Sandra-Bland

When I advocate for the abolishment of the police force and the prison system, people look at me with contempt and befuddlement. They say, "you're crazy," "you must be outside of your mind," "what will we do with the criminals?"Well, let's start with the word "criminal." What is a criminal? Someone who commits a crime, correct? For starters, let me say this: People do not commit crimes, they commit acts. Acts get socially constructed into crimes. When we talk about the exponential expansion of the prison system we would be remiss not to speak on the neoliberal profit driven policies that serve as the impetus to locking our nation's most vulnerable up. Blacks are incarcerated at disproportional rates. African Americans make up about 13.3% of the nation's population, yet we occupy 40% of our nation's prisons. Are African Americans just bad at not getting caught, or is there some systemic racism going on?Well, what will we do with violent offenders like murderers and rapist, you ask? Here's a fun fact, the expansion of the prison system falls heavily on drug offenders (over 60%), meaning the vast majority of prisoners are not violent criminals. So when we speak on mass incarceration, this what we speak on.Historically, it is believed that the prison system was invented by the Quakers, who believed that individuals that committed crimes could pay "penitence"—meaning the prisoner would be placed in isolation to reflect on their crimes, and even given a bible. The prisoner would come together with other inmates to socialize and eat. Penitentiary is derived from the word "penitence." Of course, once slaves were freed the prison system, it became a pretext to incarcerate freedmen, by making everything from vagrancy to cursing around women a crime. When prison was for whites, it was about reform and rehabilitation, but once it became about locking blacks up, it was solely about contempt and blame.This is why I say crime is a social construct, the people in power can make anything a crime, when yesterday it was okay to do. Just like how marijuana was illegal in many states just a few years ago, propagating an influx of people to go to jail, and now it's suddenly legal, making huge profits for white CEO's and their white board members.I want to abolish the police force for the same reasons. The police force has its birth in the slave patrols. The police force was never intended to service blacks, and they rarely do. It's less about the individual cop and more about the system of policing that undergirds white supremacy. Within the public's imagination, blacks are always seen as older than they really are, feral and more violent than their white counterparts. Do you notice even as blacks, we try to justify our humanity when a cop kills a black man or women?"He had good grades." #JordanEdwards"He was only 12." #TamirRice"She was conscious and knew her rights." #SandraBland"He had a permit and he was a good dude." #PhilandoCastileWhen in reality, our humanity should be justified just by being human and black.We are also overrepresented as criminals on television.Again, when I speak on the abolishment of the prison system and police force, I am not a quixotic hopeful romantic, and I am NOT naive. I understand that it couldn't just happen in one day, but what most people don't understand is that this is a freedom dream. Remember, for blacks, some of our ancestors fought and dreamed for a day that they would never get to see. Many of our ancestors dreamed for a day that was intangible in their lifetime, but fought strenuously anyway. That's what this is all about for me. A dream for...

The Sandra Bland Act, which has been signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday, is one of the first of many steps aimed towards preventing occurrences like the unlawful arrest and death of Sandra Bland from happening again.In January 2015, Sandra Bland began her civil rights activism stance by posting videos in the discourse of racial profiling and police brutality against blacks.In a routine traffic stop, Department of Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia pulled over Bland, 28, for failure to use her signal in a lane change. The encounter between Encinia and Bland was recorded by the officer's dashcam and displayed a heated argument between the officer and Bland. The argument led to Encinia removing Bland from her vehicle, forcibly pinning her to the ground and arresting her on charges of assaulting a public officer. Although the remainder of the incident took place out of frame, Bland was heard crying and screaming. Just days after her arrest, police issued a statement that Bland was found in her jail cell dead. The death was ruled a suicide. Citizens took to the streets protesting that the Bland investigation is conducted a murder.Per news reports, an employee of the jail witnessed Encinia falsifying jail logs. Encinia was indicted on a perjury charge and fired from the Dept. of Public Safety. According to the Texas Tribune, The Sandra Bland Act mandates that county jails make it easier for defendants to receive personal bonds if they have a mental illness or intellectual disability. The law also requires that independent law enforcement agencies investigate jail deaths and that those with mental illness and substance use issues be redirected to a treatment facility. The bill also orders that officers go through de-escalation training.And why was this not already a thing? The law will be in effect as of September 1,...

