Sharpton at Daunte Wright funeral: Time to get rid of the "stench of police brutality"
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Rev. Al Sharpton attends a funeral held for Daunte Wright at Shiloh Temple International Ministries. Photo: Brandon Bell via Getty Images
Prominent civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a sharp rebuke of police brutality in his eulogy at the funeral of Daunte Wright Thursday, calling Wright a "prince" who didn't deserve to die.
Why it matters: Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, died on April 11 after police pulled him over for a traffic stop and shot him 10 miles from the scene of George Floyd's death.
- Footage of the deadly encounter circulated online and led to mass protests in the Minneapolis suburb.
- Wright's mother said he called her just before he was shot, telling her he had been pulled over because of an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror, a traffic violation in Minnesota.
- Police said the young father was pulled over for having expired license plate tags.
What he's saying: People came from "all over the country because you hurt one of our princes," Sharpton said. "[Police] thought he was just some kid with air freshener. He was a prince!"
- "I don't care how much settlement they're given," he said, referring to the families of Black people killed by police. "You can never fill the hole in their hearts that was caused for no reason."
- Now, activists have come to Minneapolis "as the air fresheners of Minnesota ... to get the stench of police brutality out of the atmosphere," Sharpton said.
- "The time has come for police to understand they're not above the law ... and if you can't live up to the badge, don't take the oath and put it on."
