Sandra Bland Controversy: Are Police-Involved Deaths Of Black Women Being Ignored By The Media? [VIDEO]
I can't be the only person who after July 13th, found their mind in overdrive as the case of sister Sandra Bland, yet another black life taken by a combination of excessive force and disregard by a police officer developed in the media. This case disturbed me more than the others we've seen since last August when Michael Brown was killed. There are many reasons for my feelings, but I am struck by the rarity in which cases of police brutality involving black women get heavy media coverage. We know of other cases involving black women, including Rekia Boyd in March 2012, received press, but not like this.
Sandra Bland was a 28 year old woman who was pulled over on July 10th for what should have been a routine traffic stop after she neglected to use her turning signal to indicate that she was switching lanes on the road. Texas state trooper Brian Encinia approaches Bland's vehicle and everything is fine, the officer is making small talk and explaining the situation to her. He comes back to the car and asks if she is okay, and this is when the situation escalates into the officer breaking the law. Sandra Bland was taken into custody, processed with mug shots that raise speculation, and held in her cell where she was later found asphyxiated by a trash bag.
Even sitting here doing research for this piece weighs on me. I'm fact checking with tears in my eyes as it's consistently evident to me that for mainstream media, law enforcement and the judicial system, black lives do not matter and I fear they never will. Sandra Bland allegedly hung herself in her jail cell with a trash bag. Later media coverage stated that her jail cell was tampered with. More recently, another inmate by the name of Alexandria Pyle appeared stating that she's 'positive' Sandra Bland killed herself, even though she couldn't really see what exactly was going on in Bland's cell.
So, why are all eyes now on Sandra Bland? Does it make a difference that she was a college educated black woman? Does it make a difference that she was on her way to a new job at Prairie View A&M University? Do we care that she was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho, one of the black sororities included in the Divine Nine?
In a study conducted by the African American Policy Forum, in 2013 of all women stopped by police in NYC, 53.4% of them were black compared to 27.5% Latina and 13.4% white. Why is more force used with women of color? The population of blacks in New York City is 25.5% while whites make up 44%.
What about Miriam Carey? She was killed by Secret Service, yet this barely blipped on the radar. We all know about the crazy man who broke into the White House (in which a black family resides by the way,) and he was unscathed. Anyone remember Aiyana Jones? She was only 7-years-old in 2010 when she died at the hands of police in Detroit. Yvette Smith?
The list goes on as the accounts of police violence against black women is sobering and miserable. Have we one more stain on the psyche of black America that will go unanswered and unresolved? Here's the hard lesson: Verbally defending yourself against a police officer can end in your death. Getting pulled over for a minor driving offense (like neglecting to flash your turn signal) could be your end.
If black lives really do matter, when will slain black women be acknowledged? Social media is helping with viral mentions of #sayhername but we should all rationally understand that one hash tag is not enough. All. These. Black. Women's. Lives. Matter. Too.