The Texas Legislature seems to be following the lead of the Trump administration and the ongoing effort by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to walk back consent decrees and other collaborative efforts made to hold police departments with patterns of civil rights abuses to a level of accountability.The "Sandra Bland Act," originally filed as a sweeping package to put in place police accountability and anti-racial profiling measures, has been stripped down by Texas lawmakers to focus mainly on better jail trailing and mental health care access. Democrats who presented the measure say they did the best they could against the Republican-controlled Legislature and powerful law enforcement groups. The bill cleared the Senate this week and must now clear the House before the legislature adjourns on May 29.The original act, posed in response to the 2015 death of Sandra Bland, a black woman found hanged in a Waller County jail after a traffic stop with a white state trooper, is barely recognizable in its current state. The death of Bland - initially ruled a suicide was latent with so many contradictory reports and suspicious evidence that her family was awarded $1.9 million in wrongful death civil suit against Texas officials. Still, when it comes to reforming the scathing holes in the system that allowed such a tragic incident to take place, state lawmakers are reluctant to take proactive measures."What the bill does in its current state renders Sandy invisible," said Sharon Cooper, Bland's older sister, in an interview with The Associated Press. "It's frustrating and gut-wrenching." Speaking on behalf of the Bland family, Cooper said the legislation as it now stands "isolates the very person it seeks to honor" and makes compromises at the expense of the family. "It painfully misses the mark for us," she said.Democratic state Rep. Garnet Coleman, who sponsored the original bill, echoed Cooper's sentiments saying, "I share her displeasure... This is not what any of us wanted." Coleman continued with, "she should be upset and not pleased with the results because we all hoped for...

This prom season has really been one for the books. The class of 2017 has really been showing out and making statements with their fashion tastes. 17-year-old Milan Bolden-Morris decided that she, too, wanted to make a statement of her own: that black lives matter and justice should be mandatory.Photo: Terrence TorranceBolden-Morris made heads turn during her senior prom with a dress that featured fallen black Americans like Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Mike Brown and Tamir Rice. The dress was designed by Bolden-Morris' friend, designer Terrence Torrance. It was made from scuba material and beaded lace to give a form-fitting look. The idea took over a year to finally come into fruition, but Torrance believes it was for the best. He estimates that the dress featured 15 lives; he had a longer list, but ultimately had to edited it. "If I could put everybody on there, I’d probably still be adding people on. It’s sad to say," he said in an interview with Buzzfeed.Meaningful 🗣 #prom2k17 pic.twitter.com/vxIWOXa7iO— Milan Bolden-Morris (@_milan23_) April 22, 2017The piece has been making its rounds on social media, garnering attention from users everywhere. Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, loved the creation. While responses have been varied, Bolden-Morris wants the overall message to hit harder than the dress. "It was not for me, not to show how good I look in the dress or get publicity for me," she told Buzzfeed. "It’s about how these lives were taken under unnecessary circumstances."Slay, sis.Photo:...

