Remembering Sandra Bland on Her 36th Birthday
Chicago native Sandra Bland was just 28 years old when she was found hanging in her Walker County, Texas, jail cell on July 13, 2015.
Bland was stopped and arrested by police during a traffic stop. Just three days later, Bland would be found dead in a jail cell. Her death was ruled a suicide.
Today would have been her 36th birthday.
#SayHerName #SandraBland should be celebrating her 35th birthday today.
“Until justice rolls down like water…” pic.twitter.com/IrqAZJAUoP— Be A King (@BerniceKing) February 7, 2022
Born on February 7, 1987, in Naperville, Illinois, Bland was raised by a single mother and grew up in the church. After graduating from Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, she earned a marching band scholarship to Prairie View A&M University, a UBCU in Prairie View, Texas, where she became a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority.
Sandra Bland would have turned 35 years old today, but her life was tragically cut short following a minor traffic violation. We honor her life, and will continue to fight to protect Black women. #SayHerName pic.twitter.com/i2B8Cyh5hT
— Legal Defense Fund (@NAACP_LDF) February 7, 2022
Bland earned her degree in agriculture at Prairie View in 2009 before moving back home to Illinois in 2015. She was hired as a community outreach coordinator at her alma mater. That same year, Bland began posting thought-provoking videos to her social media, where she touched on various subjects, including speaking out against police brutality.
Today we celebrate what would have been Sandra Bland's 35th birthday. Her life mattered. Rest in power. #SayHerName pic.twitter.com/XIUP5McKcZ
— Lawyers' Committee
866-OUR-VOTE (@LawyersComm) February 7, 2022
In the arrest warrant, Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia claimed that Bland was out of control, calling her “combative and uncooperative.” The body camera footage proved otherwise.
“Bland began swinging her elbows at me and then kicked my right leg in the shin,” Encinia said in the statement. “Force was used to subdue Bland to the ground, to which Bland continued to fight back.”
Encina was later indicted on perjury charges and fired.
The family of Bland agreed to a $1.9 million settlement in their wrongful-death civil suit in 2016.
“Right now my emotion is joy, pure joy,” Bland’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, told HLN’s Mike Galanos at the time. “There’s a sense of God’s justice for me.”
Happy Heavenly birthday to #SandraBland who would have been 35 today. #SayHerName pic.twitter.com/yTNH2Gvtvk
— NAACP (@NAACP) February 7, 2022
In her social media videos, encouraged her followers to love themselves and each other.
“You’ve got to conquer hate with love. And, any time you’re presented with a situation where somebody is being racist or giving false information, really, that’s your time to educate,” Sandra bland
Today, TheHub.News would like to share our tribute video to bland.
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