Sandra Bland's death tinged by Waller County's murky racial past
Hempstead, Texas, is known for several things. It鈥檚 the county seat of Waller County. The sandy soil and rainfall has made it the 鈥渨atermelon capital of Texas.鈥� And it鈥檚 history of white supremacist violence once earned it the nickname 鈥淪ix Shooter Junction.鈥�
Most recently, it鈥檚 known as the county where Sandra Bland, a black woman, was found dead in her jail cell three days after being pulled over by a white state trooper for not signaling a turn.
Sylvester Nunn was selling watermelon just outside Hempstead this weekend. Like many residents of the rural Texas county near Houston, he continues to come to terms with Waller County鈥檚 mixed racial history 鈥� and contemporary struggles 鈥� brought back to the fore after Bland鈥檚 death.
鈥淚鈥檝e lived here my whole life,鈥� said Mr. Nunn, who is black, in an interview with the Associated Press. 鈥淚 know how it could happen, but nothing鈥檚 happened to me. It鈥檚 been all right with me.鈥�
As evidence mounts that Sandra Bland committed suicide in the cell, some locals are rejecting characterizations that the town has yet to shake off much of its history of discrimination.
Waller County, near Houston, has a population of about 46,000 people 鈥� about 25 percent of whom are black, 70 percent white according to the latest .
Michael Wolfe, mayor of Hempstead, the county seat, since 2004, said the negative reaction to Bland鈥檚 death 鈥渋s not a true reflection of people who live here.鈥�
鈥淚t creates a level of animosity that may not be true,鈥� he told the AP. 鈥淭he community has changed tremendously.鈥�
Mr. Wolfe is Hempstead鈥檚 third black mayor since the 1980s, and District Attorney Elton Mathis acknowledged to the AP that while the county 鈥渄oes and did have a lot of things that went on here that we鈥檙e not particularly proud of, as far as racial interaction,鈥� there is 鈥渁 more progressive generation鈥� guiding the county now.
鈥淧eople need to realize there is a new generation in control of government here,鈥� he added.
David A. Graham, writing for 聽earlier this month, reported that the county has been both a longstanding site of discrimination and also something of 鈥渁 beacon of black progress.鈥�
鈥淭he messy, confusing double legacy of that history has persisted to the present,鈥� he added.
Hempstead, for example, was 鈥渁 locus of black political activity鈥� during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, he reported. But that history was gradually submerged under decades of discrimination and racial attacks. An influx of white immigrants sapped the power of the black vote and the Ku Klux Klan gained increasing power in the county. Between 1877 and 1950, Waller County had among the highest number of lynchings in Texas, according to a 聽from the Equal Justice Initiative. Hempstead became known as 鈥淪ix Shooter Junction鈥� because of white supremacist violence in the 1800s.
Through the 20th century Waller County鈥檚 black population had to resist efforts to blunt black political participation. In recent years students at Prairie View A&M University 鈥� Sandra Bland鈥檚 alma mater and a college established specifically to train black teachers 鈥� have complained about voter intimidation and a lack of voter access for low-income people in the county. Lawsuits in 2004 and 2008 called for additional early voting sites in the county. Another recent controversy involved the unofficially segregated cemeteries in the county.
DeWayne Charleston, a former Waller County judge, ordered a black funeral home to handle the burial of an unidentified white woman in 2007. The order sparked controversy and local activists demanded that the woman be buried in a white cemetery. Another federal lawsuit, alleging that Hempstead was neglecting historically black cemeteries while maintaining white ones, was settled in 2004.
鈥淭his is the most racist county in the state of Texas,鈥� said Mr. Charleston, in an interview with 聽earlier this month. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got racism from cradle to the grave.鈥�
One of the main targets of racial animosity in the wake of Bland鈥檚 death has been Glenn Smith, the Waller County sheriff. Mr. Smith was suspended for two weeks in 2007 and ordered to take anger-management classes after using profanity and pushing a black man during an arrest. He was fired as Hempstead police chief in 2008 and then elected county sheriff.
Despite calls for his resignation, Smith said he plans to seek re-election next year.
鈥淚鈥檓 not a racist,鈥� he said at a last Thursday. 鈥淏lack lives matter to Glenn Smith.鈥�
This report includes material from the Associated Press.
