Ste'vonte Clark was able to keep from unraveling into tears during an appearance on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Wednesday, March 28, but he wasn't successful at giving the veteran news host the kind of interview he would have liked. Neither did it appear that the brother of police shooting victim Stephon Clark ever intended to.
Sitting solemnly with his slain brother's name hashtagged across his chest, Clark's bitter resentment over the burden he's been forced to carry over the past week and a half became apparent as soon he fielded Lemon's first question. When asked, simply, how he and his family have been holding up, Clark reacted with silence and the ring of a bell. "Next question," he replied.
The perplexing response prompted Lemon to assume, openly, that the young man's actions were the result of him grieving. And it was at that point that the 'Justice For Stephon Clark' protest leader became emotional.
"I'm not in grief. We haven't slept, we haven't ate. The media keeps following us everywhere we go," he said, before struggling to get his words out about an initiative he says Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg has proposed involving the building of a library and recreational center in Stephon's name.
Clark then proceeded with the interview on his own grounds; requesting that Lemon allow him to speak directly to Black people and agreeing to shut the entire engagement down after the host refused to say Stephon's name.
