Alvin Bragg’s unjust prosecution: Tracy McCarter should be freed
by Dr. Uché Blackstock, New York Daily News; excerpt below:
It has been two years since Tracy McCarter, a Black mother and nurse living and working in New York, was arrested after surviving a domestic violence assault during which her estranged husband died. Despite evidence that she was defending herself and provided her abuser with medical care after immediately calling the police, she was wrongfully charged with murder by former Manhattan DA Cy Vance.
After McCarter’s arrest, the district attorney’s office fought to keep her incarcerated on Rikers Island for months, without an option for release, during the height of a deadly pandemic that substantially impacts people who are incarcerated. She has endured 17 months with an electronic ankle shackle, lost a job as a health-care worker, missed the birth of her first grandchild and now lives with trauma we cannot fathom. Today, she will go before a judge to set a date for her trial. If convicted, she faces 25 years to life in prison — senseless, unnecessary, unwarranted years in confinement that will waste away a beautiful life.
Our nation’s criminal legal system is beyond broken, especially for Black women who have survived domestic violence. We have seen that those who lead the system where we are survivors rarely serve us. McCarter could be any of us simply living her life, working a job, being a mom and a grandmother, believing in love and staying hopeful about her future. Her family has had precious moments stolen from them that they will never get back, too. It is cruel to perpetuate the cycle of incarceration for Black families and communities in America. The harm to us is not just immediate, but generational.
Not all is lost. Her story could be an opportunity to change history for the better. Bragg, a former civil rights attorney, campaigned on the need to balance public safety and fairness following decades-long racist prosecution. When McCarter’s case became a litmus test in the race to replace Vance, Bragg himself tweeted that “I definitely #StandWithTracy,” and called her prosecution and that other survivors of domestic violence “unjust.”
Unfortunately, in his third month on the job, Bragg still hasn’t delivered on his promise to “decline to prosecute survivors of domestic violence.” Despite the fact that approximately four out of every 10 Black women have experienced intimate partner violence, and despite the fact that Black women are more than twice as likely to be killed by their partner as white women, they are disproportionately prosecuted for defending themselves and daring to survive it.
Not all is lost. Her story could be an opportunity to change history for the better. Bragg, a former civil rights attorney, campaigned on the need to balance public safety and fairness following decades-long racist prosecution. When McCarter’s case became a litmus test in the race to replace Vance, Bragg himself tweeted that “I definitely #StandWithTracy,” and called her prosecution and that other survivors of domestic violence “unjust.”
Unfortunately, in his third month on the job, Bragg still hasn’t delivered on his promise to “decline to prosecute survivors of domestic violence.” Despite the fact that approximately four out of every 10 Black women have experienced intimate partner violence, and despite the fact that Black women are more than twice as likely to be killed by their partner as white women, they are disproportionately prosecuted for defending themselves and daring to survive it.
From McCarter to Marissa Alexander to Chrystul Kizer and the countless others whose names we may never know, we have much to learn about protecting domestic violence survivors. No matter if it is Rikers Island or Bedford Hills, countless survivors receive punishment in place of healing. Since leaving Rikers, McCarter has been in much-needed therapy with two different practitioners. However, recently, she has tried to access intensive outpatient treatment because her post-traumatic stress disorder has worsened instead of improving. Additionally, McCarter is at increased risk of suicide, and even though both her practitioners have recommended inpatient treatment, she cannot access affordable or adequate help across New York City because she wears an e-monitor.
Despite all of this, the DA’s office has refused to allow her access to the treatment she needs. We must urgently give McCarter and other survivors justice instead of a jail cell in a racist and biased system that holds their fate in jeopardy.
