Stevante Clark was on a megaphone almost daily in June, leading marches and moments of silence for George Floyd, whose May 25 death at the hands of Minnesota police spurred ongoing national protests against racial injustice.
He’s still at it — at a union-led Strike for Black Lives at the state Capitol Monday, he asked a group of kneeling demonstrators to say his brother’s name. Stephon Clark was killed by Sacramento police officers in 2018, at age 22.
Enter the I Am SAC foundation, which Stevante Clark established to continue his brother’s legacy (the “SAC” stands for Stephon Alonzo Clark).
He also intends to lead the charge on police reform. Activists are calling for the city of Sacramento to shift public dollars, particularly Measure U sales tax revenue, away from police budgets and toward community services.
CapRadio checked in with Clark recently on the project.
On the mission of I Am SAC
They’re the foundation that will help bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community. We are the ones who will be in there informing and educating on policy and legislative change. We are the ones who will be providing not only resources, but healing spaces for our community. We will commemorate the life and legacy of Stephon for generations to come. And we will also receive recommendations from the people on how to prevent what happened on March 18, 2018 from ever happening again.
On what the phrase “defund the police” means to him
Reallocate the resources. Don’t just give all the money to militarization and tanks and trucks and all this other nonsense that is not necessary. Defund the police means reallocate the resources to where they need to go, such as our children, our youth, affordable transitional housing, the food desserts in our underserved communities … When I hear defund the police, I hear reallocate the resources to I Am SAC foundation. Help us, because we have actionable items that come to solutions.
On his thoughts on how the Measure U money could be used
Measure U has failed. Because the promises that were there when it comes to inclusive economic development, those promises have been broken. (Note: Clark declined to comment on whether he’s working with Mayor Darrell Steinberg on these initiatives.)
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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