It was the first week of fifth grade and I was excited to finally be in Mr. X ‘s class after years of older cousins telling me how great he was. He wore bright, colorful Tommy Hilfiger jackets and kept his shades on the top of his head all day. He was an older white man with blonde highlights and a convertible. Impressive stuff to an early '90s kid.He was sitting in an armchair facing the class, his preferred style of teaching. I yawned.Almost immediately, he put his water bottle down while staring at me and said in a low voice, “What did you just do?!”I stared back, still unsure if he was talking to me. My classmates had known me to be more or less of a goodie two shoe and looked between us baffled.“I...I yawned ?...”He pointed at me, shaking finger, red-faced and screamed, “If you think you’re going to be funny, I’ll send you straight to the office!”I remember telling myself not to cry while blinking back tears. I stared down at my shaking hands. My classmates averted their eyes out of respect. We were all shook. Later that day he came up and apologized, “Hey listen, I didn’t know who you were. And It was wrong of me to yell at you without knowing you. And I’m sorry.”It was my first time being yelled at by a teacher. My first time experiencing direct aggression from a white person. And my first time being apologized to by a grown person of any color. The day was getting away from me quick.Disoriented, but grateful that my teacher didn’t hate me, I accepted his apology and went to the bathroom to try and work out what had just happened. He didn’t know…who I was, so… that’s why (!) he yelled at me. Um, well, who was I? And what if I wasn’t that person?    Studies now (finally) show that black girls are over policed and more frequently seen as magnets for minor, or perceived, disciplinary infractions in school. Mr. X had asked around and some phantom authority figures had vouched that I was a “good student”.  And had he not received that kind of feedback? It would’ve been completely fine that my yawn, as mundane as it was, be projected as a weapon against his authority. It would have been acceptable for him to scream at me and send me to the office for something that happened inside of his own head. Who I was, was a black girl – someone that wasn’t allowed to move like my other classmates unless the teacher knew that I was a good student, or polite or could read well before hand. Noting this, I put a wet paper towel over my red, strained eyes and decided in that moment that I was going to continue to move in the world freely like the rest of them. And so , it was the first time this extreme racial microaggression happened but it wouldn’t be the last.This memory was one of many that came flooding back to me that was inexplicable at the time, but hit with the urgency of a panic attack while watching Sandra Bland dragged out of her car for asking, “Why do I have to put my cigarette out?”.  Because In the mouth of a black woman the question was so egregious the justified response from hostile “white authority” was to slam her head against a Texas highway, stalk her, and tase her out of camera’s view. I watched it knowing that I had grown into a black woman who would’ve asked the exact same.Unlike the other irrational deaths of unarmed black civilians by police officers that continuously ticked along on my feed that year, this one felt different. It wasn’t my cousin or my brother or my father. This one was me: too many questions and a tone that didn’t sit well that wouldn’t be considered anything out of the ordinary in a non-black female body. She yawned, smoked a cigarette, didn’t smile while being attacked, laughed too loudly, asked why she was under arrest, asked why she was being sent to the office... repeating loop. repeating loop. repeating loop.I cried like someone watching their own murder, and so, I wept for her life like I was weeping for mine. I said a prayer for her and the brown women and girls like us. The ones that ask questions.Who was she? She was a black woman, and whether directly or consequently, she died for it.And her name was Sandra Bland.And the sitting president wants to bolster police presence to control “the blacks."And she would have been 30 this year on February 7, like I am.And I’ll remember her name, and say it, until the day I die:  like I remember my...

