In honor of Queen Sandra Annette Bland, this article was written in the spirit of honoring her birthday. February 7th is a special day that we both celebrated in our own way for twenty-eight years of her life. The Sandra Bland Act was passed in 2017. Happy Birthday Queen!!

#SandraBland (February 7, 1987 – July 13, 2015) was murdered while in jail for a traffic ticket that she was given while driving into Texas for a new job (Prairie View A&M University in Texas. ) that she was about to start in 2015; she escaped the bullets of Chicago and ran into the claws of racism by one of the most racist states in the country. I truly believe they killed her and made it look like a suicide to cover their tracks. I was personally beaten up by crooked cops in #Florida back in 2002 so I know what they are capable of.

Listen up: If you’re ever in a situation that terrifies you during a traffic stop or any involvement with the police, please request that a sergeant be present. Secondly, remain in front of the police car camera (located in front of the car). Thirdly, don’t exchange words or move your hands suddenly – It can and will cost you your life! Trooper Brian Encinia, a coward that pulled his gun and threw her head to the ground so hard that it temporarily made her deaf in one of her ears (video-audio).

It’s not a level playing field for black people – young and old. Trayvon Martin, Aiyana Mo’Nay Stanley-Jones, and Emmett Till are just a few examples out of thousands of cases. Police brutality is very will and you can be killed if you run into a racist officer of the law. Routine traffic stops by the police are becoming routine execution stops. The fact that this apparent rite of police passage is still thriving in 2020. As of January 28, 2020, there have been 72 black men (not including black women) who have been killed. In that month of July 2015, after Sandra Bland, seven more women have been killed in their jail cell by allegedly hanging themselves in the United States.

How Sandra Bland Made Her Mark In #BlackHistory

FYI – The #SandraBlandAct (H.B. No. 2702), now a Federal law, which requires training in de-escalation techniques for all police officers, sets up protections in custody for people with mental health and substance abuse issues and requires that independent law enforcement agencies investigate jail deaths. State lawmakers are looking at going even further. A bill facing a likely vote in the House this week, introduced by Representative James White, an African-American Republican from Dallas, would largely ban arrests for Class C misdemeanors such as traffic stops that would be punishable only by fines, except in certain circumstances. State Representative Garnet Coleman is a co-sponsor of the bill. Her death was labeled a #suicide – she had too much to live for to kill herself over a minor traffic ticket.

What’s sad about the case is that after three days in that hell hole she couldn’t raise the $500 from her family and friends to get her out. This shows that we must do better for our people, economically. In disbelief of her situation, the video showed Sandra, understandably, crying a lot while in her cell and when she walked out of it to deal with the officers. As an educated, black woman, she simply could not believe that she was in jail for not breaking any laws.

According to New York Times article…
According to the New York Times article…
On July 10th, a Waller County officials, asked her, “Have you ever attempted suicide?” the former officer asked. “Yes,” Ms. Bland wrote. “In 2015, lost baby, by taking pills.” [I believe, based on the evidence, this part is fabricated because its protocol to place an inmate on suicide watch if they attempted in the past – this was not done here; to add insult to injury they also left her in a cell by herself with no supervision or video camera monitoring her. Was this a case of negligence or a murder coverup?]

Also, the article stated: The autopsy found that the condition of Ms. Bland’s head, neck and hands lacked any signs of a violent struggle.
This doesn’t make any sense? Someone could have easily snuck in her cell and wrap her head with a plastic bag, while she was sleeping. They were in 2015, why would she say “2015”, and not the month or date? Did anyone notice this that investigated the case? This [case needs to be re-opened] but it may be difficult since the family settled for a measly $1.9 million.

I am Brother King Kevin Dorival, and felt compelled to write this article and to produce this video – Please Share This! Tag me: @Courage2Believe on Twitter/Instagram. Hopefully, we can do more than saying her name. The criminal injustice reform must be a priority for the black community, by the black community. How many more Sandra Brand’s, Micheal Brown’s, Tamir Rice’s; Tamir Rice‘s, E.J. Bradford’s, Michael Brown’s, Michael Dean’s,  Jamee Johnson’s, and George Stinney’s (Wrongfully convicted and executed by electric chair at the age of 10 in South Carolina in 1944) blood on our hands will we have? Think about that this Black History Month, and by the way, every month is Black History Month.

Sources:

1. NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/us/sandra-bland-texas-death.html
2. Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/07/open-up-case-period-sandra-blands-family-demands-answers-over-new-video-her-arrest/
3. House Bill – H.B. No. 2702: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/85R/billtext/html/HB02702I.htm
4. #SayHerName Interview – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV4vBq0Jl_8
5. 72 Blackmen are killed by the police in 2020: https://newsone.com/playlist/black-men-boy-who-were-killed-by-police/item/1

6. ‘Open up the case’: New video of Sandra Bland’s 2015 arrest surfaces – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_lswL6EZ0M