After the White Hosue stated that police shootings of unarmed Black men are not matters of the federal government, Rev. Al Sharpton has vehemently disagreed.
During a press conference Wednesday, March 28, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders addressed a question relating to the recent police shooting death of Sacramento, Calif., resident Stephon Clark and the decision not to criminally charge the officers involved in the 2016 death of Alton Sterling.
“Certainly a terrible incident,” Sanders said. “This is something that is a local matter and something that we feel should be left up to the local authorities at this point in time.”
But Sharpton disagrees.
During the funeral services for Clark, who was shot 20 times in the backyard of the home he shared with his grandparents, Sharpton demanded action.
“No, this is not a local matter,” he says to audible cheers and applause. “They’ve been killing young Black men all over the country and we are here to say that we’re gone stand with Stephon Clark and the leaders of his family. We are putting aside our differences. It’s time for preachers to come out of the pulpit, it’s time for politicians to come out of the office, it’s time for us to go down and stop this madness.”
