Chicago vigil to celebrate Sandra Bland one year after her death
Crista Noel will never forget two moments from Sandra Bland's funeral.
The first came as she waited outside the Lisle church before the service, when Bland's white casket passed in front of family and friends. The former Naperville woman's death, Noel said, suddenly felt "real."
The second came when Noel spotted a Chicago police officer she had met as a women's anti-violence advocate for the family of Rekia Boyd, shot to death by an off-duty officer, at the city's police board meetings.
The officer was wearing gold and blue, the colors of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority and, like Bland, she was a member.
For Noel, it meant the officer had connected with Bland, that she truly cared.
"We do have to recognize the humanity in all of us, and it's the only way we're going to get anything done," Noel said.
She hopes to foster those kinds of reflections during a candlelight vigil scheduled for 9 p.m. Wednesday in Chicago's Federal Plaza. The vigil marks one year after Bland's death in a Texas jail cell.
The 28-year-old Bland had been preparing for a new job at her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University, when she was arrested by a now-fired state trooper during a routine traffic stop that quickly escalated.
Three days later, Bland died in a small jail 60 miles outside Houston. Authorities said her death was a suicide. Her family does not accept that ruling and has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit.
"Closure for me is probably never going to occur," Bland's mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, told the Daily Herald in May.
Along with Bland's family, Noel, the founder of a group that supports women who are victims of police violence, has helped plan Wednesday's memorial with Black Lives Matter Chicago.
Noel makes clear the event is not a protest but a time to remember Bland and to move toward "self-healing." The vigil comes after a week that saw two black men shot and killed by police in different parts of the country and ended with the deaths of five police officers in an ambush in Dallas.
"This is a moment for great change, and the way we move forward with it is so important," said Noel, CEO of Women's All Points Bulletin, a group aimed at combating violence against women during police encounters. "And there should be moments where it's not about marching down the street and screaming out. ... We have to take a deep breath."
One of Bland's sisters, Shante Needham, will introduce the vigil, beginning and ending with prayer.
In between will be poetry readings, a performance by a gospel singer and an open mic inviting anyone to speak about Bland or their experiences.
Martinez Sutton, the brother of Boyd, a 22-year-old woman fatally shot by an off-duty Chicago police officer in 2012, also is expected to address the gathering.
The vigil is expected to last between an hour and 90 minutes.
Noel will remember the "very sensitive, very loving" young woman she recognized in the "Sandy Speaks" video series in which Bland opined on racism and police encounters with blacks.
"All these memorials for women are to remind people that women are absolutely a part of this conversation, this narrative, and we are taking leadership in this fight," Noel said.