A vigil in North Fresno for the African American woman who died while in police custody in Texas.
With candles in hand, two dozen people stood on the corner of Blackstone and Nees, as passing cars honked.
They say they want to be visible.
“There’s been a call for rage across the country and i think its just something we have been feeling here over the past couple months. it’s been relentless murder after murder and crime after crime, against people of color and we got tired of it and the community of color is really grieving it really hurts us here.” – Stephanie Kamey, Activist At Vigil
Rhea Martin says they will not stop until things change.
“Rage is important and if folks feel the necessity to act out with that rage. Like, I’m not one to do that myself, I think that when people do use violence I think it’s out of frustration and desperation. I think it can be handled peacefully, as of right now, I think if they are not listening, who knows.” – Rhea Martin, Activist At Vigil.
Their Press Release:
On July 10, 2015 Sandra Bland was arrested, accused of assaulting an officer after a routine traffic stop after a job interview in Texas, more than 1,000 miles from her home in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois. Bland, 28, was found dead Monday in a Waller County jail cell in Hempstead, Texas, after authorities said she hanged herself with a plastic trash bag. Bland’s friends and family, as well as many in the general public are highly skeptical of the suspicious and tragic nature of her death and are demanding justice.
According to the National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project statistics which started from 03/09-06/10 there has been 5,986 reports of police brutality that are reported resulting in 382 deaths, a great majority of these individuals have been black men and women.
Advocates respond by holding a protest and vigil in a predominantly white area as an effort to bring attention to over-policing, unwarranted searches and seizures, unnecessary detention, and most of all- the brutal murders of black men and women. We see these events as vicious and relentless attacks by those in power in an institutionally racist system that will stop at nothing to preserve and protect White Supremacy. Continued police brutality resulting in the deaths of black bodies by law enforcement must come to an end and law enforcement must be held accountable.
