Source: NewsOne Screenshots / NewsOne Now
I have never seen an ordinary Black woman take mainstream media by storm in the way that Sandra Bland has.
Like so many of the other Black female police brutality and neglect victims we’ve come to learn about, Bland could have disappeared through the gaping holes of injustice, never to be seen or heard of—much less reported on by the heavyweights like the New York Times, ABC and CBS. Maybe she would have gotten some mentions from far left activists that are already invested in preserving the stories of marginalized people crushed by intersecting forms of oppression.
But for Bland, the opposite has been true. She has arrested all of us. Her story and her pictures are being projected from the world’s biggest media channels to the tiniest nooks and crannies of the Internet. I firmly believe that Bland’s commitment to documenting her life and sharing her perspectives through her vlog, #SandySpeaks, as well as through social media is why we’re committed to exploring and preserving her legacy. Bland is the one that is steering the narrative here—not the Texas Department of Public Safety, the mainstream media outlets or even my dedicated brothers and sisters in the Black Twitterverse.
Sure, there are a lot of reasons why we’ve all rallied around (and obsessed over) Bland’s history and the circumstances of her death. She was pretty. She was God-fearing. She was well-spoken. She dressed conservatively, based on her pictures available to the public. Her family members have made themselves accessible to the media and have been speaking out in full force, unapologetically denying Waller County’s claim that Bland committed suicide. Despite the well-deserved attitude that she was serving up to Texas State Trooper Brian T. Encinia when she was arrested, Bland comfortably fit into the confines of respectability politics.
But there is something about her vlog, #SandySpeaks, that is affirming her space in the mainstream news cycle and is impacting how we see and understand her—even though we can no longer talk directly to her. She can’t be rendered invisible by Encinia, Waller County’s court system, or the likes of NYT and ABC because she left a digital trace of herself. It is a trace that can never be undone or fully wiped away. The officials manning the prison where she died want us all to believe that she was a depressed, suicidal woman that was already on the brink who couldn’t have been stopped.
In spite of that, the fact that she blazed a path by speaking her truth day after day through digital media is now giving us the opportunity to judge the situation for ourselves. The testimonies that Bland made while she was alive are a direct challenge to the theories being spewed by Waller County. As a result, the initial autopsy findings they’ve put forth aren’t being treated as the ultimate explanation for Bland’s death. Rather, the county’s investigative findings are just one explanation.
I won’t project the idea that Bland wasn’t suicidal just because she smiled a lot and made some inspiring web videos. Bland was capable of doing anything. Black people are as susceptible to suicide and mental illnesses as everybody else is. Lastly, just because someone looks happy and grounded, it doesn’t mean that they actually are.
But what is irrefutable is that Bland was an incredibly vocal and knowledgeable woman that was driven by her faith. She spoke out relentlessly about #BlackLivesMatter. She was well aware of her rights—and she was unafraid to fight for them. The bittersweet element to all of this is that Sandra Bland’s immense, consistent media coverage has outshined other past and present Black female victims of police neglect and violence like Rekia Boyd, Natasha McKenna and most recently, Raynette Turner and Ralkina Jones. However, I’m still grateful for the media platform Bland created for herself because without it, I don’t think the mainstream would have picked up her story in the first place. More than that, I don’t think her family and friends would have been given an audience to express what they think happened and be validated throughout this process.
I know that Ms. Bland is going to haunt me for years to come. I’ve been looking at old #SandySpeaks clips where she muses on the needs and issues of Black people, her own struggles with mental illness, near-death experiences, art, God, children, self-love. Virtually all of them start the same way with her flashing a bright, hearty smile greeting her viewers as “kings” and “queens.” Watching her, you know that her smile was real. Her eyes are wide, yet relaxed, and her cheeks are full and high. I know that I will hold onto the images and words she left behind because there was something warm and familiar about her: the rasp in her voice, the subtle, gold eye shadows she sometimes wore, the small plats and twists that sat on her head. In watching her, I feel like I knew her.
Of course, I didn’t know her. In a time of blogs, Twitter and Instagram, we all have at least two ways of presenting who we are; our authentic selves and our digital selves. Neither Ms. Bland nor I are exempt from that. In any case, I’m not going to blindly accept the accusation that Bland was some angry, uncontrollable Black woman sick enough to end her own life under such corrigible circumstances.
