Day by day, rivers of blood snake through the soil of a “post-racial” United States. Scraps of paper, upon which the words “formal equality” are written, are plastered over the wounds, but the gushing continues unimpeded.
While each victim has their own story, many boast a terrifying commonality: they belong to the Black nation, and have endured the brutality of systematic state repression.
Behind the mirage of a “colorblind” society lies a prison house of national subjugation.
Sandra Bland knew this reality quite well. As a Black woman, and as an activist in Chicago, she had frequent contact with racist injustice, and had gained recognition as an outspoken member of the Black Lives Matter movement. “In the news that we’ve seen as of late,” she once said, “you could stand there, surrender to the cops, and still be killed.”
These words would prove tragically prophetic.
On July 10, Sandra drove through Waller County, Texas, a hotbed for police cruelty and the KKK. At one point, an officer pulled her over for allegedly failing to signal.
Through a series of events obscured by suspicious “glitches” on the dash cam and security videos, Sandra wound up in a jail cell, and died several days later. Police claim it was suicide.
According to police, Sandra assaulted the officer in question, although an eyewitness states the exact opposite. Despite the obvious edits in the dashcam video, the video shows the officer out of control, threatening to “light you up” with his taser and causing her to scream in pain.
Because of these irregularities, the FBI has launched an investigation into the circumstances of her arrest and death, and the county DA plans to pursue the case as well.
Clearly this case requires further investigation. However one shouldn’t thank the criminal justice system for making this happen. The most likely catalyst is the success of the movement against racism and police brutality, which have made the status quo difficult to maintain. Without this mass struggle, Sandra’s death could have very easily been glossed over.
Further, justice for Sandra Bland won’t come through the indictment of a single officer. She dedicated her life to fighting a system, and only the full-scale dismantling of these oppressive structures will suffice. So long as Black people face targeted assault from law enforcement, the war for liberation will rage on.
“It’s time to start doing something,” she once said. “I need you. I need y’all’s help. I can’t do this by myself.” Every progressive person should listen to these words, and stand in solidarity with her legacy.
Rest in power, Sandra Bland.
Dunno.
Did we scare Jim away, Paulie?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbDE8mrw8YU
Here are some numbers about police killings:
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/edward-peter-stringham-out-of-control-kill-rate-article-1.2244132
Jill’s right again!
I have this problem: once I know I’ve been lied to, I have trouble believing anything the liar said. The initial lie might have been the only one, but how do I know? It’s like kids: they tell one lie, then have to keep lying to try to cover themselves.
This is the way I feel about our government, BTW. This is certainly the way I feel about many police departments.
“Original footage was not edited”
Yeah right. When you tell lies that obvious, releasing additional footage, after taking who knows how much time to edit, doesn’t really help your case, cops.
That doesn’t quell squat.
Alleged footage of Sandra Bland.
https://news.vice.com/article/cops-release-more-footage-from-sandra-blands-time-in-jail-to-quell-conspiracy-theories
Paulie, you may be right. I hope that all concerned human beings collect all the information leading up to her death by whomever hands and do what is possible to avoid any further unfortunate deaths. Marc Allan Feldmand’s comment above refers to two very important points that likely contributed to the death of Sarah Bland.
I hope to review the evidence available in 60 days, discount that evidence that should be discounted, and learn a lesson. I believe in some conspiracy theories but I apply Occam’s Razor to all theories even those I am partial to.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/occams-razor.htm
I don’t think any of the articles from reich wing or lamestream sources are informative, they basically just uncriticall parrot the police propaganda line. It’s pretty obvious there is an active coverup, including missing portions of the arrest video and probably also of the jail video. The autopsy and any paperwork or statements she allegedly made are likely to be part of that.
An informative article about Sandra Bland including an image of a form she filled out on her mental state.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/07/22/sandra-blands-medical-form-filled-out-during-booking-in-texas-jail-provides-huge-revelation-in-case/
This case provides more evidence of the importance of compliance in the situation of law enforcement and justice. Non-compliance leads to poor outcomes. Of course I am referring to:
1. The state Department of Public Safety found that Officer Encinia was non-compliant with “procedures regarding traffic stops and the department’s courtesy policy”
2. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards found that the Waller County was non-compliant with staff training and inmate observation standards.
If the officer and the jail were compliant with the lawful procedures and standards, then the outcome would have been much different. I expect those responsible will be held accountable.
crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/07/dps-violations-of-agency-procedures-found-in-sandra-bland-traffic-stop.html/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/americas-killer-cops-whitewashing-sandra-blands-murder/5464421
It’s not based on point of view. One article may be OK with full text, but four in a row .. just leave links and people can click on them if they want to.
The comments after yours that were removed were from a malicious troll with a long history of all kinds of crap posted on this site. It usually starts out fairly innocuous and then gets worse and worse if unchecked. It has gone on for years and finally after being abused for a long time and receiving a lot of complaints from readers, death threats from this troll, and so on, we decided as a group to not allow it to keep posting here in a discussion that was well aired out among all IPR editors and also discussed to death with readers here. I’m not interested in having that discussion again, as I ran out of patience for having it over and over again years ago. The only way to keep it from infesting the site is to delete it every time it shows up. When I’m in a good mood I leave up the comments it leaves if they receive responses and if they are the relatively more innocuous ones.
As for your messages, I’d be a bit wary of police bootlicking lamestream media propaganda if I were you. Something that I would think you with your past experiences would already know without me telling you. I could throw up a bunch of links from different kinds of sources which challenge the narrative yours provide, and maybe I will, maybe not. I don’t feel like doing it right now.
Start with the videos, both arrest and jail, which there are many indications were all edited so we don’t know what was cut out or who may have entered her cell. There’s many other things I could bring up but I’ll leave them alone at least for now. And if you are “NOT condoning what the arresting officer did” why did you start out by saying “… moves from Chicago to Texas, meets a Texan”? Sure sound like you are condoning what that Texan did from here.
Who is censoring the messages here based on content and point-of-view? I am not suggesting that no message should be removed, ever, but I suspect that much more than that is being done. I am not specifically referring to my own messages.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/Suburban-Woman-Found-Dead-in-Jail-Had-Previous-Encounters-With-Police-316025661.html#ixzz3geb6z8s6
Yet another article: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sandra-bland-texas-jail-cell-death-apparent-voicemail-reveals-frustration/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/us/sandra-bland-arrest-death-main/
>paulie
>July 24, 2015 at 11:49 am
>Suicidal? You’re seriously buying the obviously bullshit police cover story for this blatant >murder?
I’ll bite. I heard that she admitted suicide after losing a child due to a miscarriage. True or not, I don’t know. But the autopsy has results consistent with a suicide, and the videos show that nobody snuck into the cell. So, what makes it a “blatant murder”?
Note: I’m NOT condoning what the arresting officer did. But the arresting officer isn’t suspected of murdering her: He’s a patrol officer, not a jailer.
From: The Onion……satire, but very true…
This is a horrible story. Just the fact that the first tape was edited heavily shows “consciousness of guilt”, in my opinion.
I’d like to know why she was still in 3 days after the arrest.
Suicidal? You’re seriously buying the obviously bullshit police cover story for this blatant murder?
Irritating suicidal black woman moves from Chicago to Texas, meets a Texan. What could go wrong?