A couple of hundred people turned into over 1000 at Union Square this evening seeking justice in a last minute rally for Sandra Bland, Kindra Chapman and other black women who have recently been killed while in police custody. Who is Sandra Bland? She was a 28 year old activist and social media blogger posting about racism, police brutality and black lives matter who was pulled over for not signaling when she changed lanes in Waller Co, NC July 10th.
Sandra had an altercation with the cop when he asked her to put out her cigarette and then get out of her car. She was arrested, injured in the altercation at the scene, spent the weekend in jail and as found dead 3 days later. Police claimed she hung herself in the cell. Sandra can be heard in a video of the arrest saying the cop had smashed her head into the ground and that she could not hear.
Kindra Chapman was found dead in a jail cell from what Police say was a self-induced hanging on July 14th after being arrested for allegedly stealing someone’s cell phone in Homewood, AL.
“Say her name, Sandra Bland!” The crowd chanted in reply to the speaker.
Larry Holms from the People’s Power Assembly, one of the speakers, said “Sandra committed no crime yet, she was jailed brutalized and murdered in her cell. She was one of us, she was part of the Black Lives Matter Revolution. They reached in a ripped out a piece of our hearts. She was a soldier.”
The real reason she was brutalized and murdered was because she opened her mouth. She had the audacity, the nerve the courage, the chutzpah to tell the cop how she felt about what he was doing to her. What they used to all “Uppity Negros”. Sandra Bland acted like she had dignity, like she had humanity, like her life mattered. She was a little Uppity, and for that, she’s dead today”.
“Sandra Bland was killed by the god of white supremacy”, was the opening of Rev Jennifer, ordained in the African, Methodist, Episcopal church. “Until a month ago many people didn’t know what the AME church was until Dylann Roof stepped into a church in Charleston, SC and killed 9 black bodies, most of whom were black women. Sandra Bland was a member of the AME church and was arrested right outside an AME church”.
The Aunt of Akai Gurley, shot by NYPD in the stairwell of the Pink Houses where he lived on Nov 20th 2014, and who spoke on Friday at the Eric Garner rally, spoke here also.
Danette Chavis of National Action against Police Brutality, who’s son, Gregory, lost his life in the custody of Police in 2004 was also one of the speakers. “My son died in the custody of police. He bled on the ground across the street from the hospital while his friends were attempting to carry him. In a 7 year lawsuit the case was decided in favor of the city”. Police killing has become so “blatant and regular that now they’ve come up with the arrogance to tell us that the victims did it themselves.
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