According to CNN, Sandra Bland was arrested in Texas on July 10 for allegedly assaulting a police officer. Three days later, officers found her dead in her cell. They say that the cause of death was suicide, yet many are questioning that version of events.
Fed up with what happened to Bland and those before her, a wide array of Twitter users have tweeted using the hashtag #IfIDieInPoliceCustody. The messages come from a variety of Ordinary Joes and prominent figures on Black Twitter, and their tweets range from personal requests to take care of beloved family members, to exhortations to fight for equality.
Read the 10 tweets embedded below, and follow the hashtag on Twitter for more.
https://twitter.com/DevonSol/status/622695289900650496
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody Please don't believe I killed myself. I was killed. Find answers. Fight for me. Don't let my death be in vain.
— Pam Campbell (@4BoysStrong70) July 19, 2015
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody don't let my middle class status or PhD give my case more weight than others. Fight equally for answers about us ALL.
— Rabiah Mayas, PhD (@RabiahMayas) July 19, 2015
#ifidieinpolicecustody look under my fingernails. The skin of the person who killed me will be there…
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) July 18, 2015
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody I did not commit suicide. DO NOT forgive my murderer. DO NOT post or share videos of my death or brutalization.
— the american cool (@american_c00l) July 19, 2015
#ifidieinpolicecustody know it's because I refused to be silenced.
— Monica Raye Simpson (@monicarsimpson) July 18, 2015
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody ask every question, and know that I did not end my own life. And protest in the spirit of the founding fathers.
— deray (@deray) July 17, 2015
A country where a hashtag like #IfIDieInPoliceCustody can trend has lost any claim to being a democracy.
— Sofia Quintero (@sofiaquintero) July 17, 2015
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody Please give support to my son.
— Rebecca Carroll (@rebel19) July 19, 2015
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody don't trust any report of me being aggressive, I put my humanity aside in interactions w/ cops to come home to my kid
— Jamilah Lemieux (@JamilahLemieux) July 17, 2015
Mourners are gathering tonight at Bland’s alma mater, Prairie A&M University, to honor her.