Regardless of the fact that Sandra Bland hasn’t been mentioned by Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton or any of the other uber-visible candidates, Vermont Governor Bernie Sanders made it a point to bring light to a tragedy that has been avoided by mainstream media.
After a Texas grand jury announced that they were not going to indict any of the officers in the death of Sandra Bland, Sanders issued a statement through Twitter Tuesday, stating,
“no doubt she would be alive today if she were a white woman.”
Bland’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, is suing the Texas Department of Public Safety, State Trooper Brian Encinia, the officer who instigated the traffic stop that led to Bland’s arrest, Waller County and the two deputies that allegedly should have been monitoring Bland while she was in custody.
“We are not going to allow what they have done in a limited, secret capacity to prevent us from doing what we need to do to get answers for the family,” Bland family attorney Cannon Lambert told CNN affiliate KPRC.
Sanders has been the only presidential candidate that has not avoided the issue of police brutality in urban communities and was the first candidate to use the #SayHerName hashtag at the Oct. 13 Democratic debate.
