On March 18 at 9:20 PM, officers of the Sacramento Police Department fired 20 shots at unarmed 22-year old Stephon ‘Zoe’ Clark in his own backyard. Sacramento Sheriff’s deputies directed the police to Clark after claiming they saw him break car windows.
The first reports in the media, based on police accounts, said that Clark had a gun and lunged at the two officers prompting them to defend themselves.
Later, after finding no gun, they claimed he had a “tool bar.” Finally, after nothing but a cell phone was found, the cops were forced to take back their fake version of events. Still, they have promoted as fact the unproven allegation that it was Clark who broke car windows in the area. This is a violation of the Constitutional right to due process that says a person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Acting on behalf of the law, these officers didn’t bother proving Stephon Clark guilty before giving him the death penalty in a matter of seconds. Worst case scenario, even if Clark had broken car windows, the punishment for this is not summary execution by firing squad.
On March 21, helicopter and body cam footage confirmed that police accounts were indeed all lies. The videos show a cold-blooded execution with Clark shot multiple times in the back. It was clear that both officers were shooting to kill.
This comes at a time when all over the country, the police are on a killing spree with no end in sight. This killing comes only a few weeks after Attorney General Jeff Sessions came to Sacramento to tell the police how great a job they are doing.
The campaign to demonize Stephon Clark is something we have seen across the country after police take a life. Mike Brown stole something. Freddie Gray ran. Eric Garner sold a cigarette. Alton Sterling sold DVDs. For these reasons, the police told the community that they should accept the outcome and act like nothing happened.
The purpose of criminalizing victims of police violence is to silence dissent about the collective mistreatment of the community by law enforcement and to justify ongoing brutality. It looks bad when the police murder an unarmed, stay at home father of two young kids in his own backyard for “fitting a description.” But to shoot a “criminal” doing something illegal makes them look like heroes who have a “complicated” job.
In reality, police do not come to Meadowview or South Sacramento to protect the people. They come to harass, brutalize, and kill unless complete cooperation is shown. Cooperation means keeping the county jail full of our youth and the state prisons overcrowded. The response around Sacramento and the entire state of California has shown that people will not continue to be subject to police impunity without fighting back.
These attempts at dehumanization by the police and media have been countered by overwhelming community support for the family. Accounts of Stephon Clark, who also went by the nickname Zoe, have shown him to be a loving father, brother, son and grandson as well as friend to many. The day after his murder, family and community members led by Black Lives Matter Sacramento gathered at the Meadowview Light Rail station to show solidarity and demand justice. More gatherings have been planned for the coming days as the community mobilizes to show their support for demands to jail the killer cops responsible.
We say enough of the killing, jailing and underdevelopment of our communities. We want justice! We call for the killer cops who took Stephon Clark’s life to be jailed immediately!
#StephonClark #JusticeForZoe #JusticeForStephonClark #EndPoliceTerror #JailKillerCops #NoJusticeNoPeace
You can help the family pay for the memorial service here.
