AT FUNERAL, CALLS FOR REFORMS
While most funerals look to the past to remember the life of the deceased, the funeral for Daunte Wright pointed toward the future.
The rousing and at times raw funeral held Thursday at Shiloh Temple International Ministries was aimed at defining the legacy of the 20year-old Black man who was fatally shot by a White police officer during an April 11 traffic stop in suburban Minneapolis. It was also to reassure Wright’s family and the broader Minneapolis community that his death would not be forgotten.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who gave Wright’s eulogy, told mourners that the notion behind the popular cry of “no justice, no peace” started in the Bible. He added that the call of no peace without justice does not mean violence.
“There’s a confusion in this country about peace versus quiet,” Sharpton said. “Peace is the presence of justice. You can’t tell us to shut up and suffer. We must speak up when there is an injustice.”
Several lawmakers who attended, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said they were using their voices to call for the passage
of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The bill, which has already passed the House, seeks to overhaul policing and institute a federal ban on chokeholds and qualified immunity for law enforcement.
Omar, who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, presented Wright’s parents with a flag that she said had flown over the U.S. Capitol in their son’s honor and read aloud from a resolution by the caucus with its condolences for Wright. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, presented the family with a framed procla
mation that called for two minutes of silence across Minnesota on Thursday to observe the start of Wright’s funeral.
The more than two-hourlong service at times had the mood of a civil rights rally, with impassioned calls for justice, a gospel choir and the hands of attendees raised in praise.
The galvanizing speeches were at times overshadowed by the grief in the voices of the Wright family. Katie Wright, Daunte’s mother, told mourners she had been up since 3:30 a.m. worrying about what she would say.
“The roles should be completely reversed. My son should be burying me,” she said, trembling. She said her son’s smile was worth a million dollars and lamented that Wright’s son, 2-year-old Daunte Wright Jr., would grow up without his father.
Wright’s father, Aubrey Wright, could only manage a few words before he was overcome. He said he couldn’t describe his feelings, starting with, “He was my son —” before faltering and turning away from the microphone.
Wright’s death came as anxieties in the Minneapolis area were already high with the trial of Derek Chauvin, the ex-Minneapolis police officer who on Tuesday was convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020.
Wright had retreated from police into his car after they tried to arrest him on an outstanding warrant for missing a court appearance on a misdemeanor gun charge. The police chief has said then-Officer Kim Potter mistook her gun for a Taser after stopping Wright for driving with expired tags. Potter, a 26-year Brooklyn Center police veteran, has since resigned and been charged with manslaughter. An investigation into the incident is ongoing.