The suspicious and widely debated circumstances around Sandra Bland’s death on Monday have inspired the Twitter hashtag #IfIDieInPoliceCustody.
Users on the social media platform say they are all too aware of the dangers they may face if ever detained by law enforcement – and are now proactively declaring that should they die in police custody, they would never harm themselves.
Considering the long list of black women and men who have recently been harmed or been killed while in police custody, the premise of this trend is backed by sobering statistics.
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody do not apologize on my behalf. Do not forgive. Do not forget. Express your rage to validate my humanity.
— K-Ci’s (ooh yeah) (@frodeci) July 16, 2015
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody know that they killed me. I would do everything in my power to get home to my family. So never stop questioning.
— April is in DC (@ReignOfApril) July 17, 2015
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody I did not commit suicide, I did not resist arrest or be combative. I didn't go for the taser or gun
— Derk Brown (@DreadHead_46) July 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/IjeomaOluo/status/622081991060488192
#ifidieinpolicecustody dont talk bout my depression or my speeding tickets. Talk about my killers & the corrupt racist system that killed me
— BlackVoice4u (@BlackVoice4u) July 18, 2015
#ifidieinpolicecustody look under my fingernails. The skin of the person who killed me will be there…
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) July 18, 2015
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody there's a great possibility that I wasn't even breaking the law or resisting. I was just black.
— Francesca (@LipstickNLegos) July 16, 2015
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody ask every question, and know that I did not end my own life. And protest in the spirit of the founding fathers.
— deray (@deray) July 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/Adamant_Yves/status/622018257684439040
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody make sure my baby girl continues to love her beautiful black skin.
— Keya D. (@Kooka82) July 17, 2015
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody don't trust any report of me being aggressive, I put my humanity aside in interactions w/ cops to come home to my kid
— Jamilah Lemieux (@JamilahLemieux) July 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/Moore_Darnell/status/622039671770628096
A country where a hashtag like #IfIDieInPoliceCustody can trend has lost any claim to being a democracy.
— Sofia Quintero (@sofiaquintero) July 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/Russian_Starr/status/622008357931642880
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody show them these tweets.
— 🇵🇸🇸🇩🇨🇩 Reading RainHeaux | 김종현 (@iamjadebrieanne) July 16, 2015