The Aesthetic Insurgency of Sandra Bland’s Afterlife

The death of Sandra Bland on July 13, 2015, coupled with the dashcam footage that documented the verbal and physical violence she experienced as Texas law enforcement officials arrested and detained her, marked a critical historical moment in the Black Lives Matter era. Yet, the “Sandy Speaks” videos she recorded in the months preceding her death left profound digital traces of her words and thoughts. This article combines historical and cultural analysis to observe how theater, poetry, and visual art focused on Sandra Bland, what I term aesthetic insurgency, create platforms to resist police violence against Black women.