Chenai Okammor, Activist and Close Friend of Sandra Bland, Speaks Out About Her Legacy.

Sandra Bland


Chenai Okammor, a close friend, collaborator, and mentee to Sandra Bland recently spoke with Lena Dunham, for a special edition of the actress’s newly launched newsletter, Lenny.

Okammor spoke about Bland’s desire to find her voice, her activism, and her desire to give women all over the world a voice.

Sandy was raised by a single mother with a bunch of sisters. And she said that when she was growing up, she held back her thoughts at times. What became clear to me as I met more with Sandra was that she was finding her own voice. After a couple of meetings, Sandra shared our project with her sisters, encouraging them to join our group. She had such a commitment to having women tell their own stories and she helped them talk about things they hadn’t talked about before.

Sandy said to me, “I’m 28 and I’m just now beginning to identify what I stand for. I do know that when something is wrong, it bothers me so much that I take it to heart.” When she started working on this project I asked her what she wanted to accomplish with it. She said, “I want to be able to share my story with young women out there.” Because she still thought she was alone in her quirkiness.

Prior to Bland’s death, Okammor had been working with her to create a new site for women, Woman4Woman, a place for women to give guidance to one another and share their stories. The site launched earlier this week.

Read more at Lenny.