From the Houston Chronicle—
The mother of Sandra Bland - who died in 2015 in the Waller County Jail - said her tentative $1.9 million settlement with state and county officials is "a victory for moms across the country."
Sandra Bland was returning to Texas from Chicago and was about to embark on a new career at her alma mater. She was a graduate of Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU). An Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and part of the Texas A&M University system. Located 45 minutes from Houston, PVAMU, or “The Hill” as it is affectionately called, sits on the highest elevation in Waller County.
Waller County is where Sandra Bland received her college degree, and was where she had decided to return to work for the university she had attended. Instead, Waller County became the place where Ms. Bland would die—alone and with no one coming to her aid.
Today’s settlement, which includes $1.8 million from Waller County and $100,000 from the Texas Department of Public Safety, also includes proposed reforms, but no admission of wrongdoing. This is what’s problematic. Any proposed reforms would need to address an admission the very real problems that surrounded Sandra Bland’s death.
The settlement does impact the county—
The settlement "was an admission of guilt in some way," said Hannah Bonner, a United Methodist minister who held a months-long vigil outside Waller County jail after Bland's death.
The nearly $2 million that DPS and Waller County had agreed to pay was also significant, she said.
"It represents a very large percentage of the economy of that county, so it's more significant than it may seem," she said.
No “settlement” of any kind can replace the loss of life. My thoughts and prayers go out to Ms. Geneva Reed-Veal, Sandra’s mother, who offered this emotional response to the ruling—
"I'm hopeful there won't be any more unlawful arrests. I'm hopeful with this spotlight and this settlement that others don't have to receive a call from 1,000 miles away that their child is on the way to the morgue."