On Thursday night, Jill Scott performed to a sold-out crowd of diehard fans in Brooklyn, New York. The energy was palpable and everyone in the audience was excited to hear new music from Woman, live.
Throughout the night, Jill entertained the audience with stories and perspectives of her love life, raising her 6-year-old son Jet and lasting 15 years in the music industry.
Still, underneath it all, Jill was troubled by something greater: the tragic death of Sandra Bland.
“She’s in my mouth… I have to get this out. Sandy Bland. Sandy Bland. Sandy Bland.”
On Friday morning, ESSENCE caught up with Scott to discuss her feelings about the loss of another Black life. “I’m disturbed on a cellular level,” Scott began. “None of it makes any kind of sense. I’m angry and I’m concerned for us as a country. It just doesn’t have to be this.”
Scott echoed the sentiment of many who are questioning Bland’s case on social media, adding, “At this point, it’s terrorism inside the United States. We’re one of the biggest fighters against terrorism but it’s inside our own country. We should be ashamed of ourselves. Clearly something is going terribly wrong when a woman gets pulled over for a traffic citation and ends up murdered.”