The cries for justice booming off the walls of the district attorney’s office here echo in places like Missouri, Minnesota and New York, other states where black men have died at the hands of police.
“Say his name!” went the chant. “Stephon Clark!” came the reply, over and over as a multiracial crowd of protesters with signs saying “Convict cop killers” vented their anger Thursday.
But while the volatile scene packs a painful sameness after the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Philando Castile in Saint Paul and Eric Garner on Staten Island, there is hope among some residents here that the March 18 killing of 22-year-old Clark by two police officers will bring changes that can be a role model for the nation.
“It could be up to us to affect change, and we can do it because fundamentally we are a highly diverse, integrated community,” says Joany Titherington, president of the Oak Park Neighborhood Association, home to a large part of the city’s African-American population.
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