The mother of Sandra Bland told the Rev. Al Sharpton, in an exclusive interview with MSNBC's PoliticsNation, that she doesn't believe the current investigation into her daughter's death will lead to the truth. For those answers, she is looking to God.
"I have confidence in God and knowing that he is in control and he is going to reveal the real truth," Geneva Read-Veal said on Thursday. "Confidence in man I do not have at this point."
Sandra Bland, 28, was stopped and arrested July 10 after she reportedly failed to use a signal when switching lanes. Bland was in the process of relocating to Texas because she had just received a job with her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University, when she was arrested. Three days after her arrest, Bland's lifeless body was found hanging in her cell. Police claim that Bland committed suicide, but her family have said that they don't believe the woman they knew, who was excited about starting her new job, would have killed herself.
Bland had taken a road trip with her mother just a week before her death. They went to Memphis, Tenn., to visit family. Read-Veal said that on the trip, her daughter spoke of the new job she hoped to get.
"Her spirits were lifted spirits; she was excited about the next chapter in her life," Read-Veal said.
Bland left her mother a voice mail four days before she died.
"Hi, Mommy It's me!" an elated Bland can be heard saying on the recoding. "Just wanted to let you know I made it, I am here. I am here! Call me when you get a chance. Love you, bye-bye."
"That was the last voice mail I got from her," Read-Veal said. "When I hear that voice, what goes through my mind is the absence of that smile."
On Thursday medical examiners ruled Bland's death a suicide, and an official autopsy showed no signs of a struggle, according to NBC News.
The family has asked for an independent autopsy.
Read-Veal added that she was "overwhelmed" and "overjoyed" at the national attention her daughter's death has received. She noted that she wants what happened to her daughter to be cause for change.
"I want Sandy to be remembered as an activist—sassy, smart, and she knew her rights," Read-Veal said. "Do the research while this is going on, so you know your [rights] and it's not your daughter, your son, your kid. That's what I want. The anger can be channeled into something so much greater than the incident that happened to Sandy."
Read more at PoliticsNation and NBC News.