Sandra’s story isn’t just a narrative about stereotypes of Black women, police brutality or inept prison guards. It’s a story that reflects the importance of documenting and sharing our experiences. It’s a story that compels us to build our own platforms. These are the platforms that will counter the powers that be when they try to erase or misconstrue who we as Black women are or what our intentions are on this Earth. I’m grateful that Bland’s family, friends and celebrities all over the Twitterverse have been speaking on behalf of Bland. But it in the end, it doesn’t even matter. Ms. Sandra Bland made it her practice to speak up for herself so that we didn’t have to.
So keep tweeting. Keep posting your videos, your blog posts and your Facebook rants, your Snapchats and your selfies. These platforms were made for us to rebel, to respond and to bear witness to the white supremacist patriarchy that is still contextualizing our lives in 21st Century America. In an era where Black men, women and children are and will continue to be under attack, we have no other choice.
Like Zora Neale Hurston once said, “If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.”
RELATED LINKS:
Authorities Release Footage Of Sandra Bland In Jail To Address Rumors About Her Death
2nd Inmate Speaks Out About Sandra Bland: ‘She Just Broke Down’
Hundreds Turn Out For Sandra Bland’s Funeral
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#SayHerName: Black Women Who Lost Their Lives At The Hands Of The Police
#RaynetteTurner, becomes 5th Black woman 2 die in police custody this month #sayhername http://t.co/skxfXtQAcA pic.twitter.com/6pYyMmHrif
— Hello Beautiful (@HelloBeautiful) July 29, 2015
1 of 42
1. Raynette Turner
Turner was found dead in a Westchester, NY jail cell on July 27 after she was detained for allegedly shoplifting from a local wholesale food supplier. Her family claims that Turner's health needs were neglected while she was in custody.
Source:Instagram
2 of 42
2. Ralkina Jones
Jones was found dead in a Cleveland jail cell on the morning of July 26. Jones was arrested after a domestic violence dispute with her husband.
Weeks after #EricGarner, #RosanMiller was put in a chokehold. She was 7-months pregnant #SayHerName #HerDreamDeferred pic.twitter.com/vfxb0rcWq9
— AAPF (@AAPolicyForum) March 30, 2015
3 of 42
3. Rosann Miller
Miller of Brooklyn, NY was put into a chokehold by the NYPD while seven months pregnant in July 2014, only weeks after Eric Garner’s death. Miller was confronted by police who told her she wasn’t allowed to grill food in her front yard; the officers that attacked Miller were never charged.
Family doesn't believe 18 year old Kindra Darnell Chapman hung herself in an Alabama jail. http://t.co/Vsxn6Ac193 pic.twitter.com/udBlKK1bWx
— Urban Cusp Magazine (@UrbanCusp) July 21, 2015
4 of 42
4. Kindra Darnell Chapman
Chapman, an 18-year-old girl from Alabama, allegedly committed suicide by lynching in her jail cell. Chapman was arrested for a first-degree robbery charge after reportedly stealing a cellphone.
’Home Depot guilty of murder’ of Yuvette Henderson @APTPaction @jpmassar @missmollie33 @violentfanon @alyssa011968 http://t.co/tjxLNVW26O
— Terri Kay (@TKOakWWP) May 28, 2015
5 of 42
5. Yuvette Henderson
Henderson was shot to death on Feb. 3 by two Emeryville, CA police officers after being accused of shoplifting and carjacking motorists near a Home Depot. Neither of the cops involved were wearing body cameras during the incident and the Home Depot location refused to release surveillance footage of the shooting.
My piece on #LatandraEllington :: Murdered by guards in a Florida Prison.
http://t.co/c7AkXbZpdX
#SayHerName pic.twitter.com/hcpDvwIfa7
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) May 21, 2015
6 of 42
6. Latandra Ellington
Ellington, a 36-year-old Florida woman was found dead in October 2014 at the Lowell Correctional Institution. Her family believes she was murdered, as Ellington revealed through letters that guards had been threatening her while she was in custody.