Video of 35-year-old Michael Sabbie being pepper sprayed repeatedly and placed in a chokehold by officers in Texarkana has been released. The jail footage, which resembles the tragic fate of Eric Garner, shows Sabbie pleading with the officers, "I can't breathe". Sabbie was held at a private prison owned by LaSalle Corrections, located at the Texas and Arkansas border, where he repeatedly asked for medical help. For three days he complained of difficulty breathing and possible symptoms of pneumonia. The Huffington Post released the footage Wednesday and detailed what happened in Sabbie's final days. A day after being arrested on July 20, 2015, Sabbie a father of four told officers that he was having difficulty breathing while laying down. He was taken to the nurse where she determined that he had a low level of oxygen in his blood and informed him to sit up if he couldn't breathe. On July 21,2015 he was found on the floor of his cell before being taken to a judge for his court appearance on misdemeanor charges of domestic assault. The nurse once again saw Sabbie where she determined that he did not have pneumonia and sent him back to his cell to be transported. While appearing before the judge, Sabbie again complained of having difficulty breathing and the judge along with the bailiff noticed that he was indeed experiencing a medial emergency. When the judge noticed him breathing heavily and coughing he stated that Sabbie may have asthma or bronchitis. However, Sabbie informed the judge that he had been coughing up blood and asked to be taken to the hospital. He was taken back to his cell. According to reports, upon returning back to his cell, Sabbie leaned against a wall and from there a chain of events took place that ended tragically. As officers pepper sprayed him in his face he said, " I can't breathe".  As officers placed him in a chokehold he said, "I can't breathe". As officers continued to use excessive force against a man who requested medical attention he said, "I can't breathe". He said it 19 times and still no one paid attention to his cry for help. When taken to the nurse after this ordeal she said his symptoms were normal after being pepper sprayed and didn't bother to report it or leave a note in his medical file because of her personal time constraints. “Ms. Venable said she wanted to get off work on time because she had to get her daughter to a pitching lesson,” as indicated in a police report. “She said she was going to complete one this morning when she came into work but learned that Mr. Sabbie had passed away.” From neglect of the nurse to the neglect of the officers, there still remains one startling piece of the puzzle. What caused his death? Correctional Officer Simone Nash, the officer in charge of doing safety checks on pods and cells along with a count, recounts never hearing Sabbie reply during the checks but claims she saw him breathing. Checks are expected to be completed every 30 minutes. According to a Texarkana Police report, the officer admitted “not all the checks were done and they were only documented" which is similar to Sandra Bland's jailhouse death. In the report, Nash also said she “didn’t consistently enter and check the cells inside the pods during every one of the 30 minute checks”. The next morning he was found "cold to the touch" and dead on his cell floor as reported in documents. A medical examiner concluded Sabbie's cause of death as "natural" due to obesity and heart muscle damage. His family is now seeking justice in what is another black life lost in a jail cell. In August, the Department of Justice determined that no federal charges would be brought against the facility or its officers. Meanwhile, family attorneys are working to sue LaSalle Corrections, the private company that owns the Bi State Jail where Sabbie was held. Stay connected to all things Black Twitter, news and the best content on the world by signing up for Blavity's...

The family of Sandra Bland has reached a $1.9 million settlement in a federal wrongful death suit with Texas authorities after her 2015 death in police custody. Bland was pulled over by state trooper Brian Encinia in July 2015 for failure to signal. During the traffic stop, Encinia said the 28-year-old failed to comply with an order to put out a cigarette and subsequently refused to step out of the car. After a struggle ensued, Bland was taken into custody and found hanging inside a cell three days later. Dashcam video provides clearer insight into what happened during the stop. The events afterward remain a mystery. Bland's death was ruled a suicide, but her family pressed for a deeper investigation, insisting she would never take her own life. Since Bland's story became national news, a debate stirred about what exactly happened the day she died. Earlier this year, a former guard admitted to falsifying records stating that he looked in on Bland an hour before her death was discovered. By his own admission, he never checked on her. Under conditions of the settlement, the Waller County jail will now have both an on-duty nurse and emergency medical technician in place for all shifts. The judge in the case hopes to pursue legislation ultimately funding jail improvements like automated electronic sensors for cell checks and enhanced training for jailers all to be named in Bland's honor. No criminal charges were ever filed in Bland's death. Trooper Encinia was formally fired and indicted on perjury after a grand jury cast doubt on his statement about removing Bland from her car to conduct a safer traffic stop. Never miss a headline. Sign up for Blavity's daily...

