Californian slain by police laid to rest
Sacramento man’s brother hugs casket;‘stop this madness,’ Sharpton urges
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A standing-room-only crowd packed into a church Thursday to celebrate the life of a 22-year-old black man who was fatally shot by Sacramento police, prompting protests and a resolve to force changes in police departments around the country.
The musical and scriptural celebration of Stephon Clark was interrupted by his brother Stevante, who hugged and kissed the casket, led the crowd in chants of his brother’s name and interrupted speakers. The Rev. Al Sharpton hugged and consoled him and told the crowd not to judge how families grieve.
“We will never let you forget the name of Stephon Clark until we get justice,” Sharpton declared. “This is about justice. This is about standing with people with courage.”
City officials braced for more protests as mourners gathered at Bayside of South Sacramento church.
Some mourners at Wednesday’s wake predicted increased unrest beyond the mostly nonviolent protests that have disrupted traffic and two professional basketball games since the March 18 shooting.
Sharpton delivered his eulogy as he embraced Stevante Clark. The New York preacher said it was time to “stop this madness” of fatal shootings by police officers.
Two Sacramento police officers who were responding to a report of someone breaking car windows fatally shot Clark. Video of the nighttime incident released by police shows a man later identified as Clark running into the backyard where police fired 20 rounds at him after screaming “gun, gun, gun.”
It turned out Clark was holding a cellphone.
At Wednesday’s wake, some attendees called for police to face criminal charges or donned black shirts calling for justice.
At that gathering, Stevante Clark had to be physically restrained while confronting members of the media gathered outside. The outburst came a day after he disrupted a Sacramento City Council meeting and screamed his brother’s name at Mayor Darrell Steinberg.
Stevante Clark later apologized for his behavior. At the funeral, he addressed Steinberg, who was one of the few white people in the audience that included former Sacramento Kings player Matt Barnes.
“We’re going to forgive the mayor, amen,” Clark said. “Everybody say they love the mayor.”
Clark and Sharpton also led people in a call and response, shouting, “I am,” and the crowd responding, “Stephon Clark.”
Shernita Crosby, Stephon Clark’s aunt, has said the family isn’t “mad at all the law enforcement.”
“We’re not trying to start a riot,” she said. “What we want the world to know is that we got to stop this because black lives matter.”
Cousin Suzette Clark said the family wants Stephon Clark remembered as an outgoing, funny, handsome, loving father of two young sons — “more than just a hashtag.”
On Wednesday, about 50 protesters took over the intersection near the Sacramento district attorney’s office as part of a protest organized by the local Black Lives Matter chapter to urge the district attorney to file charges against the officers who shot Clark. In New York City, hundreds of people marched to protest the shooting and at least 11 people were detained as tensions flared.
Meanwhile, Steinberg said disruptions like Stevante Clark’s at Tuesday’s council meeting won’t happen again. “But in that moment, that was a brother grieving for the loss of his brother,” he said.
Stevante Clark led hundreds of protesters into the chambers, some of them holding up their phones while chanting the deceased Clark’s name. He seated himself upon the dais and addressed the crowd in lieu of his dead brother: “The mayor and the city of Sacramento has failed all of you,” he said. The meeting ended early.
The California attorney general’s office joined the investigation on Tuesday, a move Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn said he hopes will bring “faith and transparency” to a case that he said has sparked “extremely high emotions, anger and hurt in our city.”
Clark converted to Islam several years before his death, and his funeral drew prominent activists from black and Muslim communities across the United States.
On Wednesday night, Sacramento-area Muslims held an emergency town hall with community leaders, the NAACP, and members of Clark’s family to discuss how his death has impacted the city.
Of more than 250 gathered, some wept as they were told that Clark’s body was in such bad condition from the shooting and two autopsies, that they were unable to wash him to prepare him for the burial.
“The tools of dehumanization are eerily similar in how they are employed against Muslims and African-Americans,” said Omar Suleiman, a prominent imam from Dallas. “The vilification of these figures after they are killed is to plant the message that this isn’t a person worth fighting for, this isn’t a community worth fighting for.”