Source:Instagram
7 of 42
7. Shereese Francis
Francis, a Queens schizophrenic woman, was tackled to the ground by four police officers in March 2012 after her family called officials for help during one of Francis’ manic episodes. Francis stopped breathing during the altercation and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the local hospital. The local police still have not released records on Francis’ case in response to her family’s request.
#SayHerName Shantel Davis, 23 years old @watchthecops pic.twitter.com/QrfXcnapqd
— Anna Bressanin (@AnBress) July 17, 2015
8 of 42
8. Shantel Davis
Davis was shot and killed by a plainclothes detective in June 2014 after being followed in her car in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. The detective claimed that he accidently shot Davis in the chest, but witnesses had contradicting statements.
Source:Instagram
9 of 42
9. Constance Graham
Graham, the mother of police brutality victim, Ramarley Graham, was harshly subdued to the ground when she arrived at a Bronx police station to inquire about her son’s death. Constance's mother, Patricia Hartley was brutalized as well. Not only had she witnessed her grandson wrongfully being killed by the police in her own home, but they then threatened to shoot her when she confronted them about the murder.
#Brooklyn Woman Speaks About Arrest Caught on Video http://t.co/YnaqYB1QIj pic.twitter.com/PDvppbogga #DeniseStewart
— The Daily Dish (@Daily_Dish) August 5, 2014
10 of 42
10. Denise Stewart
Stewart, a 47-year-old grandmother, was humiliated and attacked by the NYPD in August 2014 after they yanked her from her apartment half-naked and arrested her for child endangerment—only to find that they had raided the wrong apartment. Neighbors looking on protested the raid and videotaped the incident but the police proceeded to handcuff her in the hallway of her apartment building as well as her four kids.
Source:Instagram
11 of 42
11. Alexia Christian
Christian was shot and killed in the back of a patrol car in Atlanta on April 30. Officers claim that they found Christian inside of a stolen vehicle and that she escaped from her handcuffs, allowing her to shoot at one of the officers with a stolen gun. Details are still forthcoming on this case.
Source:Instagram
12 of 42
12. Kathryn Johnston
Johnston, a 92-year-old Atlanta woman, was shot and killed by an undercover police officer in a failed drug raid in November 2006. Officers went to Johnston’s home unannounced and under false pretenses that there was drug activity at her home; they later admitted to planting marijuana and cocaine as evidence during the investigation.
Source:Instagram
13 of 42
13. Mya Hall
Hall, a transgender woman from Baltimore, MD, was killed by the National Security agency after she mistakenly crashed an allegedly stolen vehicle onto NSA property. No one in the car was armed; Hall was killed shortly before Freddie Gray was died in the back of a police van, making way for a national media spotlight on police brutality in Baltimore.
Source:Instagram
14 of 42
14. Alesia Thomas
Thomas, a young mother from Los Angeles, died of cardiac arrest in the back of a police car after an officer violently kicked and arrested her for child abandonment in July 2012. Thomas had been sought after the police because she dropped off her three and 12-year-old children at a local precinct when she felt unable to provide for her children.
#GabriellaNevarez I #SayHerName 22-year old "Gabby" to her friends was shot & killed by police. pic.twitter.com/PfnQWpe3FR
— #SandySpeaks (@LeslieMac) May 21, 2015
15 of 42
15. Gabriella Nevarez
Nevarez was shot and killed after a police chase in March 2014 by Sacramento, CA. Nevarez was being followed after her grandmother complained to authorities that she had stolen her car; police say they fired at Nevarez in self-defense but passengers contradicted their account by saying Nevarez crashed the car once she was shot.
Source:Instagram
16 of 42
16. Tasha Thomas
Thomas, the girlfriend of police brutality victim, John Crawford III, was insensitively interrogated by police the day that Crawford was shot and killed in an Ohio Walmart. Thomas was calling Crawford at the time officers murdered him; Thomas was told that her boyfriend died 90 minutes into her interrogation. During her questioning, Thomas was threatened by the cops and was accused of being under the influence.
Source:Instagram
17 of 42
17. Malissa Williams
Williams was sitting next to Timothy Russell in his car when they were shot to death by Cleveland police. Neither of them were armed at the time, but police decided to follow them when they mistakenly thought Williams and Russell were shooting at them. The officer that shot at the couple from the hood of Russell’s car was eventually acquitted of manslaughter, as the judge ruled that he acted on a perceived threat.
