In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

No indictment in the death of Sandra Bland

EG

Trigger warning: racist violence and death, police racism

The Texas Grand Jury has decided there will be no indictment in the death of Sandra Bland against anyone–not any of the police officers, not any of the jail officials or workers, nobody. They decided it was perfectly plausible that after she was stopped for changing lanes without a signal who had a new job, and then was arrested after Brian Encina, the officer failed to follow proper procedures and claimed she assaulted him, she “became despondent” and hanged herself with a plastic bag because her family couldn’t come bail her out immediately.

Encina’s dashcam footage didn’t show Bland assaulting him; it did show evidence of what we can call extreme irregularity, with visual objects vanishing and reappearing even though the audio proceeded uninterrupted. It showed Encina demanding that Bland put out a cigarette and ordering her out of her car for reasons that he declined to specify. It showed him trying to pull her out of her car. It showed him pulling out his taser and screaming that he would “light her up.” According to witnesses and Bland herself, Encina slammed her head into the ground. And she was arrested, we’re told for “kicking” Encina.

Yeah, well, I would kick someone who assaulted me, too.

I feel completely confident in saying that this is all bullshit, and that if Sandra Bland had been a white woman, she would have gotten a ticket. If that. She should never have been taken from her car in the first place, and her blood is on Encina’s hands even if she did commit suicide, which I don’t trust for a moment. And now the entire racist legal system that declines to indict, as well.

11 thoughts on No indictment in the death of Sandra Bland

  1. Fuck this whole fucking thing. I really don’t have anything more to offer than that.

    I hope there may be some further investigations at the Federal level, and I hope that some level of accountability may ultimately be reached, but right now I’m just feeling pretty despondent about all of this.

    1. “Fuck this whole fucking thing” is pretty much how I feel as well. I almost didn’t know what to put in the post.

    2. I hope that some level of accountability may ultimately be reached

      Probably not, sad to say.

      These things tend to be judged in steps with a high burden.

      Everyone asks “did she do anything which could possibly justify the entirety of her treatment?” which, duh, no she did not.

      But the law asks a different set of questions. The law is more like “was each individual act reasonably defensible, within some sort of wide ranging bounds?” And since cops have a lot of discretion then it needs to be VERY BAD and not merely “less than good.”

      You may notice how this lessens the importance of each individual act. And how it obscures the collective effect. And how it makes it much easier to defend them. That is not a bug, it’s a feature.

      1. What in the world is all this blather doing here. You can’t just spill pancake blather all over a webpage and not clean it up. It’ll dry up and stick and then you can’t get it off ever.

  2. You know that legal principle where any death that occurs during the commission of a felony turns the offense into murder? I think that idea applies here. Recognizing that detention by the state is an extremely stressful and traumatizing experience, harm, including self-harm, accrued to the detainee during detention that is otherwise determined to be unjust should be automatically criminal assault and/or murder.

  3. A few months before leaving us, social activist Sandra Bland recorded a video declaring *”War on Gang-bangers and Thugs”* who she believes have negatively impacted her quality of life as well as harming peaceful people in her community and many American communities.

    Essentially Sandra was speaking about our expanding and shameful *National Epidemic of Childhood Abuse and Neglect*, aka, *Poverty*, that for more than two generations has deprived untold numbers of American kids from experiencing a fairly happy American kid childhood with *Safe Streets* to travel and play on.

    *Child Abuse and Neglect* that is primarily responsible for our prisons and far too many American communities being populated by depressed, angry, frustrated, undisciplined, unpredictable, sometimes suicidal teens and adults *(NY Times May 18, 2015 – Rise in Suicide by Black Children Surprises Researchers)* full of resentment for irresponsibly being introduced to a life of hardships and struggles.

    *Early Childhood Abuse and Neglect* that often leads depressed, sometimes suicidal children to develop into depressed, angry, frustrated, unpredictable teens and adults lacking empathy and compassion for others, though needing to vent their pent up negative emotions, often causing emotional and physical harm to peaceful people…instead of venting their resentment and pain on the immature single moms and/or dads who introduced them to a life of pain and struggle by irresponsibly building a family before acquiring the practical skills, PATIENCE and means to successfully raise and nurture a developing young child who matures into a fairly happy responsible teen and adult.

    Did anyone hear or seriously consider Sandra’s passionate plea for peace…or listen to Sandra’s other videos calling for peace and unity?

    If Americans sincerely wish to reduce police fear and anxiety that sometimes leads to police misconduct and/or aggression, the question all concerned, compassionate Americans should seriously be asking ourselves, our elected, civil, social, community and religious leaders is, “What real substantial changes in our society’s attitude and laws need to occur to prevent abuse that often causes young kids to mature into depressed, frustrated, angry teens and adults as a result of experiencing the *emotional and/or physical trauma of an abusive childhood?*”

    From “Sandy Speaks Archives – GotNews”
    http://gotnews.com/tag/sandy-speaks/

    Video – Ms. Sandra Bland declares “War on Gang-bangers and Thugs.”

    https://www.facebook.com/sandra.bland.5070/videos/vb.73304051/10100590806905754

    Peace.

  4. Thank you for your truth-telling. The tragedy, part of (racism/)structural violence, as you point out, terrifies me deeply.

    I completely agree “She should never have been taken from her car in the first place, and her blood is on Encina’s hands even if she did commit suicide,” except that I wonder if “commit suicide” could be substituted with “killed herself.” “Commit” carries the connotation of criminal activity and guilt. I know this term is common and standard -when NPR was using the term that’s antiquated at best, in reporting on Kalif Browder’s suicide, they changed it after I asked them about it – but I think continuing to use it perpetuates the stigma of depression and suicide. Language can hit so hard (and silently), you know?

    I promise I don’t troll websites to comment like this. I had just popped over from the much-needed and well-argued NYT piece on abolishing the statute of limitations for rape.

    Thank you for your writing.

    1. Don’t worry–nothing about your comment is trolling.

      That’s really interesting, and I’ve never thought about that phrasing before. You’re right, one “commits” a crime, and the idea that suicide is criminal is antiquated and absurd and insulting to those of us (myself included) who suffer from depression. I’m going to think about this some more, and in the meantime, I’ll try to remember to use other phrasing. Thank you for bringing this up.

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