Remember the Scandal episode when Papa Pope reminded us all of our reality as black people? No matter how many degrees we have, no matter how skilled we are, no matter how much experience we have, white privilege seems to trump all. And when privilege prevails, we are asked quietly to watch from the sidelines for those who have advanced ahead of us but aren't half as good as us. We are expected to accept a role in the backseat and be happy with being treated as subpar because after all, there is a common myth that the American dream is for all if you work for it even if there are disadvantages at every corner. Black workers are expected to grin and bear the gut wrenching blow to our confidence as our talent is constantly overlooked because we should be happy that they even allowed us to work in their building in the first place. And, we're told to be satisfied that they allowed us inside the doors of their academic institutions. Apparently, we are asking for too much even if equality is at stake. After watching the spawn of Satan himself, Bill O'Reilly speak earlier this week, I realized how tired I am of playing into the expectations of white privilege. After Michelle Obama's speech, Bill O'Reilly defends the conditions of the slaves who built the White Househttps://t.co/NYgHA56yuW — Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) July 27, 2016 This week in #stopaskingpermission, I invite you to join me in ending the "happy slave narrative", starting with Bill O'Reilly. What is the happy slave narrative? Between 1936 and 1938 the Federal Writers Project collected interviews from African Americans who were born into slavery. The more than 2,300 stories stretched across the southern territories known as the Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project. Collecting ex-slave stories and documenting them as historical pieces of information is a good thing right? Well... The majority of the interviewers were white males. The interviews were conducted during the Jim Crow era... See where I'm going with this? Afraid of the consequences, many of the interviewees were afraid to report the harsh truth about their brutal experiences. Because of their poor education and broken dialect, many of their stories were difficult to interpret. An excerpt from Sarah Gudger's interview at age 121.   Their accounts instead came across as cheerful because after all, they were well fed, given shelter, and had jobs. Go along to get along. Sounds a lot like how many of us are living our lives or have at some point. Afraid to speak out about our unfair treatment in corporate and professional environments, you avoid the backlash which in turn could result in you losing a place at the table. We speak with guarded tongues just as those African Americans who were interviewed. America has built its story upon the backs of our people for centuries. In fact, our backs are still breaking. White women are paid more than African American women at all education levels. Even if you are a highly educated black woman, your credentials are not enough to break the racial wage gap. The gender wage gap leave us out because after all, at least we should be happy to have employment even if it is not fairly compensated? You will employ and promote your own while leaving us to sit in the basement or corners because at least we are getting a check right? We tremble with fear in regards to transparency about the blatant and even subtle racism we experience on a daily basis. We are afraid to question the tolerated and celebrated practice of privilege over our proven talent. Paul Laurence Dunbar said it best in his poem, "We Wear the Mask". We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,-- This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties. For me, the weight of being black, educated and skilled has become heavier than the pressure of being a woman. As a woman, society will fight for my uterus and the right to vote in elections. America will shout with me as I stand with her to champion the nation's first woman as President. Yet the majority won't march with us to make sure our lives are preserved, promoted and supported. Instead, we're constantly reminded of how long ago slavery ended and to "get over it". How dare you Bill O'Reilly tell us that we should be happy our ancestors were fed, clothed and provided with shelter? We will forever break the chains you try to wrap tightly around our intellect. Apparently before Michelle Obama's speech white America thought the White House was built by Habitat for Humanity — Lord Finesse (@BosNaud) July 26, 2016 Good luck waiting on a "thank you" note. No matter what we do to better ourselves, our very existence is continuously undervalued. When I say her name, Sandra Bland, I think of her outspokenness and willingness to end the happy slave narrative. When I say her name, Donna Brazile, I think of her argument that race is never neutral and her closing the chapter on the happy slave narrative. When I say her name, Michelle Obama, I think of how she wakes up in a house built by slaves and why her history lesson on a national stage is what we needed to hear this week. The great poise and fearlessnesses of our people are enough to stop contributing to the happy slave narrative. I close by saying #stopaskingpermission to be more, do more and achieve more. Stand up for who you are. Acknowledge your achievements when others refuse to. Don't be afraid to move on to a place that will celebrate you. The happy slave narrative can no longer speak for us. Same narrative, different translation. We've climbed mountains, and it is unacceptable for anyone to try and undercut our strides. When we realize whose backs we stand upon, whose shoulders carried us through to this point, we will realize that we don't need permission to be anything less than bold. Want more articles from LaVita Tuff? Sign up for Blavity's daily...