#MiriamCarey I #SayHerName Miriam had mental health issues & lead to a car chase. PD killed her w/1 yr old in the car pic.twitter.com/yRgv4oTXPX
— #SandySpeaks (@LeslieMac) May 21, 2015
18 of 42
18. Miriam Carey
Carey was shot and killed after a wild car chase in Washington, DC in October 2013. Carey’s infant was in the car with her at the time of the shooting. Secret Service officers stated that Carey refused to stop at a checkpoint, leading them to follow her. However, Carey’s family and attorney point out that an undercover agent blocked Carey’s car which incited the chase, and that she likely started driving out of fear.
Instagram Restricts Use Of The #SandraBland Hashtag To Prevent Hate Speech http://t.co/eTH5LbVfO6 pic.twitter.com/r0N3UeM4Z8
— Hello Beautiful (@HelloBeautiful) July 28, 2015
19 of 42
19. Sandra Bland
Bland’s story took over the nation after she mysteriously was found dead on July 13 in a Texas jail cell following a traffic stop. Family members have strongly refuted authorities’ claims that Bland commit suicide. Bland, originally from Chicago, drove to Texas for a job at her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University.
Kendra James remembered at Portland rally http://t.co/GIhmG3AGU0
#KendraJames pic.twitter.com/GonxUI1dbD
— TRAUMA QUEEN ✊ (@IAMHUMMINGBIRD) July 23, 2015
20 of 42
20. Kendra James
James was shot and killed by a police officer in May 2003 in Portland, OR. James did not have any charges herself, but happened to be riding in a car with someone who had an outstanding warrant.
June is LGBTQ pride. Every #PeoplesMonday is dedidcated to LBBTQ victims od State violence. This week: #NizahMorris. pic.twitter.com/dwqTqAx8QX
— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) June 16, 2015
21 of 42
21. Nizah Morris
Morris mysteriously died of a head injury in Philadelphia, December 2002. She was found by police officers who had given her a ride home and later saw her bleeding and unconscious inside. It took them 40 minutes to bring Morris to the hospital and they failed to report that a crime had taken place when they discovered her. The officers claim they don’t know how she died but they’ve been suspected of the crime.
Black ppl in mental distress are killed by cops
R.I.P.#EleanorBumpers
#DisabledBlackLivesMatterToo
#BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/4UZKjZwcJo
— Persephone Jones♿ (@galvezmiro) March 10, 2015
22 of 42
22. Eleanor Bumpers
Bumpers was one of the first Black women whose death prompted outrage at police misconduct after she was shot and killed by the NYPD in October 1984. Bumpers was tackled to the ground and shot in her Bronx home after officers approached her for being four months behind on her rent.
Deputy Sheriff Kills Suspected Shoplifter In Front Of Two Small Children http://t.co/ucwtne8mEv
#ShellyFrey pic.twitter.com/b1qLKhSJg8
— TRAUMA QUEEN ✊ (@IAMHUMMINGBIRD) July 23, 2015
23 of 42
23. Shelly Frey
Frey was shot and killed in Houston, TX in December 2012 after a police officer tried to arrest her friend for allegedly stealing from a Walmart. The officer said he shot Frey in self-defense after she allegedly tied to hit him with her car. Frey was deprived of medical attention and was left dead in her car for eight hours.
#AlbertaSpruill I #SayHerName – NYPD mistakenly raided her home using a concussion grenade causing a heart attack – pic.twitter.com/oWSXMHc4bw
— Ferguson Response (@FergusonResp) May 21, 2015
24 of 42
24. Alberta Spruill
Spruill, a highly religious city worker died of a heart attack in May 2003 once officers broke into her Harlem home and planted a concussion grenade. They mistakenly attacked Spruill on a lead that there was criminal activity in her apartment.
#TanishaAnderson
Anderson’s family said she had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
head slammed on pavement
DEAD pic.twitter.com/6DuvzDAriL
— yoႱɘvol nɘʜqɘƚƨ (@stevelovejoy66) July 18, 2015
25 of 42
25. Tanisha Anderson
In November 2014, Anderson, a Cleveland woman suffering from bipolar disorder, was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital after officers answered a house call to her relatives during a manic episode. Instead of helping calm Anderson calm down, they slammed her facedown into the concrete sidewalk and handcuffed her with a knee in her back.
