since his removal did not undergo the legal processes and proof of accusations. By literal definition I would say that even though a vote by parliament is far from violent, Yanukovych’s removal is sudden and illegal. If he is, in fact, responsible for the death of 82 innocent protestors then, no doubt, he got what he deserved, but I know that in our country, we would consider it illegal if a president were overthrown without undergoing the legitimate processes and hearings.

The second video I watched was called "Black Trans Bodies Are Under Attack": Freed Activist CeCe McDonald, Actress Laverne Cox Speak Out. It reminds people that racism is still not something of the past. It is still very much present in society today. Someone like Cece has a lot of discrimination to face.  Cece is an African American transgender female. She faces the hardships of racism, being homosexual, transgender, and female. Not only was she attacked by a white male supremacist, she was sentenced to 41 months in prison for stabbing her attacker in self-defense. The judge completely dismissed the fact  that the attacker had illegal drugs and alcohol in his system, the fact that he had two assaults on his record, or the fact that the attacker acted completely out of hate. This was, in fact, a hate crime. The whole world saw it and spoke out against it. CeCe had to pay the price for defending her own life simply because of her sexual orientation and race. It was touching though to see people reach out and try to spread the message of this injustice around the world. When people care about other people’s issues and injustices, it is so moving and can be so powerful in creating a movement for change.