Texas Street Where Sandra Bland Was Arrested to Carry Her Name

By Kenrya Rankin Aug 27, 2015

Just over a month after Sandra Bland was found dead in a jail cell days after a violent traffic stop in Texas, the Prairie View City Council voted to rename the street where she was arrested in her honor. University Drive will now be called Sandra Bland Parkway. The street connects to Prairie View A&M University, the school where Bland attended undergrad and was set to start a new job just days after her July 10, 2015 arrest. The change will reportedly take place sometime before the school’s homecoming, which is in early October.

According to Houston Public Media, dozens of activists marched from the campus to city hall to show their support for the measure. 

“When police officers stop any of our students at Prairie View, they’ll always be able to write that name, Sandra Bland, just to remind them, their consciousness, that, ‘Hey, I can’t treat this person bad,’ or do any unlawful things to the students,” said Prairie View graduate Michael Moore, who was among the marchers.

The city council also approved a proposal for a park that will carry Bland’s name.