We received our weekly reminder that black lives don’t matter last night. While it is not surprising the grand jury did not indict anyone for Sandra Bland’s death in the jail in Waller County, Texas, it is a glaring instance of one more black person, one more black woman, dying in the custody of the police. If she had been a white woman she would still be alive. In fact, she would not have been arrested. We are joined in this sentiment by a prominent public person. This death of blacks while in the custody of the
police has gotten so shameless presidential candidate Bernie Sanders issued the following statement today:
“Sandra Bland should not have died while in police custody. There’s no doubt in my mind that she, like too
many African Americans who die in police custody, would be alive today if she were a white woman. My thoughts are with her family and her loved ones tonight. We need to reform a very broken criminal-justice system.”
If you are inclined to bring up the issue of Sandra Bland’s death being ruled a suicide, please note, as Kirsten West Savali of The Root reminds us,
“The grand jury decided that even though her intake documents reportedly stated that she had previously been suicidal following a miscarriage, deputies assigned to watch her are in no way responsible for not doing so–because her life did not matter.”
In the United States, liability can arise if jail and prison officials show deliberate indifference toward a prisoner’s suicidal tendencies, as suicidal inmates are considered as needing medical care. Did the officers watch Sandra? Since all the evidence and proceedings have been kept a secret we do not know the answer to that question.