Police Killing of Michelle …… http://t.co/sx4qwO4qPU #FrancesGarrett #MichelleCusseaux #PercyDupra pic.twitter.com/m3VTrR8CTg
— Radio Free (@radiofreeorg) May 25, 2015
26 of 42
26. Michelle Cusseaux
Cusseaux was shot and killed in her Phoenix home in August 2013 after officers came to take her to a mental health facility. Cusseaux refused to let the cops into her home and was holding a hammer when she was approached. Cusseaux’s mother countered that she was changing the locks at the time and that officers were ill-equipped to respond to her mental health problems.
93-year old #PearlieGolden was shot & killed by police in her home: http://t.co/We6Kr62iQW #SayHerName pic.twitter.com/MBwvg3kwuT
— natalie solidarity (@constantnatalie) May 21, 2015
27 of 42
27. Pearlie Golden
Golden was fatally shot in her Texas home in May 2014 by police who arrived to her calm down after a dispute with her nephew. Golden was brandishing a pistol because she was angry that her car keys were taken from her once she failed a driving exam. The cop who killed her was fired from his department but was not indicted for the shooting.
93-year old #PearlieGolden was shot & killed by police in her home: http://t.co/We6Kr62iQW #SayHerName pic.twitter.com/MBwvg3kwuT
— natalie solidarity (@constantnatalie) May 21, 2015
28 of 42
28. Pearlie Golden
Golden was fatally shot in her Texas home by police who arrived to her calm down after a dispute with her nephew. Golden was brandishing a pistol because she was angry that her car keys were taken from her once she failed a driving exam. The cop who killed her was fired from his department but was not indicted for the shooting.
@Adamant_Yves
#KaylaMoore
Disabled trans-Black woman killed by Berkley police. pic.twitter.com/5TMKsXrHFM
— Persephone Jones♿ (@galvezmiro) July 2, 2015
29 of 42
29. Kayla Moore
Moore was suffocated to death in her bedroom by police officers who came to escort her to a medical facility. Officers instead tried to arrest Moore, a transgender woman, using a warrant for a man that shared her birth name. Moore was also referred to by the cops with transgender slurs and her body was exposed after she was attacked.
#TamirRice and his big sister #TajaiRice they we're inseparable @AttorneyCrump @PrivateGray @KingJames @goldietaylor pic.twitter.com/Q0rGSiiDke
— Walter Madison (@WalterMadison) April 12, 2015
30 of 42
30. Tajai Rice
Tajai Rice is the older sister of Tamir Rice, the young Cleveland boy shot and killed by the police in November 2014 after they falsely believed that he was brandishing a gun. Tajai, only 14-years-old, ran to her brother’s side once he was shot. She was then tackled, handcuffed and pushed into the back of a police car by the officers who killed Tamir.
@Adamant_Yves
#KaylaMoore
Disabled trans-Black woman killed by Berkley police. pic.twitter.com/5TMKsXrHFM
— Persephone Jones♿ (@galvezmiro) July 2, 2015
31 of 42
31. Kayla Moore
Moore was suffocated to death in her bedroom by police officers who came to escort her to a medical facility. Officers instead tried to arrest Moore, a transgender woman, using a warrant for a man that shared her birth name. Moore was also referred to by the cops with transgender slurs and her body was exposed after she was attacked.
Source:Instagram
32 of 42
32. Aiyana Jones
Jones, a 7-year-old girl from Detroit, MI was fatally shot in her sleep in May 2010 on her grandmother's couch during a botched raid of their apartment. The officer who killed Jones was never convicted and returned to the police force earlier this year.
Source:Instagram
33 of 42
33. Rekia Boyd
Boyd, a 22-year-old woman from Chicago was shot in the back of her head in March 2012 after one of her friends had an exchange with a nearby police officer. Boyd was left to bleed without the comfort of her friends in the street, and was removed from life support two days later. The officer who shot the gun was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter.
