Southbound with a Cigarette


for Sandra Bland, a black woman found hung in her jail cell three days after being arrested for a failure to signal
 
When I saw the articles,
heard your story,
I felt pain
 
But pain so much less
than your scraped knees on the pavement,
     hands in cuffs,
     breath blowing smoke,
     ears ringing,
dropped cigarette
 
"Ma'am, do you know why I pulled you over?"
     Puffing a cig
It's Friday
You were waiting
You were both waiting
 
Him
for the chance to pull you over
     to prove his bias
You
     for the chance to fight
to change the course of history
to be black
 
And smoking a cigarette
in a silver Hyundai
at 4:27 p.m. on July 10th, 2015
with a license plate from Illinois
 
You
     Sandra Bland
 
Southbound with a cigarette
 

About the Poem

In the summer of 2015, a few weeks after I graduated high school, 28-year-old African-American Sandra Bland was found dead in her jail cell in Texas. Bland was originally pulled over for a failure to signal a lane change and eventually arrested for “assault of a public servant." She was kept in Waller County Jail, and on her third day there she was found hung in her cell. Her death sparked outrage at the thought of potential homicide, but her death was ruled a suicide.
​
Like everyone, I am angry and confused about the racial profiling that likely resulted in Sandra Bland's traffic stop (and similar incidents in the news). I wrote my first poem three years ago for Sandra -- to say something about the abuse of power in our society, to say something about racial injustices that still plague us all, to say something about her wrong and wrongful death. 

Bio

Alicia Wilson is a second year PCC student (and self-proclaimed poet) now completing her third year of college. She says, "I started out at an art school in Oakland, CA and quickly found my way back to Southern California, where I've basically lived my entire life. I have finally declared my major in English and am hoping to eventually combine my love of writing with my passion for activism. I have a lot of freckles, my hair never stays one color for too long, and I love my cats more than most people." If you want to learn more about her or her work, you can find her poetry, creative nonfiction, and more at amariewilson007.wixsite.com/writelikethewind