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Stephon Clark Protests Flood Sacramento City Hall

Countless activists and protestors swarmed Sacramento City Hall in an effort to voice their concerns and feelings over the shooting of Stephon Clark.
On March 18, law enforcement officers encountered Clark while responding to neighborhood complaints of car windows being broken. Clark was then shot and killed by officers who mistakenly believed he was in possession of a gun, but was found to only be holding his cell phone.
Community members protested last week, shutting down I-5 freeway in downtown Sacramento and the Sacramento Kings games on the evening of March 18. Nearly 300 or so individuals signed up to speak at the meetings that initially started at 1:00 p.m. earlier in the day.
Early in the forum, Stevante Clark, Clark’s younger brother, jumped on the council’s platform chanting his brother’s name. After Stevante stood on top of the podium and used obscene language, Mayor Darrell Steinberg called for a recess to appease tensions.
Crowds of people arrived well before the scheduled 5:00 p.m. start time to secure seats inside the chamber and others waited patiently outside and lobby. During the meeting, echoes of various chants filled the City Hall’s lobby and bled outside the building and carried thought out the block.
“Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail. The whole damn system is guilty as hell. Say his name! Stephon Clark.”
An adjunct group of protesters, who were not able to able to enter the City Hall, were returning from their protesting at the Golden 1 Center during the Kings game that was initially scheduled to begin at 7pm.
Many turned to social media to record the event and share their experiences. There were countless minors with their guardians and young adults that made the bulk of the crowd. The atmosphere was a mixture of angst and anxiety. Those that did not chant stood in silence holding signs and wearing Black Lives Matter or apparel that commemorated those that were lost in similar circumstances.
Protester Alexander Johnson stood stoically in the middle of the lobby, holding up a poster with #StephonClark and said, “I think this protest is a step. It’s working and we just need to keeping taking small steps.”
Mother and Son, April Robison and James George, wore complimentary shirts standing hand-in-hand.
“I have already lost one son this way. I’m scared for my second son, I don’t want to lose another one,” April somberly spoke.
“I have a legacy I want to live and leave behind. I can’t do that if I’m dead,” said her son, James, who appeared to be a minor.
The counsel’s evening community forum, starting at 5pm on March 27th, was initially schedule to last till 11pm but was cut short an hour when a man was detained during the council meeting. There are plans that the forum will continue on Wednesday, March 29that 1pm allowing those that were not able to speak to do so.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 23 – 29, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 23 – 29, 2025

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#NNPA BlackPress
Chavis and Bryant Lead Charge as Target Boycott Grows
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Surrounded by civil rights leaders, economists, educators, and activists, Bryant declared the Black community’s power to hold corporations accountable for broken promises.

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent
Calling for continued economic action and community solidarity, Dr. Jamal H. Bryant launched the second phase of the national boycott against retail giant Target this week at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta. Surrounded by civil rights leaders, economists, educators, and activists, Bryant declared the Black community’s power to hold corporations accountable for broken promises. “They said they were going to invest in Black communities. They said it — not us,” Bryant told the packed sanctuary. “Now they want to break those promises quietly. That ends tonight.” The town hall marked the conclusion of Bryant’s 40-day “Target fast,” initiated on March 3 after Target pulled back its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) commitments. Among those was a public pledge to spend $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by 2025—a pledge Bryant said was made voluntarily in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020.“No company would dare do to the Jewish or Asian communities what they’ve done to us,” Bryant said. “They think they can get away with it. But not this time.”
The evening featured voices from national movements, including civil rights icon and National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) President & CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., who reinforced the need for sustained consciousness and collective media engagement. The NNPA is the trade association of the 250 African American newspapers and media companies known as The Black Press of America. “On the front page of all of our papers this week will be the announcement that the boycott continues all over the United States,” said Chavis. “I would hope that everyone would subscribe to a Black newspaper, a Black-owned newspaper, subscribe to an economic development program — because the consciousness that we need has to be constantly fed.” Chavis warned against the bombardment of negativity and urged the community to stay engaged beyond single events. “You can come to an event and get that consciousness and then lose it tomorrow,” he said. “We’re bombarded with all of the disgust and hopelessness. But I believe that starting tonight, going forward, we should be more conscious about how we help one another.”
He added, “We can attain and gain a lot more ground even during this period if we turn to each other rather than turning on each other.” Other speakers included Tamika Mallory, Dr. David Johns, Dr. Rashad Richey, educator Dr. Karri Bryant, and U.S. Black Chambers President Ron Busby. Each speaker echoed Bryant’s demand that economic protests be paired with reinvestment in Black businesses and communities. “We are the moral consciousness of this country,” Bryant said. “When we move, the whole nation moves.” Sixteen-year-old William Moore Jr., the youngest attendee, captured the crowd with a challenge to reach younger generations through social media and direct engagement. “If we want to grow this movement, we have to push this narrative in a way that connects,” he said.
Dr. Johns stressed reclaiming cultural identity and resisting systems designed to keep communities uninformed and divided. “We don’t need validation from corporations. We need to teach our children who they are and support each other with love,” he said. Busby directed attendees to platforms like ByBlack.us, a digital directory of over 150,000 Black-owned businesses, encouraging them to shift their dollars from corporations like Target to Black enterprises. Bryant closed by urging the audience to register at targetfast.org, which will soon be renamed to reflect the expanding boycott movement. “They played on our sympathies in 2020. But now we know better,” Bryant said. “And now, we move.”
#NNPA BlackPress
The Department of Education is Collecting Delinquent Student Loan Debt
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — the Department of Education will withhold money from tax refunds and Social Security benefits, garnish federal employee wages, and withhold federal pensions from people who have defaulted on their student loan debt.

By April Ryan
Trump Targets Wages for Forgiven Student Debt
The Department of Education, which the Trump administration is working to abolish, will now serve as the collection agency for delinquent student loan debt for 5.3 million people who the administration says are delinquent and owe at least a year’s worth of student loan payments. “It is a liability to taxpayers,” says White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at Tuesday’s White House Press briefing. She also emphasized the student loan federal government portfolio is “worth nearly $1.6 trillion.” The Trump administration says borrowers must repay their loans, and those in “default will face involuntary collections.” Next month, the Department of Education will withhold money from tax refunds and Social Security benefits, garnish federal employee wages, and withhold federal pensions from people who have defaulted on their student loan debt. Leavitt says “we can not “kick the can down the road” any longer.”
Much of this delinquent debt is said to have resulted from the grace period the Biden administration gave for student loan repayment. The grace period initially was set for 12 months but extended into three years, ending September 30, 2024. The Trump administration will begin collecting the delinquent payments starting May 5. Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough, president of Talladega College, told Black Press USA, “We can have that conversation about people paying their loans as long as we talk about the broader income inequality. Put everything on the table, put it on the table, and we can have a conversation.” Kimbrough asserts, “The big picture is that Black people have a fraction of wealth of white so you’re… already starting with a gap and then when you look at higher education, for example, no one talks about Black G.I.’s that didn’t get the G.I. Bill. A lot of people go to school and build wealth for their family…Black people have a fraction of wealth, so you already start with a wide gap.”
According to the Education Data Initiative, https://educationdata.org/average-time-to-repay-student-loans It takes the average borrower 20 years to pay their student loan debt. It also highlights how some professional graduates take over 45 years to repay student loans. A high-profile example of the timeline of student loan repayment is the former president and former First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama, who paid off their student loans by 2005 while in their 40s. On a related note, then-president Joe Biden spent much time haggling with progressives and Democratic leaders like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer on Capitol Hill about whether and how student loan forgiveness would even happen.
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