Sandra Bland Was Murdered

[karynnj]

26. Great article

In some ways, because so much of the lead up to her arrest is on video, it really is another eye opening view of how different it is being black vs being white.

Everyone makes at least occasional minor errors in driving. Here, she should have signalled she was pulling over. It really is something that drivers do almost without thought - and the reason to do it is obvious. However, I think all of us - over the course of a lifetime of driving - have made far greater, more consequential mistakes.

I understood, maybe for the first time, what community policing means. My husband and I have been stopped by police, including once for driving far too slowly in a rural area of VT late at night. We were not familiar with the road and it was extremely dark. For miles, many cars passed us. The tone from the police that Bland faced from the first second was one of hostility and suspicion that seemed to come out of nothing she had done to that point. In contrast, where the police in our case had far more reason to pull us over, it was clear from the first second that their concern was the safety of the community, including us. (They then has us follow them for most of the remaining distance until we got to a more populated, better lit area. Both to light the way and I assume to assess whether we could competently continue.)

Watching the video, we saw the hostility of the policeman, returned by obvious antagonism from Bland that would never have been my response to the police. No, this is NOT to say that her response was out of line. I do not have the same history that she has of being treated with suspicion by the police. To me, this highlighted the different paths that she and we had traveled until that point. The 60s aside, for all of our lives, the police were, not just authority figures who you treated with respect, but were there to help. Not to mention, we had met some police non professionally.

While it is likely that the policeman who stopped her was worse than average, the difference in just that first minute really demonstrates white privilege. That confrontation really must have had its true beginning years before the traffic stop - setting up the instant, almost inexplicable hostility. Both were responding not just to what was happening, but to the emotional baggage both brought to the moment. It is entirely likely that Bland been white, there would have been no police stop at all or if there was one, the policeman would have given her a verbal warning that she should always signal -- as it keeps her safer.

It is absolutely inexplicable that this woman died because she happened to be on that street at that moment and was stopped by a policeman for a minor infraction that would have at most led to a minor traffic ticket. Knowing this story, it is much easier to understand that the baggage she brought to that moment not only explained her hostility, but her reaction (though not helpful) was absolutely understandable.