#TyishaMiller I #SayHerName Passed our in her car & was killed by police who used 24 bullets on this 19 yr old. pic.twitter.com/sbP3VoCZEU
— #SandySpeaks (@LeslieMac) May 21, 2015
34 of 42
34. Tyisha Miller
Miller was shot dead in her car by police officers in December 1998, Riverside, CA. Officers decided to shoot once they roused her from her sleep and discovered a gun in her lap. Friends claimed she likely had the gun because she was protecting herself from a man who was harassing her.
Source:Instagram
35 of 42
35. Natasha McKenna
McKenna, 37, died in a hospital after being restrained by shackles and being tased four times by a sheriff’s deputy in Fairfax Count, VA on Feb 8. The police argued that they needed to tase McKenna to restrain her, but experts criticized them for using a Taser on a person with a mental health crisis. McKenna was discovered by her mother at the hospital severely bruised and missing a finger after the scuffle.
Source:Instagram
36 of 42
36. Sheneque Proctor
Proctor, the 18-year-old mother of a baby boy, was found dead in her jail cell one morning in Bessemer, AL, November 2014. Police officers monitoring her ignored her requests for medical attention. Procter struggled with asthma and told her mother that the officers had roughed her up while she was in custody. The police department would not offer Proctor’s family the video tape showing her final waking hours.
Source:Instagram
37 of 42
37. Tarika Wilson
Wilson and her infant son were shot by police in January 2008 during a SWAT Team raid of her Ohio home to find Wilson’s boyfriend, a suspected drug dealer. Wilson was not a part of any illegal drug sales. Wilson was killed from the attack, but the officer who shot her was acquitted of his misdemeanor charges: negligent homicide and negligent assault.
Source:Instagram
38 of 42
38. Meagan Hockaday
On March 28 in Oxnard, CA, Hockaday, 26, was shot and killed within seconds by a policeman who had come to her home to respond to a domestic dispute. The officer argued that Hockaday was coming towards him with a knife. All of Hockaday’s three children were in the house when their mother was murdered.
Source:Instagram
39 of 42
39. Janisha Fonville
Fonville was murdered by Charlotte, NC police on Feb. 18 following a domestic dispute between Fonville and her girlfriend. The officer who fatally shot Fonville had a history of wrongfully drawing out his gun in other cases and argued that Fonville approached him with a night. Fonville’s girlfriend, however, argued that Fonville was too far away and too small to pose a threat to anyone.
Relatives say King was not a depressed person & had no known history of mental illness. http://t.co/DDutAlXlIY #NPR #KimberleeRandaleKing
— exposethetpp.org (@LNLewis1) September 27, 2014
40 of 42
40. Kimberlee Randle-King
Randle-King, a 21-year-old mother, was found dead after allegedly hanging herself in a jail cell. Randle-King was brought to prison after she was attacked in a melee with another woman that had been threatening her on social media. Police say Randle-King became upset when she was told she had to stay in custody for a string of outstanding warrants, but family members have denied Randle-King was suicidal.
Police Can’t Get Their Story Straight After a Deputy Fatally Shoots a Texas Woman http://t.co/L7ljcjUj3f
#YvetteSmith pic.twitter.com/W9w8RbfmI6
— TRAUMA QUEEN ✊ (@IAMHUMMINGBIRD) July 23, 2015
41 of 42
41. Yvette Smith
Smith, 47, was fatally shot in the head and the stomach in February 2014 after police officers came to settle a domestic dispute between two men at her Texas home. The officers accused Smith of having a gun but took back their statement the following day. Smith, a single mother, left behind two children.
#DuannaJohnson #SayHerName #BlackLivesMatter today and everyday pic.twitter.com/TyJD7Md9K2
— GGE NYC (@GGENYC) May 20, 2015
42 of 42
42. Duanna Johnson
Johnson, a transgendered woman from Memphis, was brutally beaten and handcuffed by local police officers whom wrongfully arrested her for prostitution in February 2008. Cops yelled at Johnson with misogynist, homophobic slurs. After being subdued to the ground, being slapped with handcuffs and attacked with pepper-spray on security camera, Johnson was found fatally shot execution style.
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Continue reading Sandy Still Speaks: How One Black Woman Is Claiming Her Story Even After Her Death
#SayHerName: Black Women Who Lost Their Lives At The Hands Of The Police
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