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SACRAMENTO — Matt Barnes, a native of the state capital, says he spent his youth walking these streets. He says he wants police officers to do the same — so they might get to know someone like Stephon Clark, before someone becomes the next Stephon Clark.
At a rally held here Saturday, Barnes, an ex-NBA player, called for police accountability and reform during a peaceful gathering after days of unrest over two Sacramento police officers shooting and killing the unarmed Clark, 22, in his grandmother’s backyard.
“We fear what we don’t know. We don’t know these cops, so we fear them. They don’t know us so they fear us,” Barnes said. “When you get out and know someone on a first-name basis, when you are called to the situation, next time you may be able to defuse the situation.”
After days of emotionally and politically charged rallies over the police killing, the former Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings small forward struck a more moderate tone. Barnes said he first heard about the shooting from one of his twin boys, age 9, who asked if police were “bad” for shooting someone 20 times for holding a cellphone.
Authorities believed Clark was armed but found only the phone near his body. His first impulse was to tell his son yes, he told the audience.
“I had to pause for a second because the emotion of me wanted to say yes, but at the same time cops aren’t bad, one cop doesn’t make every one bad,” Barnes said. “But one black man doesn’t make everybody guilty. It’s more than color. It comes down to wrong and right.”
Barnes was joined by members of Clark’s family, the Sacramento’s chapter of the NAACP, pastors and local activists before a crowd of 100 people at Cesar Chavez Plaza.
Clark’s March 18 death sparked protests in his hometown of Sacramento and renewed calls echoed throughout the Black Lives Matter movement for independent investigations of deadly police shootings.
Demonstrators this week shut down a City Council meeting, led by Clark’s outspoken brother, Ste’vante Clark. Also attracting national news has been the blockade of downtown’s Golden 1 Center, disrupting Sacramento Kings games.
A vigil at the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department in the south side of the city was planned Saturday evening, as a Facebook event promised a pro-police rally outside the Kings’ arena. Just before tip-off, however, no protesters were seen outside the arena.
A day earlier, on Friday, an independent autopsy requested and released by his family, showed Clark was shot eight times; six of the 20 shots fired by police hit him in the back. Authorities increased patrols of downtown Saturday, ahead of the Kings and Golden State Warriors 7 p.m. game, even though the Clark family has disavowed protests of the games.
Betty Williams, the president of Sacramento’s NAACP chapter, called on her city’s police to reform policies on foot pursuits and police-worn body cameras. Officers followed Clark into his family’s backyard and, at one point, muted the microphones on their body cameras. Williams said Sacramento should consider a policy Oakland police adopted three years ago that calls for officers to stop a chase when a suspect or resident enters a backyard.
Williams described the shooting as an “execution.”
“If you did nothing wrong, there’s no reason to mute the audio,” she said.
The Rev. Shane Harris, the emcee of the rally, also took issue with the Trump administration’s characterization of police shootings as a “local issue.” Oscar Grant of Oakland and Hayward, Eric Garner of New York, and Michael Brown of Missouri — all unarmed black men killed in the last 10 years by police — were mentioned by Harris at the rally.
“It’s a national crisis,” Harris said. He called on California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who has agreed to investigate the shooting, to prosecute the Sacramento officers. “There’s no justice until they’re prosecuted.”
Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris said the officers committed tactical errors.
“They put themselves potentially in harm’s way,” Burris said of the officers involved in the Clark shooting. “You can’t create confrontation and shoot your way out of it and say it’s justifiable.”
Burris assisted Sacramento police in its reform policies and represented Joseph Mann, who was shot dead by police in July 2017. He was remembered along with Clark at Saturday’s rally.
“At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what the policy is, it is what the officers do under stress,” Burris said, calling for better training.
Back at Cesar Chavez Plaza, Barnes had invited the Warriors players to attend the rally, but none were available because of preparation for the night’s game, coach Steve Kerr said.
“Our guys are well aware of what’s happening,” Kerr said. “The main sentiment is compassion for the people involved and for the city, and the community. Plenty of support for the protesters. So we come in here with our eyes wide open.”
Power forward David West, although he could not stand with Barnes at the rally, said what is happening in the U.S. has global impact.
“It’s all about justice. Justice isn’t political. We’re having ideological conversations and not conversations that are really marinated in truth,” West said. “This country is shooting itself in the foot in terms of being able to have influence and respect around the world. As long as we continue to deny justice as citizens, there’s no way other nations will ever believe you’ll bring justice, freedom and liberty to them.”
Saturday’s rally ended with one of Clark’s two sons saying “bye-bye” at the podium. Barnes, who vowed to continue police reform work, also has said he is starting a scholarship fund for Clark’s sons, Aiden, 3, and Cairo, 1.
Staff writers Logan Murdock and Mark Medina contributed to this report.
