Hundreds search for solutions after Stephon Clark's police shooting death

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —

Hundreds gathered at Sacramento’s SALAM Islamic Center Wednesday to discuss the shooting death of Stephon Clark and to look for solutions to prevent similar deaths from happening again.

The meeting was organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations Sacramento Valley Chapter, the Council of Sacramento Valley Islamic Organizations, Sacramento NAACP, Sacramento Area Congregations Together and a coalition of more than 10 mosques from across the greater Sacramento region.

Clark was shot and killed March 18 in his grandparents' backyard in south Sacramento. Officers were responding to a call about a person breaking car windows at night, when a Sacramento County sheriff’s helicopter led officers to Clark, who began to run away. The two responding officers believed he was armed and fired 20 rounds at Clark, police said. Investigators later discovered Clark was holding a cellphone.

Sacramento police released videos of the shooting three dayslater.

Clark was an African-American Muslim who joined the religion several years ago after he was introduced to it by his girlfriend.

In addition to many local faith leaders, Sheikh Omar Sulieman, a well-known religious leader among Muslim Americans, came from Texas to talk about systemic injustice.

Here's what people had to say at the town hall meeting:

Iman Omar Suleiman:

This is not a case of a few bad cops. This is a culture and a system that disproportionately targets people of color.

We don’t want to see another Stephon Clark before we see more protests.

We want to actually channel that outrage and effectively mobilize so that we can make sure that people are held accountable when these types of instances take place and hopefully prevent them from taking place in the first place.

CAIR Sacramento Executive Director Basim Elkarra:

We put a Band-Aid here and a Band-Aid there.

But, it’s time for the communities to come together to address these issues together to find solutions.

Sacramento Act Board Member Nailah El-Amin:

The tragedy of Stephon Clark is not an isolated incident. It is actually reflective of a discriminatory policing practice that takes place every day across this country.

We’re here because black people have historically been policed by a different standard of policing that other people of this country.

South Oak Park Imam Haazim Rashed:

In the dark, I look just like Stephon Clark, and that could have been me or anybody in my congregation.

We have a real personal interest in ensuring that procedures are developed that will protect our rights as well as other people’s rights.

Sacramento resident Tristan Brown:

We definitely want to make sure that we rid ourselves of any of the implicit biases that we have in areas of the city.

If the police can deescalate a situation rather than run into one, cause that’s for the safety of both the officers and any civilians that are out there.

Sacramento resident Ngabo Nzigira

This is a unique opportunity for our city to do something right that so far everyone has been doing wrong.

And, we want to be part of that process.

City Council Holds Dialogue About Police-Involved Shooting

SACRAMENTO – Emotions are running high as Sacramento’s African American community calls for justice in the police-involved shooting death of a local unarmed Black man, Stephon Clark.

A “Community Dialogue” with the Sacramento City Council was interrupted Tuesday night more than once by protesters causing Mayor Darrell Steinberg to adjourn the meeting about 8:30 p.m. — earlier than expected. Mayor Steinberg had announced prior to the meeting that City officials were prepared to listen to comments from the community until 11 p.m. Tuesday night and also Wednesday at 1 p.m. and again at 5 p.m., if necessary.

During one exchange, Clark’s brother, Ste’vonte Clark, stormed into Council Chambers, chanting his brother’s name and even jumping on the dais behind which Mayor Steinberg and City Council members were sitting. Ste’vonte Clark shouted down the mayor and Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn, but also called attention to other issues facing the Black community, such as housing inequality and the lack of places for youth to go when they need help.

Clark, and a group of other Black men who entered City Hall with him, were eventually escorted out of Council Chambers and proceeded outside, where a large crowd chanted his brother’s name and called for justice in his death. Community speakers who remained on the inside spoke of racial profiling, the lack of faith in local law enforcement and asserted that “no property is worth the loss of life.”

Some also said that whether or not they agreed with how Ste’vonte Clark expressed himself, they understood his pain. Meadowview community activist Jackie Rose asked that the Council understand that he’s grieving.

“We have a different way of grieving, but it’s real,” said Pastor Joy Johnson, president of Sacramento Area Congregations Together.

Protesters have taken over Sacramento streets the last two weeks since Clark’s March 18 death, including shutting down a major highway on March 22 and later causing the lockdown of the Golden 1 Center before the Kings took on the Atlanta Hawks.

Protesters left the community dialogue session Tuesday that drew local leaders and members of the public, and again moved to the Golden 1 Center. The Kings organization once again shut down doors to ensure the safety of those inside for the game against the Dallas Mavericks.

*The Sacramento OBSERVER continues to cover this story as it unfolds. More will be in this week’s issue of the paper, and those to follow.

** UPDATE**
City officials have decided to postpone today’s planned meeting with community residents following Tuesday night’s abrupt ending.

A statement from City Hall read as follows: “Out of respect for the family we will not reconvene (Wednesday) but are committed to ensuring the community is heard and we will share information for future meetings as it becomes available.”

Pastor Les Simmons On Community Reaction To Stephon Clark Shooting

South Sacramento is still reeling from the shooting of Stephon Clark by two Sacramento police officers last week. Three days of protests begin Tuesday evening, with a listening session planned at City Council.

Pastor Les Simmons with Sacramento Area Congregations Together shares his observations of how the community has reacted so far.

¿Qué hacer durante una redada de inmigración?

Carlos Montes de la organización Sacramento Act habla de los derechos básicos de todo inmigrante y cómo reaccionar durante una visita o redada por agentes federales.

Listening to Parolees

Fighting back tears, a parolee spoke at a recent public forum: He said he felt discarded when he went from prison to freedom in Sacramento, where he had never been before.

Paroled to this city after more than a decade behind bars, the man said no one awaited him when he arrived here. He had an address for a local place with a bed, but he had no clue how to get there by bus — and things got no better afterward.

The man made these emotional remarks at a recent public forum hosted by the Sacramento Community Reinvestment Coalition, or SCRC, which is financially supported by The California Endowment. The broad-based SCRC is hearing people’s concerns about the criminal justice system, before asking the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to reinvest in the formerly incarcerated and their families in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

“Those who hold solutions are often those closest to the pain,” said Ryan McClinton, community organizer for Sacramento ACT, on why the Sacramento Community Reinvestment Coalition wants to hear from victims of the criminal justice system.

After three forums, SCRC has identi ed three key issues that demand action in the county’s $4 billion-plus upcoming budget. They are:

• Better “wraparound services” for parolees under the jurisdiction of the Sacramento County Probation Department,

• More mental health/therapy services for parolees and their families, and

• More liveable-wage jobs/job training in disadvantaged communities.

By reducing the number of California prison inmates, Propositions 47 and 57 and other reform measures generate millions for Sacramento County, which controls local jails, McClinton said.

“The county has money ... to address systemic problems,” he said, but it isn’t spending enough to “keep people out of prison.”

The county’s Probation Department has good programs, McClinton said, including one in which young inmates take college classes while in juvenile detention, then enroll in community colleges upon release. But in some areas, he said, the department underperforms.

“We do our best to provide wraparound services for inmates returning from prison, but we agree there’s more work to be done,” said Lee Seale, the county’s chief probation of cer.

Ryan mcClinton, community organizer for Sacramento aCT wants to hear from victims of the criminal justice system. Photo by Edgar Sanchez

Seale cautioned that some parolees may be under federal or state jurisdiction and would not be served by the county. He also said the county has recently made “important investments” to enhance parolee services.

The next SCRC forum will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 17, at Liberty Towers Church, 5132 Elkhorn Blvd., Sacramento.