If I Die in Police Custody

When I saw this hashtag floating on my twitter timeline, I was horrified. I learned of this hashtag shortly after I learned about what happened to Sandra Bland.

Sandra Bland was in police custody when she died, when she was murdered excuse me. She was pulled over for a traffic stop. Her head was slammed into the ground (via the video recording, and her saying it on the recording), she was arrested and taken into police custody. This was on a Friday, before Monday she was “found in her jail cell dead”. Her only mug shot is a picture of her in an orange prison suit and she was clearly laying on her back. Some are saying she is dead or dying in the picture, some are saying let’s wait for the facts. Fact is, no one that is stopped for a traffic violation should be dead in the custody of the police!!!

The media is trying to do everything in their power to convince us that she killed herself by using a trash bag, to hang herself. The media is also trying to bring up mental illness to further convince us that this incident HAD to be suicide and in no way shape or form could’ve been murder by police.

v  First things first, I’ve never been to jail but I’ve seen the movies. Inmates and those in custody don’t have trash cans, trash bags or any other loose object that could be used to hurt themselves or others.

v  Secondly depression and anxiety does not equate being suicidal. Documentation (via the twitter FBI aka Black twitter) shows that Sandra Bland checked the No option as it pertains to wanting to kill herself in the past year and also that day. She also said No to ever wanting to commit suicide.  (Now, the police have doctored that documentation, and tried to make it look like she tried to commit suicide in the past.)

The misconception/narrative that people battling depression and anxiety are suicidal is extremely problematic. Not only does it shame people dealing with these issues, and can turn them away from getting help due to these false judgments. It also leaves room for speculation, when there needs to be an investigation.

We’ve seen plenty of incidents in the past where encounters with the police leave the person dead and is ultimately blamed for their death. Not only are they blamed for their death, but something was planted on them or their past is brought up to justify why they were killed. A lot of people are saying Sandra shouldn’t have been so “arrogant” when she was talking to police. People are saying she should’ve never been smoking a cigarette. None of those things justify why she was treated the way she was treated while being arrested and everything that happened afterwards. Next you guys are going to say “well she shouldn’t have been an activist for the Black Lives Matter”… “She basically should’ve never been black”. See how crazy that sounds?

Reading the threads on this hashtag brought me to tears and couldn’t read much of them. Instead of writing wills to leave our loved ones things, we are writing letters, and creating hashtags explaining why we would never do anything purposely to leave us dead in police custody.  Here’s mine:

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody please understand that my son is my world. I would never purposely do anything that would cause him to go through life without me by his side, cheering him on, protecting him, teaching him, nourishing him, loving him and watching him grow to be the man God created him to be, the King that is within him.

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody my past depression, is not relevant to my current state of mind. Not only does Jesus Saves, and he heals.

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody know that I’ve NEVER done drugs, NEVER will do drugs. If they “find” drugs on my person or in my system, they were planted and never belonged to me.

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody say my name! Finish that fight that I was unable to finish. Be strong, and don’t forget about me or my story.

#IfIDieInPoliceCustody I didn’t just die, I was murdered.

Rest in Power Sandra Bland, and he countless others whose lives were taken in police custody. Those whose lives were taken and their story will never be told.

To those of us still living, we owe it to ourselves, to our ancestors and to our fallen brothers and sisters to stay educated on the issues regarding us. I’m tired of crying just like you. Unable to properly mourn these deaths because we’re on the edge of our seat, watching our backs to see who or what is next. We can’t get exhausted. Their fight is over; but we have to keep on keeping on.

If you love someone tell them

I love you

Destaynee