In the three years since Sandra Bland‘s death, the world still grapples with the loss of her deeply profound life.
HelloBeautiful asked noted Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, strategists and organizers Duanecia Evans, Jamira Burley, and author Andrea Ritchie of “Invisible No More,” to share their thoughts on what our hearts can muster in light of Bland’s death.
Her arrest on July 10, 2015 from failure to signal at a traffic stop resulted in a physical encounter with a Texas police officer–captured on dash cam for the world to see. Three days later on July 13, her body was found hanged in her jail cell. Bland’s family and friends stunned by police reports of suicide, called for an independent investigation into her death. The arresting state trooper, Brian Encinia, was indicted for perjury in making false statements surrounding Bland’s arrest, but the charge was later dropped.
There is no justification for her death other than to note the open space her light once held. In the years and months following, more Black women have also found a similar fate. We coined the terms #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName to thread their lives, photos and memories together. And while our stories of police brutality and state sanctioned deaths are largely ignored by mainstream media, we are still here learning, fighting and loving in your honor.
Patrisse Cullors, writer, activist and co-founding member of Black Lives Matter
“Sandra Bland’s murder changed me forever. When Sandra was killed I felt like a part of me died. She was a young Black woman who could have been me. I knew that the claim of suicide was a lie and a desperate attempt at covering up Sandra’s murder. Our work to challenge anti black racism and gender based violence was absolutely necessary in 2015 and it’s absolutely necessary now. Sandra, I love you.”
Duanecia Evans, Managing Partner + Lead Strategist, Seventh Suite
“When I first heard the news of the state-sanctioned murder of Sandra Bland, I was both devastated and afraid by the lack of respect black lives were given by those who are entrusted to protect us — but what I’ve learned in the aftermath of Sandra’s murder is that police were never created to protect us. They are lawfully required to enforce laws that are often rooted in racism, set in place to systematically oppress those at the very margins of society.
So while Sandra is not the first or unfortunately the last black woman to be murder by police, her death symbolized the experiences of black women who suffer many of the same circumstances of black men, but their lived experiences and sometimes their death is overshadowed. Every day I leave my house scared of any encounter with police because anyone of us could be Sandra, if we are stopped at the wrong time, wrong place and by the wrong police officer, who doesn’t value who we are and that is not the American dream I was taught.”
Dear Sandra: What We’ve Learned From Your Death After Three Revolutions Around The Sun was originally published on hellobeautiful.com