Stephon Clark’s funeral was held in Sacramento, Calif. today where attendees included family, friends, more than 100 mourners, and Rev. Al Sharpton who flew 3,000 miles to deliver the eulogy.
In response to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ comment earlier this week to a reporter that the shooting was a “local matter,” Sharpton said, according to the Los Angeles Times, “No, this is not a local matter. They’ve been killing young black men all over the country, and we are here to say that we’re going to stand with Stephon Clark and the leaders of this family. … This is about justice. This is about standing with people with courage.”
He added, “I want him to know that we are with him. When the cameras are gone, we are with him. When everybody runs through for a photo op, we are with him. This brother could be any one of us.”
Clark’s brother Stevante, who on Tuesday entered a Sacramento City Council meeting demanding answers in the wake of his brother’s death, said at the funeral, “Stephon is going to live on for generations, generations and generations.”
Upon speaking to reporters after the funeral outside the Bayside of South Sacramento Church, Sharpton added, “Why was the immediate thing to draw lethal force?”
Last week, Clark was shot and killed by police who fired 20 bullets at him while he stood in his grandmother’s backyard holding his cellphone. Police had tracked Clark there upon suspecting him of breaking neighbors’ windows. He was 22, unarmed, engaged, and a father of two.