SACRAMENTO, Calif — March 18 marks one year since Stephon Clark, an unarmed 22-year-old, was shot and killed by two Sacramento Police officers in his grandmother's Meadowview backyard.
Clark’s death reached national attention, sparking a series of protests that lasted months and prompting changes to California law and local police policy.
Community members remembered Clark during a "Legacy Week" in the Meadowview neighborhood on the city’s south side where Clark grew up. The events at the Sam and Bonnie Pannell Community Center were meant not only to pay tribute to Clark, but to also bring the community together for healing.
“We still want justice. We still want accountability. We still feel transparency without accountability means nothing,” said Stevante Clark, the brother of Stephon Clark. “We feel like Stephon regarding to my brother’s case, justice was denied.”
Stevante Clark says his family still mourns over the loss of their loved one. However, he recognizes that there has been change as a result of his brother’s killing.
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“We notice the passing of the body camera and the foot pursuit policies,” Stevante Clark said. “And SB 1421 on a higher state level and we see AB 392 how we’re advocating, lobbying and fighting for that but I think there’s a lot more work to be done.”
Community members say they have reflected on the events that have taken place over the course of the last year.
Eugene Carlisle, 81, said his three sons were killed, so he felt the Clark family's pain. He said the recent events being held in South Sacramento are a step in the right direction.
“My sons were murdered brutally by the hands of their own people,” Carlisle said. "So I’m here to support them.”
But not everyone feels that things have changed in the year since Clark's death.
“The actual people that kill us, the mechanisms that kill us, the institutions that kill us are allowed to continue killing us because that’s what this system wants,” said Khaya Osborne. “So no, there hasn’t been any progress.”
A memorial service will be held in South Sacramento for Stephon Clark on Monday.
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Lucy Soto and Ashley Walker were friends of Stephon Clark since high school. A year after Clark was killed by Sacramento Police, the two share how they wish the community would remember him and who he was as a person.