Darian Thomas – Stephon Clark (2018)
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“Stephon Clark was shot and killed March 18, 2018 by the Sacramento Police Department. The two cops were looking for someone reportedly smashing windows, and found Clark in his grandmother’s yard. He resisted confrontation and ran, and the police swore he was pointing a gun at them. So they shot at him twenty times.
Once closer to the dead body, they found that there was no gun – only a white iPhone.
Eight bullets had made contact – six in his back. Stephon was a father of two, in his grandmother’s yard.
At the end of the cops’ body cam video, a cop suggests “Hey, mute?” just before the audio recording stops.
Stevonte Clark, Brother: “Say his name. You’re going to know his name forever. You’re going to know him. You’re going to remember this.” Sequita Thompson, Grandmother: “C’mon now, they didn’t have to do that.”
Darrell Steinberg, Sacramento Mayor: “The questions raised by the community and council members are appropriate and must be answered during the investigation. Based on the videos alone, I cannot second-guess the split-second decisions of our officers, and I’m not going to do that.”
Police: “Hey, show me your hands. Stop. Stop. Hey – show me your hands. Gun gun gun.
We need to know if you’re ok. We need to get you to medics, so we can’t go over and get you help until we know you don’t have a weapon.
…
Hey, mute?”
By Darian Thomas, 2018.
The piece was premiered by So Percussion in 2018.
https://darianthomas.myportfolio.com/stephon-clark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnVthdjQUxk
Collected by William Yueyang Shi