Matt Barnes Holds Rally For The Family of Stephon Clark In Sacramento, Starting Scholarship For His
Barnes: "Everybody Should Be Treated Equally
Matt Barnes addresses crowd at Cesar Chavez Park during a rally for the family of Stephon Clark. Sacramento, Calif. Publicity Agents footage by T. Ray Harvey. March. 29, 2018.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Sacramento, Calif. — Matt Barnes knows the streets of Sacramento like nobody’s business. He rose to fame in the capital city of California as a star basketball and football player at Del Campo High School.
When Stephon Clark, 22, was shot at 20 times by two police officers in South Sacramento on March 18, his twin sons, Carter Kelly and Isaiah Michael Barnes, said to him, “he got shot over a cell phone?”
Barnes shared his discussion with his sons at a rally he staged for Clark’s family at Cesar Chavez Park in downtown Sacramento. About 500 people should up to the event. It was the day after the family’s independent autopsy revealed that Clark was shot eight times, six gunshots to his back.
Barnes has had run-ins with the law on many occasions. He has had his experiences up close and personal. Now he wants to save people from police brutality.
“It comes down to wrong and right,” said Barnes, who is now retired from the NBA after a 16-year run and a championship title with the Golden State Warriors. “I walked these same streets. I’ve had the same encounters with police before and this town has shaped me.”
Stephon Clark's two sons attended the rally with his girlfriend Salena and the boys' grandfather. Publicity Agents photo art by T. Ray Harvey. March 31, 2018.
Barnes also served as one of the pallbearers for Clark when he was laid to on March 29. Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy at Bayside of South Sacramento Church. Barnes also said that he would set up a scholarship for Clark’s two sons Aiden and Ciaro, who attended the rally with their mother Salena Manni.
Garrett Temple of the Sacramento Kings did show up the rally hours before his team faced off against the Warriors at Golden 1 Center, where two games were shut down by protesters in response the shooting of Clark.
Steve Kerr, head coach of the Warriors, said none of his players attended the rally, but it didn’t mean any of them did not want to be there to support the Clark family or Barnes.
“Our players did not go. I think you guys know that our team is socially aware and active,” Kerr said. “We gotta lot of players do a lot of good in the community and care what’s going on. We all care what’s going and what’s happening here. First and foremost to the Clark family, also to the community, we support the protest. Everybody in our organization wants to see change and wants to see justice.”
Clark was shot in the backyard of his grandmother’s house that fateful night. Police says they received a 911 call from someone who was breaking windows of cars in the neighborhood of Meadowview, where Clark’s family lives.
The shooting has sparked protest around the city in the last 13 days. The city has been dealing with a lot of officer-involved shootings within the last 20 years. Most of them have been unarmed people of color.
“Now adding a little bit of color your skin means you’re guilty,” Barnes said. “That’s bullshit right there. Everybody should be treated equally.”
By T. Ray Harvey | PA Public Information Officer and Photographic Artist
Twitter: Tony Ray Harvey @PublicityAgents
T. Ray (Antonio) Harvey is a Public Information Officer and Photographic Artist for Publicity Agents. Harvey is also the author of The HOMICIDAL HANDYMAN OF OAK PARK: MORRIS SOLOMON JR.
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