Upset protesters who were mourning the death of their fallen brother Stephon Clark unleashed their grief upon California Highway Patrol officers that blocked the route to Interstate 5 on Friday. However, sergeant Ron Wade underwent more ridicule that day than other officers as he was continuously called an “Uncle Tom.”
“It seemed to go on for an hour,” Wade said.
The 45-year-old cop stood in a line of nearly 30 officers striving to shut down the I Street near the northbound on-ramp of Interstate 5, but he was singled out due to being the only Black cop on the line of fire, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Protesters marched the streets of Sacramento holding cellphones and demanding justice for the shooting of 22-year-old Clark. Nevertheless, Black protesters targeted Wade who was wearing a CHP uniform and viewed him as a ‘sellout.’
“Words were just words,” Wade told SB in an interview as he was appreciative of how his father raised him. “I think that helped me on Friday just sitting there dealing with the verbal barrage that I received.”
The sergeant expressed the variety of emotions he felt while standing face to face with grieving protesters.
“I went through a lot of different emotions… Everything from frustration to anger, but at the end I transitioned into (sic) You feel bad, because they’re hurting… Even at some point I had to let my mind kind of go because I could feel myself getting emotional,” he said.
Wade has been a California Highway Patrol officer for more than 20 years and has endured intense training exercises at the CHP Academy in West Sacramento.
“Our stoic stance is part of our training,” he said. “Protesting is their right and it’s not my job to tell them that their cause is right or wrong. It’s my job to keep them safe.”
