Native American activist found dead in jail cell after traffic fine arrest

A Native American activist was recently arrested and found dead in jail under conditions who many are saying it is very similar to those of Sandra Bland in Texas.

Native American activist dies

Rexdale W. Henry, 53, was recently found dead inside the Neshoba County Jail in Philadelphia, Mississippi, on July 14th. He had been arrested over failure to pay a minor traffic citation.

Local WTOK, reported that corrections officers reported Henry dead around 10 a.m.. But reports and logs reveal that he was seen alive and perfectly fine only half an hour before that.

Report

Concurrent news reports:

Reports say that the state crime lab in Jackson are currently conducting an autopsy. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation also says that they are “looking into” Henry’s death.

But that hasn’t satisfied Henry’s fellow activists, friends and family. Just after funeral services were held on July 19th, in Bogue Chitto, Henry’s body was flown to Florida for an independently-funded autopsy paid for by anonymous donors. They hope that this autopsy will get to the bottom of what really happened.

Syracuse University law professors Janis McDonald and Paula Johnson of the school’s Cold Case Justice Initiative comment that, “at a time when the nation is focused on the terrible circumstances of the brutal death of Sandra Bland, it is critical to expose the many ways in which Black Americans, Native Americans and other minorities are being arrested for minor charges and end up dead in jail cells.”

Henry was a member of the Choctaw tribe. He has been well known in the community and by opponents in law enforcement as a lifelong community activist.

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He was also a candidate for the Choctaw Tribal Council from Bogue Chitto, only the week before his arrest on July 9th.

Henry’s death occurred one day after that of Sandra Bland, who was found hanging in the Texas, Waller County Jail.

The results of the private autopsy will be made public when it is complete. Stay tuned and help SPREAD THE WORD!