‘Two Sides’ relives the death of Sandra Bland
The case of Sandra Bland, the African-American woman from Chicago who in 2015 was found hanged in her Waller County jail cell after being arrested during a traffic stop, continues to perplex long after it’s left the headlines.
This week, TV One network’s “Two Sides,” a limited series on the legal system and social justice airing at 9 p.m. Monday nights, explores the details and emotions surrounding Bland’s death. While it doesn’t come close to providing a definitive answer regarding murder (as her family and supporters allege) or suicide (as officials claim), the program is an engrossing if maddening glimpse behind the curtain of a justice system that doesn’t always seem to provide it.
Though shot in a nonconfrontational documentary style with many talking heads, “Two Sides” overcomes its rather predictable format through the conflicting versions of what might have happened. First there’s that sad, disturbing video of Bland’s arrest, which started off with her being pulled over by former state trooper Brian Encinia for a minor violation. What at the beginning is routine quickly veers out of control as Bland refuses to put out her cigarette after being asked, and Encinia then gives in to anger, dragging her from her car for arrest.
It’s what happened after she’s taken to jail, away from the camera’s glare, that raises the accusations of murder and cover-up. Just how did she end up with that trash bag coiled around
her neck?
The filmmakers indeed give a forum for both sides, ranging from Waller County Sheriff R. Glenn Smith and the policeman’s lawyer, Chip Lewis, to the Bland family and their attorney, Cannon Lambert. They even included outside observers, like Dr. Tamara Brown, dean of the college of juvenile justice and psychology at Prairie View A&M University, and reporter St. John Bernard-Smith, who covered the case for the Chronicle.
The film also briefly puts the events in the context of the wave of police brutality and police shootings that were shaking the country and enraging the black community at the time.
Though we may never get the answers to what really happened in that cell, questions in this case, and others like it, still need to be asked. “Two Sides” is a worthy step in this direction.
The documentary is not the only way Houstonians can explore the issues raised by this case. The Houston Museum of African American Culture has just opened an exhibit honoring the life of Bland that runs through Feb. 28.