Mourners at Stephon Clark's Wake Skeptical of Lasting Change

Mourners filed in and out of a viewing on Wednesday for 22-year-old Stephon Clark at the South Sacramento church where his funeral will be held on Thursday.

Clark was killed by Sacramento police on March 18 while in the backyard of his grandmother’s home. Body-camera footage of the shooting shows officers firing at least 20 times at Clark. They said they thought he had a gun, but he was holding only a cellphone.

Media were kept outside Clark’s wake, but even there the mood was somber.

Jackie Simmons has known Clark’s family for 40 years. As she was leaving the viewing, she said the family is doing “so-so.”

“Well, how could they be doing in a tragedy like this?” she asked. “You see your grandson being gunned down in your own backyard. It’s not right. It’s not right, baby. But they gunning us down all over.”

Simmons doesn’t hold out much hope things in the city will change, saying African-Americans have been targeted by the police for years.

Malik Abdul-Khaliq said he didn’t know Clark, but grew up in the same neighborhood. He summed up his feelings about Clark’s shooting, and the shootings of other unarmed black men, succinctly.

“The term is righteous indignation. Righteous indignation,” he said. “Like I said, these aren’t isolated incidents which have occurred.”

Abdul-Khaliq, who has attended protests over Clark’s death, said he didn’t want his three kids to think he didn’t speak up about the shooting.

Clark’s death has sparked days of demonstrations in Sacramento.

At various points protesters have shut down Interstate 5, twice blocked fans from entering the city’s basketball arena before Sacramento Kings games and caused a City Council meeting about the shooting to end early.

Still, the protests have been largely peaceful and many activists are hopeful this can be a turning point for the city and its policing policies.

The California Attorney General’s Office said it will oversee the investigation into Clark’s death.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Bayside of South Sacramento (BOSS). It is open to the public and is expected to draw a large crowd. The Rev. Al Sharpton will give the eulogy at the family’s request.