Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had a chance meeting with Sandra Bland’s mother, now the face of #BlackLivesMatter, and kept it private from the media.
The Vermont sentor was eating at a Thai restaurant in Washington’s Union Station, when he was approached by the mother of Sandra Bland, Geneva Reed-Veal, and Rev. Hannah Adair Bonner, a pastor at St. John’s Church in downtown Houston.
We asked Senator Sanders if we could take a picture with him and he consented. He did not impose upon Ms. Geneva to ask for a picture of his own. He did not use the moment as an opportunity to promote his campaign. He took no record, he made no statement. He did not try to turn it into a publicity stunt. He simply made space for a sacred moment, and then let it pass without trying to gain anything from it.
When Sandy’s mother bumped into #BernieSanders in a Thai restaurant in DC & he promised to #SayHerName#SandraBlandpic.twitter.com/6cGP5BQDyr
— Hannah Adair Bonner (@HannahABonner) October 14, 2015
During the meeting, Sanders said he would say Bland’s name during the first Democratic debate in Las Vegas — a promise he said he’ll keep.
What happened to your daughter is inexcusable,” Sanders told Reed-Veal. “We are broken, and this has exposed us.”
Featured image via Hannah Adair Bonner
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