DOS_patos
Unverified Legion of Trill member
In a now-viral video, officers can be seen threatening the young black woman inside a Waffle House in Saraland, Alabama. Her mere questioning of why the restaurant was charging her for plastic utensils quickly escalated into a violent police encounter.
This disparity is part of a larger, startling pattern of violence against black women being overlooked when it comes to police brutality targeting black people. We must remember that the racial biases in policing that lead to black men being victims of violence also apply to black women, even though their stories are less visible. Black women bear a double burden ― carrying the weight of a weaponized skin color and the invisibility of a silenced gender.
Video footage from the traffic stop shows her asserting her legal rights to former state trooper Brian Encinia, who responded with increasing aggression. He later claimed he arrested Bland because she assaulted him. However, video footage showed that he ripped her from her car seat, slammed her to the ground and kneed her in the back.
Daija Belcher, 5, holds a sign in front of the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church during the funeral service for Sandra Bland on July 25, 2015, in Lisle, Illinois. (Jonathan Gibby via Getty Images)
Black women bear a double burden ― carrying the weight of a weaponized skin color and the invisibility of a silenced gender.
Perhaps the most chilling aspect of these videos of police brutality against black women and girls are the strangers who witness the violent scenes while doing nothing. Indeed, a clear pattern has emerged from each story, each tragedy: the rendered invisibility of black women.
This disparity is part of a larger, startling pattern of violence against black women being overlooked when it comes to police brutality targeting black people. We must remember that the racial biases in policing that lead to black men being victims of violence also apply to black women, even though their stories are less visible. Black women bear a double burden ― carrying the weight of a weaponized skin color and the invisibility of a silenced gender.
Video footage from the traffic stop shows her asserting her legal rights to former state trooper Brian Encinia, who responded with increasing aggression. He later claimed he arrested Bland because she assaulted him. However, video footage showed that he ripped her from her car seat, slammed her to the ground and kneed her in the back.
Daija Belcher, 5, holds a sign in front of the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church during the funeral service for Sandra Bland on July 25, 2015, in Lisle, Illinois. (Jonathan Gibby via Getty Images)
Black women bear a double burden ― carrying the weight of a weaponized skin color and the invisibility of a silenced gender.
Perhaps the most chilling aspect of these videos of police brutality against black women and girls are the strangers who witness the violent scenes while doing nothing. Indeed, a clear pattern has emerged from each story, each tragedy: the rendered invisibility of black women.
