While out running errands, I made the U-turn to head back home after picking up everything I needed. I was ready to get home and relax. Coming down Memorial Drive at 55 mph was typical and well within the speed limit (or so I think). I was preparing to switch lanes when I saw a cop in the approaching lane. Immediately, I tensed up, hit the brake, checked my seat belt, and put my signal light on. There was absolutely no one behind me, but I put that signal light on. It was in that moment, that I realized just how much the death of my soror, Sandra Bland, had affected me.
I almost went into tears thinking to myself, “I don’t want to die over a lane change.”
In the instant of seeing that officer, I didn’t think about a speeding ticket…I thought about if I give them any reason to pull me over, I may lose my life. Think that’s far fetched? As a black person, it’s not. But now as a black woman, it’s fact. Sandra Bland was pulled over for something as simple as failure to signal a lane change. And now…she is no longer with us. I almost went into tears thinking to myself, “I don’t want to die over a lane change.” Why did I even have to think that?
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I began to get so angry. It wasn’t fair that as a black woman, I have to even consider that as a realistic scenario. But, sadly, it is. There have been countless numbers of black women that have died or been killed while in police custody. It is a nightmarish reality that most mainstream media has failed to relay to the masses. My heart sank, I miss my sister. I miss my soror. I never met her, but she represents me. She represents the strength, the weakness, the beauty, the joy, the outspokenness of being a black woman. She was a champion of truth and justice for her people. I am thankful that her name has not been forgotten. Her life was not in vain. Her work is being seen, noticed, and recognized.
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As long as I live, she will not be forgotten. Because unfortunately, every time I change lanes, I think of you. I think of how angry you must have been that you were even dealing with a stop, and then being forced to put out a cigarette in YOUR car. I can only imagine, how it felt to be dragged out of YOUR car, humiliated by being thrown to the ground, and unjustly arrested. All because of a lane change.
My sister lives on in every sister that hears her name and her story. For this reason, I will forever remember…soror Sandra Bland. EEE-Yip!
