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Sandra Bland's Mother Says It's What Bernie Sanders Didn't Do After They Met That Earned Her Respect
Sandra Bland's Mother Says It's What Bernie Sanders Didn't Do After They Met That Earned Her RespectMadhuri Sathish - Bustle
10/16/15
David McNew/Getty Images News/Getty Images
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During the first Democratic debate earlier this week, the candidates received an important question: "Do black lives matter, or do all lives matter?" Sanders made it explicitly clear that he is on board with #BlackLivesMatter, but he went one step further — he said Sandra Bland's name, and slammed the broken justice system that resulted in her being found dead in a jail cell. This would not have been possible without the work of activists across the country shutting down his rallies, protesting, marching, proposing policy changes, and ultimately pressuring him and the other candidates to recognize the disproportionate ways in which black people are affected by police brutality. But something else happened, just five days before the debate, that might have pushed Sanders to say Bland's name: He met her mother.
Last week, the Rev. Hannah Adair Bonner — curator of The Shout, a spoken-word activism movement — wrote a post for Soul Unbound about how she and her sister were having lunch with Shante Needham and Geneva Reed-Veal, Bland's sister and mother, when they noticed Sanders eating at the same restaurant. Bonner then approached Sanders to tell him that she was with Bland's mother, and thought that perhaps he would like to meet her. He did, and he and Bland's mother began to converse.
“What happened to your daughter is inexcusable,” Sanders told Reed-Veal. “We are broken, and this has exposed us.” According to Bonner, Sanders promised that he would "continue to #SayHerName #SandraBland" and persist in the pursuit of justice. The women then asked Sanders for a photo, and he agreed.
But it was what Sanders didn't do that earned him Bonner's gratitude.
He did not impose upon Ms. Geneva to ask for a picture of his own. He did not use the moment as an opportunity to promote his campaign. He took no record, he made no statement. He did not try to turn it into a publicity stunt. He simply made space for a sacred moment, and then let it pass without trying to gain anything from it. For that, I respect him. For that, I am grateful. That choice may not have made him a very good politician, but it made him a better man.
Not only did Sanders make no mention of this meeting in the public sphere, but...
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Link: http://www.bustle.com/#/articles/117535-sandra-blands-mother-says-its-what-bernie-sanders-didnt-do-after-they-met-that-earned-her
41 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Thank you WillyT. 