A powerful moment took place on the second night of the Democratic National Convention, as the mothers of black people killed either by police or due to gun violence took the stage. Called "The Mothers of the Movement," the group consists of Sabrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, Lucia McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, Lezley McSpadden, Mike Brown's mother, Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton, mother to Hadiya Pendleton, Maria Hamilton, the mother of Dontré Hamilton, Geneva Reed-Veal, mother to Sandra Bland, Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner and Wanda Johnson, mother of Oscar Grant. Each of them appeared on stage to publicly and collectively throw their support to the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. Three of them addressed the nation, giving personal stories about their slain children and why Hillary Clinton is the best candidate to resolve the issues plaguing our country. "What a blessing to be standing here tonight so that Sandy can still speak, through her mama," Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland Sandra Bland's mother speaks at the #DemConvention: "So many of our children are gone but they are not forgotten." https://t.co/2DXAIpbr89 — ABC News (@ABC) July 27, 2016 Sandra Bland's mom says she's with Clinton because "she's a leader and a mother who will say our children's names." https://t.co/RZl1lrDy8e — ABC News (@ABC) July 27, 2016 "We are going to keep telling our children's stories. We are urging you to say their names. We're going to keep building a future where police officers and communities of color work together in mutual respect to keep children like Jordan safe." - Lucy McBath, mother of Jordan Davis. Jordan Davis’ mother: "Hillary Clinton isn’t afraid to say that black lives matter" https://t.co/ecVYgkg46B https://t.co/PIwsrN3T9x — CNN (@CNN) July 27, 2016 "This isn't about being politically correct, this is about saving our children," - Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin. WATCH: Trayvon Martin's mother addresses the #DemConvention: "This is about saving our children." https://t.co/cUgswuLDDI — ABC News (@ABC) July 27, 2016 Prior to their DNC appearance, the mothers gathered together on GMA to share their message: These mothers are dedicated to seeing a change in the way our country operates, and they believe Hillary Clinton is the person is the candidate that will make these issues a priority in the White House. "She's the first presidential candidate that I'm aware of that has just said 'this is a national crisis that has to be dealt with," said McBath. The main message that they share is to stay vigilant, and that waiting until tragedy happens is the last thing we should do in times like these. You can read the full transcript of what they said at the DNC at Time. Never miss a headline! Sign up for our daily...

A former Waller County Jail guard admitted, under oath, that he falsified entries on a jail log, according to the lawyer for Sandra Bland's mother. He noted in the records that he looked in on Bland an hour before her death was discovered. According to his new admission, he did not check on her. "There's no question that it did not happen," Cannon Lambert, her mother's attorney, said. Waller County lawyer Larry Simmons, who was also present at the deposition, interprets the former guard's statement in a different way. "Numerous depositions have been taken in the case involving dozens of hours of testimony," Simmons said in a written statement. "It is a gross miscarriage of justice and a misrepresentation for any party to cherry-pick or mischaracterize a small portion of that testimony, and take it out of context." A source familiar with the state's investigation of Bland's death corroborates Lambert's story. The source told the Houston Chronicle that special prosecutors were told about the falsified records, but a grand jury decided not to indict anyone associated with the sheriff's office. Bland, 28, was found dead in her jail cell on July 13, 2015, three days after she was arrested during a traffic stop for failing to put on her turn signal. Her death was ruled a suicide, but speculations about how Bland died have called the officer's story into question. In February, Bland's mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, extended her lawsuit in the case of her daughter's death. She originally sued the Texas Department of Public Safety trooper who arrested Bland, his agency, Waller County and two of its jailers. In adding 10 more individuals to the suit, she accuses both county officials and law enforcement of "willful" negligence in her daughter's death. Never miss a headline! Sign up for our daily...