BY: Vincent L. Hall
A refreshed page from the chronicles of American racism. We lost Sandra Bland 11 years ago this month. The Christian Science Monitor began with a question during that time. “Sandra Bland death: Is Waller County the most racist county in Texas?”
As it pertains to the questionable queries as to what happened to Sandra Bland, one thing is quite clear. As a matter of fact, and familiarity, her death is “distinctively similar” to so many others that have taken center stage in America this year.
I must admit that I heard Bishop TD Jakes turn to that phrase: “distinctively similar.” Jakes explained that, as he used the term, it was an oxymoron.
Basically, admitting that to parallel and juxtapose the meaning and inference of the words distinctive and similar on its face is a literary oddity. But for the sake of this conversation, it’s pretty simple.
Although the information we have gathered around the death of Sandra Bland is distinctive, in the end it is similar to all the other police killings that have become this nation’s scourge since the days of slavery.
We could probably argue whether the decedent, one Sandra Bland, could have been more forthcoming during her arrest in Waller County, Texas. But the law and the constitution do not compel any of us to be docile, timid, or to allow our right to be subrogated by someone who wears a badge and carries a gun. There is the law, and then there’s the LAW!!
First and foremost, the dash cam video of the original arrest by Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia has an obvious glitch. It appears to have even been tampered with. Encinia threatened to “Light up” Bland with a taser for not getting out of her car. A preliminary investigation found that Encinia violated both the traffic stop and courtesy protocol policies.
Trooper Encinia had only been on the job for one year, and now an arrest he made is part and parcel of a homicide investigation. He has become infamous for all the wrong reasons.
His name and features appear to be Hispanic, which may be the only reason Conservatives didn’t immediately start a defense fund for him. Hmmm!
If that was not as bad as the “distinctive but similar” cases we have had before, suddenly Waller County discovered a new problem. After releasing the body of Bland to her family in Chicago, Waller County realized that they botched the original autopsy and needed to take another one.
Can you imagine how a family facing a funeral in three days also has to contend with this type of inept and inhumane insult?
The Christian Science Monitor, known for progressive thought and balanced reporting, headlined a story that posed an interesting question. “Sandra Bland death: is Waller County the most racist county in Texas?”
The death of Sandra Bland was “distinctively similar” to so many others. In July 2015, it was Waller County, Texas. But in July 2026, the same question could be asked of Harris County, where ICE agents fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston’s Magnolia Park.
Maybe the most racist county is Biddeford, Maine, York County, where ICE agents gunned down Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, leaving a three-year-old baby girl fatherless. Parenthetically, an ICE agent is purported to have tongue-lashed the toddler for picking flowers after they killed her “Papi.”
Or then again maybe the most racist county in America is in St. Augustine, St. John’s County, where 52-year-old Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez got hit by a truck while being chased by ICE?
We can never pinpoint what county in America is most racist.
However, it seems that a new “racist” county plays home to the killing of Black and Brown innocents every day.
Maybe Waller County got a rap that is better suited for “Anytown U.S.A.!
A long-time Texas Metro News columnist, Dallas native Vincent L. Hall is an author, writer, award-winning writer, and a lifelong Drapetomaniac.
