Sandra Bland

I remember, weeks ago, mentions about the suicide of a woman in her jail cell. I didnt pay much mind to it at the time, but its interesting how these stories develop and seem to be chosen by the media, or an interest group. Then, about a week ago, an admin at African Americans for Liberty messaged the page to ask if I had heard of her. I said I was not sure, and he wanted to get it going in the libertysphere because it wasnt getting much press. Apparently, it was a case of police brutality. I believe this is the article I read at the time, upon searching “Sandra Bland”. I recommend watching the video there at some point.

I replied:

From what I read it looks like she fought a cop and was injured, then committed suicide in jail. Might be suicide by cop or trying to get a controversy started considering her politics.

The thing is, cops whether theyre right or wrong, shouldnt be fought unless you are properly prepared and prepared to die. A lot of people think resisting or fighting cops (yea they trump up charges a lot) is a great idea, and then cry when they are smacked down. Is it fair? No, but I dont go threatening wasps nests for a good reason

It appears she was pulled over for turning without signalling, a ridiculous law only designed to raise revenue. As soon as the cop came to her window, she became combative and defiant. The situation escalated. The cop asked her to put out her cigarette, which is reasonable. People can whine about property rights all day, but a cop will also ask you to surrender your firearm when pulled over, and this makes sense. He doesnt want to die, and he will shoot you if you dont comply. She started yelling about her right to effectively blow smoke in his face, which is distracting and repugnant to many people. He had enough of her defiance and asked her to get out of the car. She challenged this too, and misunderstood the law, thinking that she couldnt be asked to get out (she can). She then asked if she was being arrested, and he said yes. She said “for what? A traffic ticket?” No, for being an abusive dumbass who wouldnt just take the damn ticket and fight it in court.

He threatened to tase her and then ripped her out of the car. She meanwhile claimed to be calling her lawyer. They tussled over to the side, where she continued to fight him and was wrestled down. She is lucky she is a woman, because a man probably would have been shot at that point. The cop had called for backup, which soon arrived. She continued to resist and fight them until eventually they were able to subdue and arrest her. She was then transported to jail, where at some point, she hanged herself. It appears that she was throwing a tantrum there as well.

Bland was part of the “Black Lives Matter” group and other organizations about police brutality. Based on the video, she seems to have some familiarity with libertarianism, but this is not clear. She also claimed to be suffering from depression and PTSD, and had multiple prior run-ins with the police over traffic stops, and unpaid fines. We can argue all day about the justness of that, but if you dont take action against them, and just ignore them, you are asking for trouble. If you get pulled into an alley and ignore the mugger, you will be stabbed or shot. This is reality; might makes right in a way.

With all of this said, and the fact that she committed suicide, I think that her plan was suicide by cop. Its often the only reason to explain passive aggressiveness towards police. Most people just comply with police, even when they know they are wrong (author included). Some people shoot police and eventually either are killed or comply. Half-baked aggression is a recipe for disaster. When her plan didnt work, she ended up in jail, where she somehow decided to kill herself. I suspect that the whole time she also was hoping to be a martyr, hoping she could frame the situation as police brutality. Her supporters may have known at least part of her plan, and have raised the requisite uproar. People arent supposed to die in jail, so an investigation absolutely is warranted. However, the uproar doesnt seem to be as big as she would have liked. Indeed, it took a good while to get anywhere.

As always, the usual suspects are taking her side and saying the stop was unjust. Yes, it was, but unless you plan to shoot the cop/mugger/pirate, you had better comply. The morals matter not at all. The only thing that matters is who has the gun. We need to recognize that, and act accordingly. That is why Chris Cantwell advocates what he does; he knows the only way to fight violence is with violence. I happen to think he has the wrong target, but his philosophical grounding is solid. Now, of course, shooting cops will almost certainly result in your death or imprisonment, so it is not a wise idea. Thus, it is better to just comply with the stop, and get it over with. Most cops just want to send you an extortion notice and go on their way. There is plenty of time to fight it later and even peons have a reasonable success rate of reduction or tossing, with and without attorneys. I personally prefer the Marc Stevens method, which advocates challenging jurisdiction ONLY. He claims a 75% toss rate for traffic tickets and drug violations.

This is the world we live in and civil disobedience can only take you so far, especially when there is so much that needs to be disobeyed. At the end of the day, laws need to be repealed (unless you want to pursue violence). There is never going to be a mass defection of police; we have been fighting that battle since the Whiskey Rebellion. Proles need to be asked about all the ridiculous things you can get pulled over for. Our local lords (town councils) need to be shown that it is not acceptable for police to engage in piracy. There is no reasonable justification for a lot of these ordinances and traffic laws, and most people will see that when you take the time. You may still not get anywhere, at which point, libertarians need to accept the fact that they need to run for office to repeal stupid laws. But thats none of my business.

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