Picture taken of scene where Sandra Bland allegedly “hung herself”, moments after the body was “found” was just released. And of course, no one is buying it.
Police are claiming that Sandra took the trash bag out and tied it to the partition on her shower, and then used it to hang herself with.
Problems with this explanation:
- Trash bags/cans are not allowed in jail cells because any lose items are considered a danger to the inmates. If it’s not bolted down to the floor, it’s basically not allowed in a cell
- If the police are right and the picture was “taken right after the body was found with no changes made to the scene” then why did they replace the trash bag?
- The bag she allegedly used was a “black industrial sized” trash bag, which was not only unlike the white one shown above, but it wouldn’t have been strong enough to hold up her body
- The partition she “hung herself” from is shorter than her. Sandra was a little over 6 ft, and the partition was about 5 ft.
- There were no lacerations or bruises on her neck consistent with a hanging.
#StayWoke
in case yall been sleeping here’s a reminder that we just shut down Mall Of America, the largest mall in the USA, to protest the wrongful deaths of young black men by police.
#blacklivesmatter
Also, on the Saturday before Christmas. Repeat: on the Saturday before Christmas. Honestly, if you’re more concerned with shopping than the message of this protest, then I have no words for you. I live in St Paul, Minnesota, and I’m thrilled that these people came together to do this. This isn’t over, this isn’t going to end until there’s some sort of change. If you’re upset that your shopping day was ruined, good, because maybe you should stop and think about WHY this protest is happening.
You can’t shop today? You know who else can’t shop? Ever again? For Christmas or any other holiday, or hell, just to go and get a smoothie?
There are going to be a lot of emotions today. As always, do NOT belittle someone’s feelings. Do not tell anyone that they are overreacting. That is never ever going to solve anything and will only cause more hurt. If you see someone posting about it do not remind them of the verdict and what it means, because honestly, they already know. Let them have their reaction. Let them be concerned for black youth in this country. This is a legitimate concern to have. This is not the first incident. This is not the first time we’ve been through this and there are several, several, several cases that have gone unheard, or if they have been heard, this has been the result.
Be respectful today, and every other day. This is not a day to come over and point to facts and remind people of verdicts and “justice” being served, this is a day to be respectful of people’s feelings and worries, because they’re far from being invalid. Also, if you see someone posting “Black Lives Matters” do not, for the love of everything, respond with “All Lives Matter.” We know. We know that. We KNOW that.
No one is suggesting that we exclude others, we are asking that you start including us and treating us like people instead of criminals because of the color of our skin.
If you respond with “All Lives Matter” you are missing the point completely.
Racism is a very real thing. If you can’t understand why I would post about it but support my plus size posts, then I don’t really have much to say, because as much as I am fat I am also very much black, and racism is very real, and to me this is yet another black youth on the ever growing list.
Please respect my feelings and everyone else’s feelings today. I know you’re capable of it, and I know you are all an understanding and loving group of people who I am thankful to have supporting me. A lot of people are going to need support today, so please show that same consideration that you always do.
I think the really scary thing is that this incident is something that my parents would tell me about when I was younger. When my parents talked to me about racism, I was always told that things have improved, yes, but it’s still there. I would hear stories about segregated bathrooms and all of the injustices they grew up with. But they’d tell me that things have improved. There were marches and protests and great people who fought to get us where we are now. Racism is still there, yes, but things have improved.
The scary thing is that I’m repeating the same words they told me all those years ago. I’m 31 years old and the things I say are the things I grew up hearing. And while, back then, my parents could really say things had gotten better and mean it, because they were alive when black people had to move to the back of the bus, use a different water fountain, and going to school with white kids warranted national news coverage…
… can I really say things have improved in my generation?
I mean think about it. Really think about it. The only separation of bathrooms I have to deal with are male and female. I can sit wherever I want on the bus. I went to a predominantly white college. The changes my parents saw I am benefiting from, so when they said, “There’s still racism but things have improved,” they meant it. Which, to me, meant that we still had work to do, but we had accomplished something great. But what about my generation? What about the ones growing up and seeing the events of Ferguson? Can I really tell them, “Things have improved,” can I really say that? Black youth being killed is not a new thing. We still live in a time where not only can you be killed for the color of your skin, but chances are, your killer will walk free. Not only that, chances are, no matter how many times you explain why this is wrong, why you are sad, why you are fearful, you will be told you’re overreacting. And I think the really, really sad thing is that I’m seeing people younger than me not being surprised at all. Back then, when I was told that racism was very real, but there had been improvements, there was still a glimmer of hope in that sentence. There was hope because my parents knew that those improvements were true. They were there when history was made and things changed for the better. So I know they said that to me thinking that, yeah, we’ve made changes before, we can do it again.
But this cycle keeps happening. Again and again. And I’m looking at these posts and these people younger than me are so full of pain, and hurt, and cynicism about the world we live in. There’s no, “racism exists but there’s been improvements,” because honestly… have there been?
It might be hard to believe, but I think there have been. You know why? Because we are all aware of the problem. We are all tired of seeing this happen. We are tired of being told that we’re overreacting and instead of nodding in agreement, we speak louder. I think this generation is channeling the ones before us, the ones who marched, the ones who didn’t take things lying down. People don’t understand where we’re coming from? Then we’ll show them. We’ve benefited from our past brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and we know where we come from, we know their struggle, their history, and we are determined that this cycle doesn’t keep repeating.
And I think the really great thing is that it’s not just us saying it, it’s not just my black friends and family speaking these words. I go through posts and see these white faces getting tired of this shit, too. It’s not just us saying it, protesting it, marching about it. It’s not just us on T.V. pouring our hearts out. I go through Facebook and see my white friends talking about injustice, about white privilege, about things being unfair for me, about how it makes no sense that their black friend’s lives aren’t valued. I have a white partner who came in and hugged me over this verdict, because she knew how unfair it was. I see white newscasters calling bullshit on everything, I see popular white faces pointing out the problems and lamenting on how unfair it is that, because their friends or coworkers are black, then have more to worry about. I think that there have been improvements because, yes, there are some people who don’t get it, but the amount of people who do get it is overwhelming, and that gives me a glimmer of hope.
I have hope because I’m not the minority in thinking that this is unfair.
I have hope because I’m not the minority in thinking that there needs to be a change.
I have hope because when I see posts about it, there may be a handful of negatives, but the overwhelming positives make me think that maybe, just maybe, when I get to be my parent’s ages and say, “there have been improvements,” that I’ll mean it.
