Sandra Bland funeral
(Image credit: Jonathan Gibby/Getty Images)

Mourners gathered Saturday in Lisle, Illinois, to commemorate the life of Sandra Bland, a black woman who died in jail in Texas on July 13. Bland was pulled over by a state trooper July 10 allegedly for changing lanes without signaling. Video shows an escalating confrontation in which the trooper pulled out a stun gun and said, "I will light you up."

"We are not celebrating a martyr or victim," the church pastor said according to the Chicago Sun-Times. "We are celebrating a hero."

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.